Ping An Insurance, Tsinghua University set up research centers

Ping An Insurance (Group) Co of China and Tsinghua University announced on Tuesday the establishment of two research centers to boost technological innovation in the financial and medical fields.

Chen Xinying, Ping An's deputy CEO, said one of the highlights is to tackle difficulties in applying artificial intelligence into financial service.

High technologies, including facial and voice recognition, and cloud computing have been used in the company's financial, medical, real estate, automobile and cities' service businesses, according to the company.

Founded in 1988, the company has poured about 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) into scientific innovation in the past 10 years. Now it has more than 20,000 researchers and 2,000 patents, it said.

Research subjects at the newly-established financial centeralso include reform and risk control of financial institutions and establishment of the modern financial system, as well as improving the capacity of finance to serve the real economy, the company said.

In terms of medical research, it will focus on using AI and big data to help in individual health risk management, intelligent hospitals and epidemiological surveillance and prevention, according to Zeng Jingsong, secretary-general of Tsinghua's global joint development research institute.

It also established an information cloud platform to collect data from patients, hospitals, doctors, drug stores and social security providers, to provide flexible prices and customized services for customers.

Ma Mingzhe, chairman and CEO of Ping An, said the research centers expect to help promote commercialization of scientific achievements and communications among high-level professionals, as part of the effort to improve the quality of medical health and financial service among the public.