China's academic ecology fuels AI industry: report

TIANJIN - The development of China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry has got a strong boost from the academic field, according to a report released by the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies (CINGAI) on Saturday.

It says as of Feb 28, 2019, 94 Chinese universities have set up AI schools or research institutes, and 40 of them were newly inaugurated in 2018. They together published 19,374 papers on AI studies in 2018. The number surpassed that of the United States.

There are also 75 research institutions nationwide engaged in AI basic research, technology development and talent cultivation, according to the report issued at the 3rd World Intelligence Congress held in northern China's Tianjin Municipality.

Liu Gang, chief economist of CINGAI, said China's academic circle was trying to construct synergistic innovation to boost the AI industry.

Among 745 Chinese AI enterprises, those involved in application of AI tech account for 75.2 percent. Only 2.8 percent are involved in basic AI knowledge study, and 22 percent make AI technology research.

In the application sector, there are 18 varieties including intelligent manufacturing, financial technology, digital content and new media, new retail and intelligent security.

"A large number of application-oriented academic research has played a big role in giving a technical boost to the development of AI enterprises," Liu said.

CINGAI, established by the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Tianjin municipal government, was established during the first World Intelligence Congress in 2017.