Ex-Microsoft exec Harry Shum potential customers ‘digital economy’ investigation middle in Shenzhen

The Global Digital Economic system Academy (Plan) quietly opened past yr, perched among the ultramodern business properties on Shenzhen’s facet of the river border with Hong Kong.

Even though geographically divided from Hong Kong, technically, the research institute is found inside a unique location straddling the two towns: the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation and Know-how Cooperation Zone. The name is self-explanatory. It is a joint effort by the governments of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, with aid from Beijing and favorable policies, to collaborate on scientific and technological analysis.

Notion is a single of the companies that have set up inside the 3.89 km² exclusive zone — which is about the measurement of 540 football pitches — and is a brainchild of Harry Shum. The renowned personal computer scientist was an govt vice president at Microsoft from 2013 to 2019 and also co-launched Microsoft’s biggest study department exterior the U.S., Microsoft Study Asia.

Like his previous colleague at Microsoft, Kai-Fu Lee, Shum was energetic in the two the investigate and enterprise sides of AI. Now at Plan, his group aims to “acquire disruptive progressive technologies based on social desires and give again to modern society in a way that will allow extra people to benefit from the advancement of the digital economic climate.” Several investigate administrators at Notion are also Microsoft veterans, together with Yutao Xie and Jiaping Wang.

The sweeping regulatory clampdown on China’s world-wide-web corporations has led to headlines declaring Beijing has turned versus tech. But the government’s intent is much more nuanced. It’s zeroing in on Large Tech deemed destructive to the modern society and overall economy, businesses that have inspired financial marketplace pitfalls, gaming dependancy, exploitation of gig staff and other ills.

In the meantime, China continues to be fixated on its objective to boost essential investigate and minimize reliance on Western technologies. In Shenzhen, dwelling to tech giants like Huawei, DJI and Tencent, the government is recruiting environment-course experts. Harry Shum and his group are amid the most up-to-date to have joined the raft.

Concept undoubtedly has a buzzy title (and a fantastic acronym). The time period “digital economic system” comes up normally in President Xi Jinping’s speeches on how technological know-how can be a driving power for the financial system. The “electronic economic climate has grow to be a critical force in restructuring the world wide economic climate and reworking the world aggressive landscape in latest decades,” the president mentioned in October. “The net, huge info, cloud computing and other systems are currently being progressively built-in into all sectors of economic and social development.”

Tale continues

Strategy is analyzing how AI can transform industries like finance, production and healthcare treatment. This week, it introduced it really is partnering with primary Chinese quant trader Ubiquant on a joint lab to function on “chance monitoring and avoidance for economic transaction markets,” as perfectly as “standard infrastructure for higher-overall performance computing units.”

Thought is just one particular of the quite a few study labs that have sprung up across Shenzhen in modern several years. The Shenzhen Institute of Info Financial state, found on the Shenzhen campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong with guidance from the govt, is a different group operating to advance China’s digital economy.