On December 9, 2020， Wang Qingxian, a member of the Standing Committee of Shandong Provincial Committee and Secretary of Qingdao Municipal Committee, and other officials visited AInnovation. They had a discussion and exchange with the company's major shareholders SinoVation Ventures and CICC, and the senior management teams of AInnovation. They also witnessed the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement between Jimo District, Qingdao City and AInnovation on settling AInnovation's headquarters in Qingdao.
Wang Qingxian had an in-depth discussion and exchange with Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, Chu Gang, Member of the Management Committee, Chief Operating Officer and Chairman of the Capital Markets Business Committee of CICC, and Hocking Xu, Co-founder and CEO of AInnovation, on AI commercialization and the transformation and upgrading of traditional economies and other topics. Lu Yiming, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of AInnovation, moderated the panel.
The attendees also included Geng Tao, Vice Mayor of Qingdao Municipal Government, Jiang Jianchao, Deputy Secretary General of Qingdao Municipal Committee and Director of Political Research Office, Zhang Yi, Deputy Secretary General of Qingdao Municipal Committee, Bian Cheng, Director of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, Li Hongbing, Director of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Finance, Zhang Yuansheng, Deputy Secretary and Mayor of Jimo District, Qingdao, Xing Luzheng, Party Secretary and Chairman of Qingdao City Construction Investment Group, Feng Wei, Standing Committee Member and Chief of Staff of Jimo District, Qingdao, Li Li, Vice Mayor of Jimo District, Qingdao, Tina Tao, President of Sinovation Ventures, Liang Guozhong, Managing Director of CICC Partnership, Member of CICC Capital Operation Management Committee and Chairman of CICC ALPHA, Zhou Wei, Founding Team Member and Executive General Manager of CICC ALPHA, Zhang Fa'en, Co-founder and CTO of AInnovation.
Wang Qingxian noted, "Currently, Qingdao is taking advantage of the great trend of open development empowered by General Secretary Xi Jinping, to better leverage its value as a "double-nodes" city in the new development pattern. The city has released 10 measures for entrepreneurship, seeking to encourage people to start a new undertaking, gather talents from around the world, and build a vibrant business-friendly city. AI is the most coveted field for innovation and entrepreneurship at present. As a gazelle enterprise in the field of AI, AInnovation has settled its headquarters in Qingdao, which will promote the building of a hot land for AI application and service industry in Qingdao. We hope to take the opportunity to deepen cooperation with Sinovation Ventures, CICC, and other partners, to build a better place for young people to start a business."
Zhang Yuansheng, Deputy Secretary and Mayor of Jimo District, Qingdao, noted, "In recent years, Jimo District has moved faster to build a competitive modern industrial system. Promoted by the new infrastructure policy, advanced manufacturing has become a key part of the real economy in Jimo and is also the key to enhancing the strength of the regional economy. AInnovation is an AI commercialization company with great potential and also a leading player in domestic intelligent manufacturing. We believe that the cooperation between the two sides will boost the transformation of traditional industries in Jimo."
Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, noted, "AI is moving from 'AI+' to '+AI' stage, which means a greater value. '+AI' means the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries using AI to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The volume of traditional industries is large enough, and if they can increase the value by 1% after being empowered by '+AI', a high increment will be brought. What AInnovation is doing is to help traditional industries to better use AI and enjoy the value enhancement brought by intelligence."
Liang Guozhong, Managing Director of CICC Partnership and Chairman of CICC ALPHA, showed high recognition of AInnovation, "Driven by national policies and complex international factors, the application of AI in traditional industries has become an essential choice, thus huge opportunities are created for AI commercialization companies like AInnovation. When CICC ALPHA and Jimo District, Qingdao decided to co-build CICC ALPHA Qingdao Science and Technology Innovation Industrial Base, the first quality sci-tech enterprise we brought in was AInnovation. Now, AInnovation will settle its headquarters in Qingdao. We believe that Qingdao's favorable industrial policies and innovation-friendly environment will further empower AInnovation."
Hocking Xu, CEO of AInnovation, said, "Qingdao is an open, vibrant, and enterprising city that is replacing old drivers with new ones, with a sound business environment and industrial foundation. AInnovation specializes in AI empowerment in manufacturing, finance, retail and public services, a perfect fit with Qingdao's industrial priorities. With our headquarters settling in Qingdao, we will take advantage of Qingdao as a "double-nodes" city for "dual circulation", complement each other's strengths and share resources, working to build Qingdao into a new hot land of AI. AInnovation has shaped a nationwide strategic layout. In the future, we will harness the synergy between the headquarters and regional cities to promote a full blossoming of the AI industry."
Wang Qingxian and his delegation also visited AInnovation's "AI Innovation Center" hall, where he praised the company's full range of AI application scenarios and rapidly deliverable hardware and software integrated AI products and solutions that bring value to customers. He encouraged the company to strengthen independent innovation and become a banner of China's AI industry.