Guangzhou shared ten innovation stories in Boao, Hainan, during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) on Monday, April 9th. Here under the spotlight are artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals, culture, media and urban planning. Just part of the story of the city’s emerging industries.

Self-drive Technology

Guangzhou-based Jingchi.ai will launch a batch of new driverless vehicles by the end of this year, according to Tony Han, CEO of Jingchi.ai.

In early February, Pony.ai launched its autonomous ride-sharing fleet in downtown Nansha, Guangzhou. [Photo/Official website of Pony.ai]

“We will establish China’s first driverless demonstration area in Nansha District, covering 30 square kilometers,” said Harry Hu, COO & Acting CFO of Pony.ai.

In addition to driverless cars, Guangzhou is also the birthplace of world’s first passenger drone, the EHang 184 autonomous aerial vehicle, which succeeded in a series flight tests carrying one and two passengers this February.

Artificial Intelligence

CloudWalk Technology Co. Ltd., a Guangzhou-based developer of facial recognition software, is now the largest supplier of facial recognition technology for China’s banking sector.

The company’s founder Zhou Xi was a disciple of Thomas Shi-Tao Huang, one of the leading figures in computer vision, pattern recognition and human computer interaction. Zhou is a seven-time winner of international challenges in computer vision discrimination, image recognition and audio detection.

Biopharmaceuticals

Ten years ago when Meprin Regenerative Medical Technologies Co. Ltd. had just been established in Guangzhou, over 90% of high-end implanted medical devices in China were still imported. Over the past few years, Meprin has grown rapidly and for the first time ever, industrialized biological 3D printing technology in the field of soft tissue reconstruction.

Now Meprin’s products are being used in hospitals in over 60 countries and regions worldwide, including a University of Cambridge affiliated hospital, providing direct help to more than 100,000 patients around the globe.

Culture & media going global

“Focus Media decided to settle down in Guangzhou due to a great working relationship with the city. We have seen high quality development in the city and have been able to go global under the Belt and Road Initiative thanks to the city’s innovation and openness,” said Jason Nanchun Jiang, Founder & CEO of Focus Media Holding Ltd.

This year, Guangzhou Flower Market launched two mascots, ‘Hua Hua & Cheng Cheng’ which were part of the Spring Festival celebrations in both Guangzhou and Paris where a typical Cantonese New Year flower market had been set up overseas for the first time.

Guangzhou Urban Planning & Design Survey Research Institute has launched urban management and strategic planning in five African cities, working hand in hand with UN Habitat. Joan Clos, the executive director of UN Habitat, highly commended the way that Guangzhou’s urban development and construction has largely improved the population’s living conditions and boosted the regional economy, which should be shared on the world stage.

Currently, Guangzhou is striving to develop emerging industries including Information Technology/Information Communication Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Biopharmaceuticals (IAB), with the aim of achieving a total industrial value of over 1 trillion RMB by 2022.

(Author: Monica Liu; Editors: Simon Haywood, Wing Zhang)