Beijing’s advanced industrial ecosystem emerges as AI leader in China’s thriving tech scene

Beijing has emerged as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) across China’s tech scene in recent years.

China’s capital city has seen an array of major breakthroughs in AI research, along with the accumulation of top-tier AI enterprises and AI talents. The rate of AI adoption is high throughout the city, including its applications in finance, transportation, medical care, security and education, contributing to high-quality social and economic development.

Photo shows a self-driving vehicle hitting the pavement in one neighborhood located inside the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, a demonstration zone for autonomous driving in Beijing, capital of China. (Photo/Xinhua)

Beijing leads the country in terms of the number of AI enterprises. So far, it is home to some 1,500 relevant companies, accounting for 28 percent of the country’s total.

The city topped the rankings for competitiveness in China’s AI industry, with a score of 82.37, according to a study by the Chinese Institute of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Strategies released in 2021.

In 2020, the output value of the overall AI industry in Beijing hit 186 billion yuan (about $27.73 billion), up by 9.8 percent year-on-year.

“Beijing has the talents, capital and policies for AI startups, as well as application scenarios for AI created by the government. Our company has grown in the Zhongguancun of Haidian district, which boasts an atmosphere of innovation,” introduced Huang Wei, chief executive officer at Unisound AI Technology Co., Ltd.

The city is home to nearly half of the high-level AI scholars in China, with over 40,000 talents working in the core AI industry, according to a report on the development of AI in Beijing in 2020 released by the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence.

In September 2020, the city unveiled a plan to build a cloud-controlled high-level demonstration zone for autonomous driving in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, with an area of about 60 square km.

“As of mid-June 2022, there were over 300 advanced self-driving vehicles in the zone, which either go through driverless testing operations or deliver services on the road. The test mileage of the self-driving vehicles in the zone has reached about 5.9 million kilometers. And the autonomous vehicles have served over 80,000 people in the zone,” introduced a staff member working at the zone.

“I used to think self-driving in its real sense will be realized far in the future. But it turns out that it has already been realized,” said a resident surnamed Du in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. She added that she once hailed a Robotaxi on an app on her smartphone. Later the vehicle arrived without any fanfare to pick her up and took her directly to her destination.

Moreover, AI technology has been applied to urban governance. At the beginning of 2021, the Intelligent Operations Command Center in Haidian was put into operation in Haidian district. Featuring an intelligent management system, the center helps to make the city smarter.

The command center is supported by an intelligent cloud platform, a big data center, and an AI computing processing center, among other technologies, according to Yan Taiguang, an official at the center. It can be applied for emergency response and dispatch situations, as well as offering support for major events.

By giving full play to its many advantages in talent and technology, Beijing will continue to advance the development of its AI industry, forge an industrial ecology with global influence, and strive to accumulate applicable experience into the future, said an official with the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park.