China Speech Valley Successfully Hosts 2016 AI Summit, Accelerating the Development of a Global Artificial Intelligence Industry Hub

On September 21, the China Voice Valley Investment Promotion Conference and AI Industry Summit was successfully held at the Hilton Shenzhen Shekou Nanhai. The event featured keynote speeches and a roundtable discussion by eight partners from top international investment firms and six CEOs of leading domestic artificial intelligence companies, who delved into new venture capital and investment trends in the AI sector for 2016. Additionally, more than 400 AI startup founders, along with 100 prominent investors and media professionals, attended the summit, engaging in in-depth discussions and exchanges with the guest speakers.

This major venture capital event in the field of artificial intelligence was jointly hosted by the Office of the Leading Group of the Ministry and Provincial Government, the Hefei Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, and the Administrative Committee of Hefei National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, and organized by Anhui Information Industry Investment Holding Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Anhui XinTou”) and Beijing Putao Venture Capital Technology Co., Ltd.

At the conference, representatives of the Hefei municipal government provided an overview of the local investment climate for industrial development. Qi Dongfeng, President of Anhui Xintou, promoted the China Voice Valley project. Zhu Jianhuan, Partner at IDG Capital, along with other experts, offered in-depth insights into the investment prospects of artificial intelligence (AI), asserting that “this is the golden age for AI entrepreneurship.” Additionally, prominent entrepreneurs and investors in the AI sector—including Cheng Hao, Founder of Thunder and Sinoway Yuanwang Capital; Qi Dongfeng, President of Anhui Xintou; Zhang Fei, Partner at Morningside Venture Capital; Qiu Nan, Founder of Gowild; and Huang Zhuo, Founder of Gizwits—shared their valuable expertise and practical insights with the attending entrepreneurs and investors.

At the summit’s roundtable forum, entrepreneurs from various vertical sectors of artificial intelligence (AI) and industry investors shared innovative highlights in autonomous driving, voice interaction, data analytics, and virtual reality technologies, while providing an in-depth analysis of investment trends in the AI sector for 2016. Observations from the summit indicated that the so-called “capital winter” has not dampened entrepreneurial enthusiasm in the AI field, with significant financing and investment deals continuing to emerge across various AI subsectors.

Anhui Xintou, the operator of “China Voice Valley,” signed strategic cooperation letters of intent with eight companies on-site to facilitate their entry into the park for key projects. The signing companies are: Beijing Bigo Technology Co., Ltd., Heyou Zhijing Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Cloud Animal IoT Technology Co., Ltd., the Smart Emergency Equipment Project of the American First Aid University, Shenzhen Gowild Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Kingkong Ant Robotics Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongying Anxin Technical Services Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Renren Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.—eight outstanding enterprises in the field of artificial intelligence.

It is reported that, in addition to benefiting from Anhui Province’s “1+6+2,” Hefei City’s “1+3+5,” and the High-Tech Zone’s “2+2” industrial support policies, enterprises entering the “China Voice Valley” can also enjoy park-specific policies tailored by “China Voice Valley.”

The conference not only provided insights into the latest investment trends in artificial intelligence and first-hand entrepreneurial experiences, but also featured an analysis of the most recent government policies. In terms of financial innovation, national, provincial, and municipal matching funds totaling nearly RMB 500 million are allocated annually to ministry-province joint projects. With the support of the leading group, special guidance funds have been established to provide supportive investments to enterprises settling in the industrial park. Regarding market promotion, priority is given to the products and services offered by key enterprises within the park; various resources are integrated to adopt a pilot-first approach, while the government assists in establishing corporate cooperation channels to facilitate market expansion for these enterprises.

“China Speech Valley” is a key ministerial-provincial cooperative project jointly established by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Anhui Provincial People’s Government, with Anhui Xintou fully responsible for its operation and management. Adhering to the principles of “clustered development and optimized layout,” China Speech Valley has created a spatial layout featuring “one core, two zones, and multiple parks.” It accelerates the aggregation of artificial intelligence (AI) industry projects into China Speech Valley through investment, investment promotion, and incubation, thereby improving the AI industrial chain. The initiative strives to develop China’s AI industry into a leading sector with international competitiveness and to build China Speech Valley into a hub with global influence.

In 2015, the “China Speech Valley” base achieved an output value of RMB 23.558 billion, generated approximately RMB 1.5 billion in tax revenue, and completed fixed-asset investments of around RMB 1.251 billion. To date, there are 46 key construction projects within the base, with a total investment of RMB 5.8 billion. These projects primarily focus on the research and development of core technologies such as speech recognition and artificial intelligence, application promotion, industrialization of smart hardware, and the establishment of AI industry incubation platforms.

The China Voice Valley Investment Promotion Conference and Artificial Intelligence Industry Summit aims to better assist entrepreneurs and investors in the AI sector by connecting them with high-quality resources and identifying innovative projects, thereby realizing both social and commercial value amidst the wave of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation.”