On February 13, Beijing Innovation and Development Conference of the Artificial Intelligence Industry, the first event of Zhongguancun Forum in 2023, was held at Beijing Zhongguancun Exhibition Center.

At the meeting, Beijing Ascend AI Computing Center was officially launched. It signed contracts with the first 47 enterprises and scientific research institutions, which will promote the high-quality development of the AI industry in Beijing. An Escort Plan for Safe and Trustworthy AI and a White Paper on the Development of Beijing’s AI Industry in 2022 were also released during the conference.

Accelerate the high-quality development of the AI industry in Beijing with two innovations

Beijing Ascend AI Computing Center uses its own basic AI hardware and software to full uncover the computing power of hardware and help AI firms accelerate innovation application and model incubation.

The project achieved two “firsts” in China. One is using market-oriented operation approaches to actively explore a new AI construction mode of “root technologies + industrial capital + industrial polices”.

The other is to build an “Intelligence Valley in West Beijing” based on independently developed root technologies. To this end, it plans to create a new industrial development model of “inclusive computing power + entrepreneurial services + innovation platforms + high-quality talents” by building four platforms, i.e. public computing service platform, application innovation incubation platform, industrial aggregation development platform, and scientific research innovation and talent cultivation platform.

The first phase of Beijing Ascend AI Computing Center has the computing power of 100P, providing computing services for enterprises and scientific research institutions.

It gets through the whole process of “government, production, universities, research and application”, to accelerate the one-stop construction by transforming the “AI computing power cluster“ to the “industrial cluster”.

At the conference, Beijing Ascend AI Computing Center signed contracts with 47 clients, which are expected to need computing power of more than 248 P. Going forward, the Center will continue to enhance its computing power, aiming to reach 500P in the short term and 1000P in the long term.  

With the goal to be an intelligent computing hub in north China, it will fully tap the AI computing power to promote convergence of the AI industry in Beijing, and accelerate innovative development of the AI industry.

Beijing Ascend AI Ecological Innovation Center has now served more than 100 AI enterprises in Beijing and incubated over 200 innovative solutions of the AI industry.

ZGC (West Beijing) Artificial Intelligence Technology Park —— A Booster of AI Development

ZGC Development Group has build a complete innovation ecosystem for the AI sector. The ecosystem includes: a professional park --ZGC (West Beijing) Artificial Intelligence Technology Park (with its construction officially started on February 10) ; computing center, big model, cloud and other platforms co-built with scientific research institutions and champion enterprises; a special AI fund jointly established with Mentougou District; and a professional operation service team for the AI industry, ZGC Development- BAAI Artificial Intelligence Co., LTD., which was set up in partnership with Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI). It provides 203 professional services in 20 categories in total.

Ascent AI computing devices was donated to help the AI industry achieve solid development.

There are now barriers between AI technologies and industrial application. The value of AI technology can only be fully uncovered if the “last mile” is connected and a deep combination of AI technologies with various scenes is achieved.

At the conference, Mentougou District and Huawei donated Ascend artificial intelligence computing equipment, innovation resources and enabling technologies to 21 enterprises and research institutions, to help AI-related firms develop industry-leading solutions based on root technologies that are indigenously innovated.

Relying on Beijing Ascent AI Ecological Innovation Center, Huawei will also provide all kinds of technical support for AI-related companies.

Huawei will deepen cooperation with AI-related firms by providing services such as model incubation, application migration, product solution design and so on, with the help of various tool packages like Ascend pre-training models, industry development kits, and model development tools.

The 2022 White Paper on the Development of Beijing’s AI Industry was also released at the conference. It systematically displays Beijing’s innovation achievements and practical experience in the process of building a global AI innovation source and a leading AI city, informing the policies on AI industry development.