Major Metropolis in China to Set up Huge Investment Fund for AI Development

Chinese metropolis Tianjin is planning to establish an AI fund worth $16 billion, according to a document posted on Tianjin city’s official website. This is the biggest initiative by any Chinese city to facilitate AI development. The country is endeavoring to become the global leader in AI by 2030. Tianjin is a port city in Northeast China with an estimated 15.6 million population.

The 100-billion yuan fund will be used to develop next-generation technologies in AI. The document posted on Tianjin city’s official website further reveals funding will flow from financial firms, private organizations and other organizations from China and abroad.

This fund is part of the government’s vision to accelerate smart technology development in China. Tianjin authorities also initiated an AI-based manufacturing fund. Rich financial incentives are being offered to attract top talent as part of this program, such as a 2 million reward for experts.

This fund will help China to achieve global supremacy in AI technologies. AI is vital for innovative applications, such as self- driving cars, AI customer chatbots, robo advisors, healthtech and more.

The new fund is substantially larger than the AI funding program announced previously by the European Union Commission. The EUC stated that it would invest US$1.78 billion from 2018 to 2020. This represents a 70% increase in investment. As a result, aggregate investments, from the European public and private sectors will exceed $20 billion in 2020.

In 2017, the State Council of China unveiled a long-term plan to develop a one trillion yuan AI industry by 2030. Just recently, the Trump administration resolved to strengthen US AI dominance through larger funding and more initiatives.

Ever since the State Council of China initiated the 3-step roadmap for AI supremacy, local and state authorities have formulated policies and invested greater amounts in drive AI development.

In January 2019, Beijing announced a 13.8 billion-yuan plan to construct an AI development park, which will accommodate 400 technology enterprises. The park is expected to generate 50 billion yuan per annum.

Towards the end of 2018, Shanghai revealed plans for the establishment of a world-class AI industry that is expected to generate 100 billion yuan annual revenue in 2020. The Shanghai Commission of Economy and Information Technology did not reveal the sources of this enormous fund. Observers expect that the government and leading venture capitalists will provide the bulk of the funding.