Liuqingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK, helped Chongqing

Liuqingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK: help the development of "smart economy" in Chongqing and create a highland of artificial intelligence industry

liuqingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK. (picture provided by iFLYTEK)

founded in 1999, iFLYTEK has increased its investment in intelligent speech technology. Now, it has represented the highest international level in intelligent speech and artificial intelligence core technologies such as speech synthesis, speech recognition, oral evaluation, language translation, voiceprint recognition, face recognition, natural language processing and so on

as one of the important guests of the first smart Expo, liuqingfeng, chairman of iFLYTEK, will lead a team to Chongqing to show the whole product line of education, politics and law, medical treatment, intelligent customer service and so on, and hold the "Ai empowering · wisdom enjoying the future" iFLYTEK ai+ technology innovation and Development Forum. To this end, Chongqing made an exclusive interview with Liu Qingfeng as the smart Expo approached

Chongqing: how many years have you worked in the field of intelligence? What is the reason and opportunity for you to establish iFLYTEK

liuqingfeng: I have been in the field of intelligence for 28 years. In 1990, I entered the University of science and technology of China to study, and in 1992, I was honored to be selected into the "Man-Machine Speech Communication Laboratory" of Professor Wang Renhua, the leader of speech synthesis in China. From then on, I began to explore with love for the voice industry, until now

in 1998, when I was still studying at the University of science and technology of China, I participated in the speech synthesis competition in China's "863 Program" with my brothers in the laboratory. In this competition, the speech synthesis system we developed achieved 3 points in the speech synthesis evaluation of our country for the first time, which means that the speech synthesis technology can be applied, which makes us very excited

after that, I faced two choices - going abroad or starting a business? In 1999, it was the upsurge of domestic Internet entrepreneurship that six students of USTC began to take action, and finally formed an 18 person entrepreneurial team to establish iFLYTEK, determined to make Chinese voice technology in the hands of the Chinese people and make Chinese voice technology the best

when we started our business in 1999, our team was the first group that Microsoft China Research Institute wanted to recruit. But we have started a business, and the manufacturing technology of domestic aluminum body will continue to mature. We have our own ambition and career, so we resolutely refused

this is the general background of our entrepreneurship at that time, which is enough to show that everyone values and values this industry

Chongqing: did iFLYTEK encounter development difficulties or bottlenecks in the process of entrepreneurship

liuqingfeng: shortly after iFLYTEK was established, we encountered the first bottleneck in the development of the company - from technology to industrialization, which is very difficult. At the beginning of entrepreneurship, Our idea is to let "There are more than 235 researchers at the University of Manchester who are committed to the research of two-dimensional materials of graphene. Machines and equipment can listen and speak like people, but out of this idea, we only pay attention to voice technology and entrust the marketing to others. Therefore, the company has been in a state of loss for one year after its establishment. Even for more than a year, it has almost yielded nothing.

after repeated consideration, I decided to put the mature language first The audio service products are sold to well-known technology companies, and then they are sold to demand customers such as banks and telecommunications, from which iFLYTEK receives a sales share

it is this "compromise" that makes iFLYTEK earn the first pot of gold. Until 2004, iFLYTEK finally achieved breakeven and had its first building

the early difficult development story also shows that the voice industry needs 10 years or more to accumulate technology, and researchers need to have the spirit of "sitting on the bench for ten years", because we are facing a new industry with hope but no ready-made path

after 19 years of persistence and struggle, iFLYTEK is now the largest listed company of intelligent voice and artificial intelligence in the Asia Pacific region. More importantly, we are focusing on the comprehensive layout of the future artificial intelligence field

at the end of 2017, iFLYTEK was selected as one of the first four AI open innovation platforms in China, and undertook to build China's first National Key Laboratory in the field of cognitive intelligence

because of our unremitting pursuit of innovation, at present, we not only control 70% of the Chinese voice market, rewriting the situation that foreign giants control the Chinese voice market, but also stand in the world's leading position in the source core technology. For example, in 2017, iFLYTEK won seven "world firsts" in international authoritative competitions such as speech synthesis, medical imaging, autopilot, sound imitation, machine reading comprehension, etc

Chongqing: what is the origin and current cooperation between iFLYTEK and Chongqing

liuqingfeng: in recent years, the high-tech industry represented by artificial intelligence has flourished in Chongqing, which makes me very happy. As early as 2015, iFLYTEK and Chongqing formed a bond. At that time, we signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the people's Government of Yubei District, and iFLYTEK contributed more to the construction of smart city in Yubei District, opening up the whole big data industry chain of "big data, small sensor, sea storage, Cloud Application" in Yubei District, and building China's big data ecological highland with international influence. It is also based on such cooperation that I have a new experience of the other side of Shanshui Chongqing

in recent years, our cooperation with Chongqing has continued to deepen. Based on the development trend of Chongqing's social economy and the attraction of Xiantao international big data Valley innovation ecosystem, iFLYTEK southwest regional headquarters officially settled in Yubei, Chongqing in September 2016, and built a voice cloud innovation and entrepreneurship platform in Xiantao data Valley, an innovation and entrepreneurship comprehensive service center integrating fruit display, R & D testing, entrepreneurship guidance and on-site experience. Relying on iFLYTEK's powerful cloud platform resources, Provide technical support and training guidance for makers using intelligent voice nationwide, incubate, support and gather a number of innovative enterprises in intelligent voice and AI related fields to settle in Chongqing

nowadays, iFLYTEK has good AI innovation and application cases in smart medicine, smart politics and law, smart education and other aspects in Chongqing, Yunnan, Guizhou and other southwestern provinces and cities

in 2017, iFLYTEK and Chang'an Automobile signed a strategic cooperation agreement, and the two sides announced that they would jointly build laboratories to carry out comprehensive and in-depth cooperation in the field of technology research and development, product design, and vehicle application of automotive electronic intelligence

in February this year, China smart Valley (Chongqing) built by iFLYTEK was officially unveiled, and the Artificial Intelligence College jointly built by iFLYTEK and Chongqing University of Posts and telecommunications was officially unveiled, which is a very important moment for iFLYTEK. Chongqing iFLYTEK AI college will make full use of iFLYTEK's technology and talent resources, let students widely participate in the construction of iFLYTEK's key projects in Chongqing, such as big data AI, smart education, smart government, and grow into senior talents in the field of AI through rich practical learning

in general, iFLYTEK has made a comprehensive layout and cooperation in Chongqing from the four aspects of "production, learning, research and intelligence", and has achieved positive results

Chongqing: what "black technology" will iFLYTEK bring to Chongqing to participate in the smart Expo this time? What are your expectations for the smart Expo and the intelligent development of Chongqing

liuqingfeng: first of all, iFLYTEK attaches great importance to this smart Expo and started preparations for the exhibition very early. At this grand event, iFLYTEK will bring the whole product line of education, politics and law, medical treatment, intelligent customer service and so on to the exhibition

nowadays, the application of artificial intelligence technology in the medical field has attracted great attention in the industry. We will display relevant technologies and application cases at the smart Expo. For example, in the medical field, the pressure of doctors' paperwork is reduced through intelligent voice interaction technology; Using intelligent image recognition technology to assist doctors in reading films, reduce the missed diagnosis rate of reading films, and deeply cut into the doctor's workflow

in ai+ vehicles, iFLYTEK intelligent voice and artificial intelligence technology are applied in the automotive field. At present, it has equipped voice interactive products for more than 200 models and nearly 15million vehicles. Partners include Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, FAW, Chang'an and other well-known domestic and foreign car companies. At present, we are also working with Chang'an automobile to explore the implementation of intelligent voice technology on some models in Chang'an

in addition, we will also hold the iFLYTEK ai+ technology innovation and Development Forum of "Ai empowering · smart sharing the future" at the smart Expo. This forum will discuss the latest hot spots and development trends of AI core technology, as well as the importance of AI core technology to the development of enterprises and countries. IFLYTEK will also release the latest scientific research achievements and industrial applications of artificial intelligence on site. Visitors are welcome to experience the charm of artificial intelligence on site