Baidu leads China’s Construction of the Upcoming National Engineering Laboratory of Deep Learning Technology and Application

Baidu will now take lead in building China’s National Engineering Laboratory of Deep Learning Technology and Application, and participate in establishing the national engineering laboratory of big data system software, and the national engineering laboratory of brain technology and application.

We are very honoured that Baidu is granted the opportunity to initiate and construct the national engineering lab of deep learning. Baidu will source our three leading assets for the new establishment: computing resources, algorithm resources, and big data resources.

Recently, China’s National Development and Reform Committee formally approved Baidu to lead the construction of national deep learning technology and application engineering laboratories, and further the development of deep learning technology and application alongside other researchers.

China needs to provide basic support to the development of AI technologies. Led by Baidu, this laboratory will focus on developing seven major areas, including deep learning, computer vision, computer auditory, biometric identification, human-computer interaction, standardization service, and deep learning intellectual property. It is determined to be an institution that is “first in China and first-class in the world”, making research breakthroughs, working with industries, transferring technologies, and cultivate new talents in order to enhance the overall competitiveness of China’s artificial intelligence development.

The lab will be directed by Baidu deep learning laboratory director Yuan Ping Lin and chief scientist Wei Xu, Tsinghua University academician Bo Zhang, and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronaut academician Li Wei. As the lead, Baidu will work with Tsinghua University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China Information and Communication Research Institute, China Electronic Technology Institute, and other institutions to develop deep learning technology and applications.

At the same time, Baidu will open-source to the laboratory its three world leading resources — computational resources, algorithm resources and big data resources, as well as the industry’s most cutting-edge deep learning research focuses, which will attract top talents to participate in research, and use the laboratory as a training site for more researchers and postdoctoral candidates.

Baidu’s President and Chief Operating Officer Lu Qi issued a congratulatory note for the approval of laboratory:

wo years ago, Robin put forward the “Chinese brain” proposal. Today, the National Engineering Laboratory is under construction. In less than two years, we witnessed the surfacing of artificial intelligence technology in China, and its great speed of development. We are very excited that China’s information technology industry is catching up to the developed markets.

We are very honoured that Baidu has the opportunity to be the lead in building China’s own deep learning national engineering laboratory. We will give the laboratory team high quality resources to ensure it is enough to complete the mission of the state, and live up to the expectations of our society.

As the leader of Artificial Intelligence in China, Baidu invested heavily in technology in recent years. The company’s Institution of Deep Learning (IDL) was established in 2013, followed by the Big Data Laboratory (BDL) and Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SVAIL), (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_reality) Augmented reality Laboratory (ARL), etc. Also, Baidu released a leading depth Learning platform (*Paddle Paddle*), and built a comprehensive artificial intelligence R&D system. In the field of voice, image recognition and unmanned technologies, Baidu’s applications have reached the global leading level.

Nowadays, the day request volume of Baidu brain speech synthesis is 250 million, and speech recognition rate is up to 97%, especially the face recognition accuracy rate is as high as 99.7%. In 2016, Baidu voice technology is named “2016 global breakthrough in the top ten technology” by MIT Technology Review. In addition, Baidu has been selected as the world’s second intelligent company.

What’s more, with Baidu’s artificial intelligence, facial recognition technology has been applied to the face gates, financial wind control and other fields. In the 2016 World Internet Conference, Wuzhen attractions took a lead to apply Baidu’s face recognition system, which increase the checking efficiency shapely. Other applications such as voice recognition and image recognition are also applied for indemnification, which effectively reduce the dim light, noise and other environmental factors on the accuracy of recognition, significantly enhance the recognition rate and prevent fraud.

Totally 19 national engineering laboratories got approved this time. Baidu not only takes the lead in the construction of deep learning technology and application, but also participates in big data systems and brain intelligence technology building.

National Engineering Laboratory is an important industrial technology infrastructure and R&D entity in the national science and technology innovation system. It represents the highest level in the leading industries of our country.

All in all, the development of artificial intelligence can significantly enhance the competitiveness of the country. Not surprisingly, deep learning technology has become one of the most important battle of science and technology competition.

Original Article from Baidu | Localized by Synced Global Team: Meghan Han , Rita Chen