An aerial view of the Lin-gang Special Area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in Shanghai. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

The Dishui Lake AI Innovation Hub was launched to accelerate the development of the artificial intelligence industry in the Lin-gang Special Area, which is located in East China's Shanghai, on Aug 18.

Over 40 AI industrial projects were signed to settle in the AI Innovation Hub at the launch ceremony, with an investment of more than 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion).

The projects cover fields such as intelligent chips, autonomous driving, robotics, computational algorithms, and a digital twin city.

It is predicted that these projects will help attract around 5,000 professionals from the AI industry in the next three to five years.

Over 40 AI industrial projects sign with the Dishui Lake AI Innovation Hub on Aug 18. [Photo/WeChat ID: shlgguanweihui]

Lin Zhongqin, president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said in his speech during the launch ceremony that since the establishment of the Shanghai Intelligent Manufacturing Research Institute in 2015, the university has always regarded Lin-gang as an important base for R&D, innovation and achievements.

"In the future, Shanghai Jiao Tong University will continue to play the role of a think tank to support the construction and development of the Dishui Lake AI Innovation Port and the frontier industrial system of Lin-gang, bridging scientific research and industrial application," Lin said.

Li Yanhong, co-founder of top search engine Baidu, emphasized that intelligent transportation based on vehicle-road coordination can reduce the traffic accident rate by 90 percent, increase traffic efficiency by 15 percent to 30 percent, and promote the annual absolute growth of the gross domestic product by 2.4 percent to 4.8 percent.

In the future, Baidu plans to give full play to its technological advantages to build demonstration sites for unmanned driving, intelligent transportation and AI, in accordance with Lin-gang's objectives, Li said.

As application demonstration scenarios are key to the industrialization of new AI technologies from laboratories, a list of the first batch of AI scenarios in the Lin-gang Special Area was revealed at the ceremony.

Wu Qing (left), executive vice-mayor of Shanghai and Chen Jinshan (right), Director of Lin-gang Special Area Administration the Dishui Lake AI Innovation Hub in Lin-gang Special Area on Aug 18. [Photo/WeChat ID: shlgguanweihui]