Huawei Founder's Vision for China: An Innovation Hub in Two

Credit: TMTPost

BEIJING, August 6 (TMTPOST) The world’s top telecom giant Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has expressed his vision that China will become an innovation center of the world in 20 to 30 years.

Ren made the remarks during his visits to four prestigious research universities in Shanghai and Nanjing, namely Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, Southeast University and Nanjing University, with an aim to exchange opinions with researchers, academicians and students from July 29 to July 31. Xu Wenwei, the head of Huawei’s Strategic Research Institute, and He Tingbo, President of Lab 2012, accompanied Ren during his entire trip.

“Technology is advancing at a very fast pace now,” Ren told a panel of experts on the campus of Shanghai Jiaotong University. “ I hope that a university will function like a beacon that sheds light on both itself and others.”

The veteran-turned telecom mogul, 75, said that Huawei intended to have further cooperation and exchanges with the Shanghai-based university in order to train more talents for the industry. He also expressed the hope for Huawei to join hands with the university to turn research results into applications and make contributions to breakthroughs in key fields.

Shanghai Jiaotong University and Huawei have established close relationship since 2009. The two sides signed a strategic cooperation agreement in the fields of technological renovation, training and campus IT in 2019. Huawei has become one of top employers that recruit most graduates of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Rise of Innovation Hub in 20 to 30 Years

During his visit to Nanjing University, Ren compared frontier science research to “a dark house” and professors to a lighthouse for students.

Ren stressed that each and every university student should be treasured because we don’t know which student will kindle a light for the world.

He said the Chinese culture has endowed parents with the tradition to prioritize children’s education. However, he hoped China would boast an innovation center of the world in 20 to 30 years if the spirit of innovation is continuously instilled into university students.

In Nanjing University, the last leg of the four-campus trip, Ren lauded the university’s leadership in scientific research in the world. He also hoped Huawei and Nanjing University would strengthen their cooperation and exchanges to discover new opportunities for innovations.

The cooperation between Huawei and Nanjing University dates back to 1993 when Huawei first created a scholarship on the campus. In recent years, the two parties have jointly set up seven labs in AI, software engineering, acoustic research, metamaterials and semiconductor display. In 2018, Huawei launched the “Zijin Scholar” fund dedicated to recruiting high-tech talents in IT and telecom for the prestigious university.

The Future Lies in Education and Talents

Despite becoming the first recipient of the “Fudan Management Science Outstanding Contributions” award in 2013, Ren had not visited the university until July 30.

Xu Ningsheng, Fudan University President and a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, received Ren and his entourage. Xu said Ren’s visit was a milestone and also a new start for Huawei-Fudan cooperation in pursuing their shared strategic goals.

In his discussions with ten professors and experts, Ren said: “We bring the needs of real clients while you bring scientific ideals. The integration of practices and ideals is the execution strategy.”

“You aim high while we focus on down-to-earth applications. We hope to combine your (research) results with our industrial engineering,” Ren said. “I am glad to meet academicians who are willing to sit on a cold bench and do research.”

Ren and researchers at Fudan exchanged opinions on fundamental subject research and talent training in order to bring extensive and in-depth cooperation to a new high.

“There are many uncertainties in store. What is the competition in the future about? It is about education and talents now,” said Ren.

In September 2019, Fudan University and Huawei inked a strategic cooperation agreement on talent training.