Beijing recruits Hong Kong artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime to lead tech drive

Carrie Lam hails involvement of company in developing next-generation artificial intelligence as ‘vote of confidence’ in city’s innovation skills

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SenseTime’s recognition technology has been used on the driverless cars and unstaffed stores. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:42pm, 20 Sep 2018Updated: 11:07am, 25 Nov 2019

A Hong Kong start-up whose face- and image-recognition technology is being used for smart cities, online entertainment and finance has been hand-picked by Beijing to power China’s ambition to be a global tech leader.

SenseTime, founded by Chinese University professor Sean Tang Xiaoou and other academics, will join a bevy of technology giants including Baidu and Tencent in spurring the development of next-generation artificial intelligence.

On Thursday, China’s Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang announced his ministry would entrust SenseTime to establish an “open innovation platform for next-generation AI” on intelligent vision.

Carrie Lam (left), SenseTime founder Sean Tang Xiaoou (centre) and China’s Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang at a presentation on Thursday. Photo: Handout

A spokesman for SenseTime said Beijing’s endorsement indicated that the company’s research in intelligent vision, or computer vision, was recognised as the best in China.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor hailed the involvement of SenseTime as a “vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s strengths in innovation and technology”, as she met Wang Zhigang on Thursday.