Together with the China Europe International Business School, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Microsoft is launching comprehensive AI business courses on the establishment of Artificial Intelligence strategy, culture development, and technology deployment for future business leaders, innovative start-ups, and entrepreneurs.
Shanghai, China – August 30, 2019 – Microsoft, together with the China Europe International Business School, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University announced the launch of the first Microsoft AI Business School in China, combining the dual resources of offline interactive teaching and online courses.
Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations, said that “AI is the defining technology of our time. In this digital economy, the businesses that will fare best will be those who understand and embrace the true potential of AI solutions. As leaders, I believe we have a responsibility to prepare our employees and businesses for this new frontier, and that begins by having a comprehensive understanding of how to develop a holistic AI strategy whilst also building a culture of trust and learning amongst your workforce. No leader should have to go on this journey alone, which is why I am excited for the launch of the AI Business School in China. By providing business leaders, start-ups, and entrepreneurs with insights from top industry executives on how to maximize the opportunity of AI, I truly believe we can catalyze enterprise innovation in China.”
Microsoft’s first “offline + online” dual-resource AI Business School lands in China
In March this year, Microsoft launched its AI Business School (www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-business-school). According to Gartner’s 2019 CIO Survey, 91% of enterprises plan to use AI in the next 3 years and 37% have started or are planning to start their AI initiatives next year. This highlights that most companies have realized the important role of AI applications in the process of digital transformation. However, many industries still struggle to grasp a complete understanding of AI and its real-world applications, and this is why Microsoft started the AI Business School – to fill the gap. The Microsoft AI Business School offers a series of online courses focused on AI strategy, culture, and responsibility, which are complemented by rich cases and sharp insights across key industries including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, FSI, and government. This path to greater industry learning aims to create real business value and realize the true transformational power of AI in the enterprise.
- Defining an AI strategy: There is a gap between what people want to do and the reality of their organizations today, not to mention whether their organization is ready. AI initiatives start with an understanding of what a holistic AI strategy is, and this module provides industry leaders with a framework for creating an AI vision that can be applied strategically across an organization.
- Enabling an AI-ready culture: This module places a core focus on data. Companies that successfully embrace AI need to openly share data across departments and business functions, as well as ensure that all employees can participate in the development and implementation of data-driven AI applications.
- Responsible AI in business: This module showcases what Microsoft has done and achieved in terms of trusted technology and responsible AI, providing guidelines for business leaders to establish principles and a governance model that safeguards AI systems against malicious attacks and detects bias in datasets used to train models.
- AI technology for business leaders: This module provides an overview of the primary concepts of AI and the technologies behind it, as well as an inside look at the latest advancements in AI tools, products, and services.
The modules are also accompanied by other AI learning initiatives from Microsoft, including the developer-focused AI School and the Microsoft Professional Program for Artificial Intelligence, which provides job-ready skills and real-world experience to engineers and others looking to improve their skills in AI and data science. Unlike these other initiatives, the AI Business School is non-technical and designed to get executives ready to lead their organizations on a journey of AI-enabled digital transformation. Microsoft has announced a partnership with INSEAD, a graduate business school with campuses in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, to build the AI Business School’s strategy module, which not only examines the AI technologies driving change across industries but focuses, in great detail, on managing the impact of AI on company strategy, culture, and responsibility.
“The advancement of AI has opened up unprecedented opportunities in the current world, leading more and more businesses and organizations to proactively embrace AI,” said Roan Kang, General Manager, Marketing and Operations, Greater China Region, Microsoft. “Microsoft possesses nearly 30 years of investment in AI research, and we have also accumulated extensive experience working with business leaders and transformers across industries. We are happy to share these research outcomes and practical experiences with local existing and future business leaders via the Microsoft AI Business School in China, to enable them to unlock the opportunities created by AI; this includes defining an AI strategy, enabling an AI-ready culture, emphasizing responsible AI in business, and preparing AI technology overviews for business leaders. Today, our partnerships with the China Europe International Business School, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University constitute an important step for us to drive the Microsoft AI Business School in China, as well as an exciting opportunity to accelerate digital transformation for Chinese businesses and help them win.”
China is one of the most active and innovative markets for AI. In order to equip Chinese entrepreneurs and future business leaders with an understanding of how AI technology will bring about both opportunities and challenges, systematically develop, deploy, and implement AI strategy, and win in and with the AI era, Microsoft creatively conducts in-depth cooperation with top local business schools to offer dual-resource (offline interactive teaching plus online courses), tailor-made AI business courses for Chinese business leaders. As the first batch of partner curriculums, the Microsoft AI Business School is cooperating with the China Europe International Business School, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University to provide a range of courses with unique features, including:
China Europe International Business School: The first school-enterprise, jointly-built high-level executive training class
The China Europe International Business School is a joint management education venture co-founded by the Chinese government and the European Union. Renowned for its academic rigor, CEIBS is the first business school in mainland China to have been accredited by both EQUIS and AACSB; moreover, it is the only business school in Asia to have simultaneously made it into the Financial Times’ top 5 list of both MBA and EMBA programs. CEIBS is committed to educating responsible leaders versed in “China Depth, Global Breadth”, in line with its motto of “Conscientiousness, Innovation, and Excellence”.
In this partnership, the China Europe International Business School will work with Microsoft to bring to life the first jointly-built, high-level executive-facing CXO series curriculum. Both parties will work closely together to offer executive students such as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and CMOs customized AI business school courses to cultivate business leadership in multi-dimensional digital transformation.
Professor WANG Gao, Associate Dean of the China Europe International Business School said, “CEIBS is committed to educating responsible leaders versed in ‘China Depth, Global Breadth’. Big data and AI will play important role in the future business world. We are very happy to partner with Microsoft, a world leader in AI technology and infrastructure, to help mid- to high-level executives across different industries enhance their management abilities and leadership in the business scenarios that will be unleashed by AI, so as to effectively tackle complex business challenges.”
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business: Customized courses for innovative start-ups
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) has always sought to cultivate business leaders with a global vision, a humanistic spirit, a strong sense of social responsibility and an innovative mindset. Co-founded by the school and its alumni, the CKGSB Chuang Community is a global learning platform and accelerator for start-up founders and entrepreneurs that leverages CKGSB’s key differentiations— a world-class faculty, an innovative curriculum system and an exclusive alumni network in China.
In partnering together, CKGSB, Microsoft and SoftBank China will explore how AI technologies can best be applied in entrepreneurial and innovative industries such as the retail and FMCG industries, the real estate and smart home industries, logistics and transportation, and intelligent manufacturing. As part of the collaboration, Microsoft and SoftBank China will also provide support on the Turing Plan – an AI and IoT innovation camp carried out by the CKGSB Chuang Community, which has now kicked off its first-round of recruitment (learn more details here). While CKGSB will be responsible for devising the overall curriculum and providing resources, Microsoft will offer support in curriculum design and the invitation of lecturers specializing in cutting-edge development trends, technology applications, and successful case studies in different industries.
In speaking about the collaboration, Jay Liu from the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business said, “Facing the future, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business will continue to integrate innovative resources to develop a global platform for start-ups to enhance and drive socio-economic progress. As part of this development, the Turing Plan will provide an entry platform for AI technologies to empower traditional industries. It will also allow us to explore joint solutions with leading enterprises in both the traditional industries and AI/IoT innovative start-ups. We hope that through the Turing Plan, CKGSB Chuang Community can become an accelerator and an experimental space to provide businesses with access to leading AI technologies, capital and industrial resources. By doing so, we are able to help stimulate business scenarios for AI applications and transition proof of concept cases into reality. Our ecosystem partners are then able to duplicate these workable solutions and applications in their respective industries to achieve growth through disruptive innovations.”
School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University: Strategic partnership in credit courses for MBA and EMBA programs
Tsinghua University is one of China’s most prestigious universities, and its School of Economics and Management is one of the first business schools in China to receive the accreditation from both AACSB and EQUIS. With the mission to advance knowledge and to cultivate leaders, the School is dedicated to the economic development and well-being of China and the world.
In this partnership, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University will join hands with Microsoft to build an AI curriculum and to develop business leaders with AI mindset. The two parties will work together to develop not only credit courses for the MBA and EMBA programs, but also a variety of academic activities in the field of AI, e.g. executive seminars, industry roundtables, forums, and online courses. School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University is responsible for crafting the curriculum, while Microsoft will provide guest speakers and lecturers, real world cases, and latest AI related technologies.
Professor XU Xin, Associate Dean of School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University said, “Our School has been dedicated to promote the innovation through our forward-looking curriculum and activities. Microsoft is one of the Advisory Board members of our School. The strategic partnership with a focus on MBA and EMBA AI courses will further bring the cutting-edge technical perspectives to future business leaders, and to build up a talent pool for the future business community to embrace, upgrade, and transform with the help of emerging technologies. Our cooperation with Microsoft is a long-term partnership, and we hold high expectations and anticipation for our future cooperation.”
In the future, the Microsoft AI Business School will continue to partner with a greater number of local enterprises, universities, and online communities, as well as introduce more management lectures and study content for a wider range of verticals. For more information on the Microsoft AI Business School, please refer to the website: www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-business-school.
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