Long-term cross-border AI development program provides Hong Kong businesses and partners a global stage to showcase the city’s innovation and technology capabilities
[Hong Kong, September 5, 2018] Microsoft today announced a strategic alliance with over 600 partners, collaborating with them closely on computer vision, product recognition and speech recognition capabilities to jointly develop industry solutions and go-to-market initiatives in Hong Kong and the Great Bay Area. By early October, ten Hong Kong partners will be selected to present their technologies at Microsoft’s China Tech Summit on October 24, 2018 at Shanghai, China.
Over 600 customers and 600 partners were inspired at Hong Kong’s first Microsoft AI Summit, showcasing the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions across vision and speech, workplace productivity and cybersecurity with usage in various industries in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.
“The Microsoft AI Summit is our first step in connecting Hong Kong businesses and partners with the cutting-edge AI technology in the Greater Bay Area. As Hong Kong is going through digital transformation with a focus on AI, we aim to inspire Hong Kong companies to dream big and leverage AI to enhance their business performance and productivity, grasping the opportunities in this era of digital transformation,” said Serena Cheung, Director, One Commercial Partner and Small, Medium & Corporate Customers at Microsoft Hong Kong.
“With the research and innovation capabilities in the Greater Bay Area, as well as the tremendous business opportunities in mainland China, Hong Kong businesses could leverage Microsoft’s presence and in-depth knowledge of the greater China region to enhance their capabilities and expand their business footprint,” added Cheung.
Microsoft AI Summit today showcased 20 partners at the event, presenting solutions that impact everyday lives. From using AI technologies to transform customer services, increase business productivity and efficiency, to predictive maintenance, Microsoft’s AI leadership has empowered many customers and partners today in virtually all industries in Hong Kong, including retail, financial services, manufacturing, property, education and government.
According to a recent IDC study[1], in 2017, about 5% of Hong Kong’s GDP was derived from digital products and services created directly through the use of digital technology, such as AI, cloud and Internet of Things (IoT). This is expected to surge to around 60% by 2021.
“The emergence of AI has provided brand new opportunities for the technology industry. As we achieved significant AI innovation to support Hong Kong and strived to expand our footprint internationally, Microsoft enables us with the right tools, platforms, business models and channel partnership, as well as global business opportunities. Such partnership provides an exponential global opportunity for high growth companies like Cherrypicks,” said Jason Chiu, Founder & CEO of Cherrypicks, an award-wining home-grown Hong Kong start-up with leading mobile innovation in smart city, augmented reality (AR), location intelligence (AI) and eWallet.
“Technology brings huge impact to our lives. Our mission is to better the society and everyday lives through AI. We are excited to share our work with customers and partners in Hong Kong today. Microsoft has not only empowered us with the AI technology to help the communities, but also connected us with like-minded AI enthusiasts and inspire companies on the possibilities that AI could bring,” said Ken Yip, Founder and CEO of Perspicace Intelligence Technology, a Shanghai based start-up focuses on providing smart home solutions through the usage of AI, deep machine learning and speech recognition.
For more information about Microsoft AI Summit or reruns of the keynote speeches, please visit www.microsoft.com/hk/wintogetherwithai/
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[1] Unlocking the Economic Impact of Digital Transformation in Asia Pacific was produced by Microsoft in partnership with IDC Asia/Pacific. IDC surveyed 1,560 respondents in 15 markets including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
