Siemens opens its first AI Lab in Beijing

 

CBI member, Siemens opened its first artificial intelligence lab outside of Germany in Beijing last Wednesday. The company’s first industrial AI hub in the Asia Pacific region, the lab has been opened to pioneer research into applicable solutions to help Chinese clients counter faltering industrial output across the Mainland.

The lab will house around 50 data scientists, but will be connected to around 800 Siemens researchers and engineers around the globe who will be available virtually to offer applied AI solutions to Chinese clients.

Dr Roland Busch, chief operating officer and chief technical officer at Siemens said, “Artificial Intelligence is a core technology for a successful digital transformation and offers tremendous opportunities for all industries. [Siemens] are excited to work with Chinese customers on their most urgent topics to make production more efficient and raise the availability of systems like machines or trains.”

The opening of the Beijing AI lab was paired with an announcement made by Siemens in Chengdu, that the company planned to open an additional R&D facility within the city, that would partner the Beijing facility by integrating cloud computing into Siemens’ AI solutions service provision.

The Chengdu R&D centre, schedule to open this coming Wednesday, will partner the Beijing lab and help industrial customers digitise their manufacturing processes and integrate cloud computing processes, such as Siemens MindSphere digital platform, into Alibaba’s cloud computing operations for managing industrial output.

Speaking at the event, Zhu Xiaoxun, executive vice president of Siemens China said, “Chinese business clients have great expectations of AI, and are willing to believe it could solve all the problems that they face. [Siemens’ new lab in Chengdu] will be able to help better inform clients about the role of AI in solving specific problems and the kinds of data [factory owners] need to collect to utilise AI to bring about a complete solution [to support their industrial operations].”