On April 20, the "2019 AI/MR Ecological Development Summit Forum" and the unveiling ceremony of 3D Mixed Reality Research Center, Tsinghua University were solemnly held in Tsinghua University.

Wang Xiqin, Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University, Qiao Yueshan, Director of the Electronic Information Department of the MIIT, Li Junjie, Member of the Standing Committee of Haidian District Committee and Deputy District Head, Jin Guofan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Huang Yidong, Chair of the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Yang Huazhong, Professor of the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Yu Renrong, Chairman of Willsemi, Li Li, Chairman of Huajie Imi and other experts and leaders witnessed the important moment of the establishment of the first MR research center in China. Leading application experts in AI from Alibaba Cloud, OPPO, VIVO, TCL, Skyworth, and ZTE also participated in AI/MR summit forum.

(Participating leaders took a group photo and left a message)

The AI rising to the national strategy has become a global consensus. MR technology that can be implemented and empowered fastest in AR has become a field where various technology giants compete. Driven by national policies and market needs, the AI has been integrated with various industries in more depth, which also provides fertile soil for the popularization of MR technology.

On the track of MR, technology giants such as Apple and Microsoft have already foreseen its huge commercial value. They have invested considerable human, material and financial resources to initially complete the MR ecology and product layout, and take MR as the first strategy for the next 10 years. The explosion point of MR technology is coming soon.

But for domestic enterprises, MR is still in the initial stage. Because of lack of standards and system specifications, messy layout in related basic theories, core algorithms, key chips, application interfaces and lack of influential scientific research institutions and corporate ecosystems, a competitive force can't be formed.

As the world's leading research institution in the field of AI, Tsinghua University would take the advantage of itself, unite technological resources and practical application abilities of Huajie Imi and other enterprises to establish the first domestic 3D mixed reality research center, embark upon the exploration of MR research management and relevant standardization guidelines of the operation mechanism and promote the upgrade and fast implementation of MR technology.

Wang Xiqin, Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University, said at the meeting: "The establishment of 3D Mixed Reality Research Center by Tsinghua University aims to unite dominant enterprises to build consensus and complement each other's advantages, promote the R&D and industrial application of key technologies, jointly promote the establishment of MR industry standardization, accelerate the transformation and application of production and research achievements, and lead the global 3D MR commercialization boom."

(Mr. Wang Xiqin, Executive Vice President of Tsinghua University)

MR technology can promote industrial upgrading and blur virtual scenes and real scenes by use of data, or even blend them, to make contents richer, more real, and more real-time. In the future, MR will have good development prospects in six industries (production, construction, engineering, medicine, national defense and new retail) and five application scenarios (remote assistance, training and education, production, space design, IoT).

Huang Yidong, Chair of the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, pointed out that "mixed reality requires multi-disciplinary cross core technologies. The Department of Electronic Engineering also focuses on cultivating interdisciplinary versatile talents and will strongly support the work of the Mixed Reality Center."

Yang Huazhong, Professor of the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University and Director of the 3D Mixed Reality Research Center, said: "The core of MR technology is the algorithm and chip. Only by combining the algorithm and chip can the MR era be truly created. Both are indispensable."

(Mr. Yang Huazhong, Professor of Tsinghua University and Director of 3D Mixed Reality Research Center)

The chip is the primary condition for MR to achieve commercial application. Only with professional chips can high-speed real-time computing be realized. Under the leadership of Yang Huazhong, the Tsinghua team deeply cooperated with its incubated enterprise Huajie Imi in launching the first self-developed MR chip in China through technical research and innovation. This is a professional chip in the field of AI, which can provide a good data foundation for all walks of life.

"MR has been applied in the retail, security and protection, logistics, education, engineering medicine and other industries as well as remote assistance, training and education, space design and other scenarios." said Li Li, Founder and Chairman of Huajie Imi that when the MR algorithm and chip approach perfection, the problem that we face in the next stage is how to build MR industry ecology and industrial standards and data management practices.

(Mr. Li Li, Founder and Chairman of Huajie Imi)

The 3D Mixed Reality Research Center, Tsinghua University is not only a scientific research institution, but also a platform for cultivating outstanding AI talents. In the future, the center will provide more authoritative theoretical support for the scientific research of MR technology, promote the deep integration of industry-university-research-application cooperation in the MR industry, promote the establishment of domestic/international MR industry standards, and help China independently control the core links of the industry in the future S&T competition, to provide greater assistance for sustained economic development and national competitiveness.