BUSINESS
CHINA DAILY Tuesday, July 30, 2019 | 17Shanghai set
to boost use of
AI in medicine
City government launches project to
facilitate wider adoption of technology
By HE WEI in Shanghai
[email protected]Shanghai has unveiled an accel-
erator project to boost the use of
artificial intelligence in the medi-
cal field as it upped the ante in
driving AI applications across sev-
eral industries.
A number of players have joined
the initiative, including the Shang-
hai Development Research Center
of Economy and Informatization,
Amazon’s cloud computing service
AWS, and the citywide AI incuba-
tor called AISPACE.
“Among the wealth of indus-
tries being empowered by AI,
healthcare and medicine are
closely related to people’s liveli-
hoods, with rich application sce-
narios and rather solid industry
infrastructure,” Zhang Ying, dep-
uty director of the Shanghai
Municipal Commission of Econo-
my and Informatization, told a
forum on Friday.
“We hope the competition can
drive the integration of AI and
medicine through the sharing of
data, technology as well as injec-
tion of capital in a bid to turn
intelligent medical care into an
imminent reality,” she said.
The AI+Medical Care accelera-
tor project was launched as part
of the ongoing AIWIN competi-
tion, whose winners will be
announced during the second
World Artificial Intelligence
Conference in Shanghai from
Aug 29 to 31.
Officials and industry experts
hope the project will facilitate
AI’s adoption in a wide array of
medical scenarios from electron-
ic medical records, disease
screening through X-ray, predic-
tive diagnosis and treatment, aswell as post-surgery recovery.
AI could be applied to monitor
the behavior of patients who are
severely depressed, predicting
whether they are prone to sui-
cide through analysis and pre-
cautionary efforts for timely
intervention, said Wang Jijun, a
research director on electrocar-
diogram and electroencephalog-
raphy at the Shanghai Mental
Health Center.
Since the end of 2015, Shanghai
Xuhui Central Hospital has pilot-
ed the use of AI for distant analy-
sis of 700 CT and 120 MRI images
per year and utilized assistant
diagnosis for roughly 100,
patient cases per annum for coun-
ty-level hospitals, according to
Zhu Fu, the hospital’s executive
director.
AI’s application in medicine
can be summarized using the
shorthand of “ABCDE” or the
quality of algorithms, business
models, computing power, data
and electronic medical records,
said Zheng Li, a business develop-
ment director at Amazon’s corpo-
rate clients unit.
Technology powerhouses are
also diving into medical care using
AI technologies.
Tencent Holdings Ltd’s diagnos-
tic imaging solution has scanned
hundreds of thousands of gastro-
scopy images and has an accuracy
of more than 90 percent when it
comes to diagnosing preliminary
esophageal cancer.
Microsoft Corp teamed up
with US pharmaceutical giant Eli
Lilly and Co and Chinese image
cognition startup Airdoc to
develop a system that can deter-
mine if someone is suffering
from diabetes through a retina
scan.By WANG ZHUOQIONG
[email protected]
The Lego Group, one of the
world’s leading manufacturers of
toys and play materials, opened its
first certified store in Northwest
China on Sunday and announced
expansion plans in the country’s sec-
ond- and third-tier markets to open
another 40 new stores in the coun-
try by the end of this year.
The 260-square-meter store,
located in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi
province, unveiled its mosaic
mural theme of the Tang Dynasty
(618-907) with 470,000 Lego bricks
and two 3D models of Terracotta
Warriors also made of Lego bricks.
The display featuring unique ele-
ments of local culture and tradi-
tions is part of Lego’s efforts to
bond with local consumers.
Paul Huang, senior vice-presi-
dent of the Lego Group and general
manager of Lego China, said the
rising opportunities in new first-
tier cities such as Xi’an and in sec-
ond- and third-tier cities in China
have given them great confidence
in Lego’s development in the coun-
try, boosted by the stronger pursuit
of quality of life and faith in learn-
ing through play.
The company said it plans to
bring the total number of certified
stores to 140 in China by the end of
2019 covering more than 35 cities in
the country.
The privately-held, family-owned
company has posted double-digit
revenue growth for several years in
China.
“The number of children in Chi-na is vast,” said Huang. “The Lego
store in Xi’an is not only an offline
retail platform, but is also for nur-
turing Lego brand awareness and
to bond with local consumers and
children.”
Since the launch of its first Lego
flagship store in Shanghai, the
group has three flagship stores
and 97 certified stores in more
than 20 cities on the Chinese
mainland.
About 42 percent of its certified
stores are located in emerging first-
tier cities such as Chengdu of Sich-
uan province, Xi’an and Wuhan of
Hubei province. About 12 percent
are in second- and third-tier cites
including Hefei, Changchun and
Wuxi, and the ratio is expected to be
on the rise, Lego said.
Localization in terms of innova-tions in its products is what brings
customers closer to the Danish
company. For example, the firm
added a panda image to one of its
themed products called Lego Duplo
World Animals, closing the gap
with Chinese children, said Huang.
The company has in recent years
developed products featuring Chi-
nese cultural elements such as the
Spring Festival products. The
dragon boat products also allow it
to bond with local fans and chil-
dren.
Huang said locally relevant prod-
ucts are designed by a Denmark-
based design team who have flown
to China to conduct research and
crafted culturally inspired innova-
tions. Lego established its first Chi-
nese factory in Jiaxing, Zhejiang
province, in 2015.Lego opens store in Shaanxi province
Consumers check out Lego products at the company’s first store in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province, on Sunday.LEI JIA / FOR CHINA DAILY
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