中國私募股權(quán)投資英國人工智能孵化器

Zhen: China’s third-largest private equity firm CSC Group is helping fund an artificial intelligence incubator in Britain, the latestsign of a boom in Chinese tech investments abroad and of the tapping of the UK’s AI talent.

中國第三大私募股權(quán)投資公司中科招商(CSC Group)將幫助為英國一家人工智能(AI)孵化器提供資金。這是中國境外高科技投資猛增和利用英國人工智能(AI)人才的最新跡象。

The Chinese state-backed fund, which has more than $12bn under management, has agreed a multimillion-pound partnership with British start-up incubator Founders Factory, led by serial entrepreneur and investor Brent Hoberman. Together, they will hire 60 people, invest in and grow five early-stage AI start-ups and launch two new companies from scratch each year.

這家由中國政府支持的基金旗下管理資產(chǎn)超過120億美元。該基金已同意與英國初創(chuàng)企業(yè)孵化器Founders Factory建立規(guī)模為數(shù)百萬英鎊的合作伙伴關(guān)系。Founders Factory由曾創(chuàng)立過多家企業(yè)的創(chuàng)業(yè)家及投資者布倫特•赫貝曼(Brent Hoberman，見上圖)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。中科招商將與Founders Factory一道聘用60人，投資于五家早期階段的人工智能初創(chuàng)企業(yè)并使之發(fā)展壯大，還要每年從頭建立兩家新公司。

“The UK has innovative artificial intelligence technology and China has a very big market and the business model innovation,” said Dania Zhou, senior managing director of CSC Group, who has been overseeing the deal. “We want to fuse the technology we find in the UK with the Chinese market.”

負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)督這筆交易的中科招商高級董事總經(jīng)理Dania Zhou表示：“英國擁有創(chuàng)新的人工智能技術(shù)，中國則擁有極為巨大的市場和商業(yè)模式創(chuàng)新。我們希望把我們在英國發(fā)現(xiàn)的技術(shù)與中國市場融為一體。”

British AI expertise has been particularly attractive to international companies, including American companies such as Google,Microsoft and Apple.

英國的人工智能技術(shù)訣竅一直對谷歌(Google)、微軟(Microsoft)和蘋果(Apple)等美國企業(yè)特別有吸引力。

Artificial intelligence is currently being applied to everything from search engines to self-driving cars. “Every tech vertical will need AI and big data in future, so it’s a natural fit for our companies that are multichannel,” Ms Zhou said. “In China for example, hospitals need AI to analyse patient data, the insurance industry needs AI to calculate financial risk and also people in China are getting older and older, so AI to care for elderly people will be important.”

從搜索引擎到自動駕駛汽車，人工智能正被應(yīng)用于眾多領(lǐng)域。Zhou女士表示：“未來每一家垂直科技企業(yè)都將需要人工智能和大數(shù)據(jù)。因此，它自然而然地適合我們的多渠道企業(yè)。比如在中國，醫(yī)院需要人工智能分析患者數(shù)據(jù)，保險公司需要人工智能計算財務(wù)風(fēng)險。而且，中國人越來越老齡化，因此照顧老人的人工智能技術(shù)將十分重要。”

Last year, Chinese companies invested an estimated $110bn abroad, up 16 per cent from the previous year, according to data from AEI and the Heritage Foundation, two US think-tanks. London alone hosted 28 new Chinese companies in 2015, a 30 per cent increase from 2014.

根據(jù)兩家美國智庫美國企業(yè)研究所(AEI)和傳統(tǒng)基金會(Heritage Foundation)的數(shù)據(jù)，去年中國企業(yè)估計向境外投資了1100億美元，比此前一年增長16%。2015年，僅倫敦就迎來28家新的中資企業(yè)，比2014年增加30%。

Technology start-ups have been particularly attractive targets: Chinese investment group, Cocoon Networks, set up a £500m ($720m) fund in the UK earlier this year, aimed at early-stage fintech, biotech and fashion-tech start-ups across the country. The fund will also open up a 6,500 square metre co-working space for these companies in east London — the largest physical incubator in the capital.

高科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)是特別有吸引力的投資目標(biāo)：今年早些時候，中國投資集團(tuán)科控全球(Cocoon Networks)在英國設(shè)立了一只5億英鎊(合7.2億美元)的基金，旨在投資于英國各地早期階段的金融科技、生物科技及時尚科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)。該基金還將在倫敦東部為這些企業(yè)開放一個6500平米的眾創(chuàng)空間——這是英國首都最大的實體孵化器。