1-10-2023 (HANGZHOU) The Asian Games in Hangzhou has provided a platform for local Big Tech firms and start-ups to exhibit their latest gadgets and services, offering a glimpse into China’s technological aspirations.
The Smart Technology Experience Centre at the Asian Games Village in Hangzhou features robotic canines developed by the local start-up Deep Robotics. These robot dogs are part of the many innovations selected by the host city to showcase its technological prowess.
At the Games’ opening ceremony at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI) were prominently featured, including a digital fireworks display exclusively viewable on smartphones, computers, and televisions.
For local tech companies, the event is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate support for a crucial state project. Alibaba Cloud, a unit under Alibaba Group Holding, is the official information technology integrator and cloud service provider for the Games. This mirrors Alibaba Cloud’s role in enabling live-streaming for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Alipay, a digital payments service provided by Alibaba’s fintech affiliate, Ant Group, has improved various functions in its app to help foreigners navigate and offers discounts of up to 100 yuan ($13.6) for transactions made with select international bank cards.
For Deep Robotics, the Games offers a high-profile platform to showcase the practicality of its robot dogs, which have been used for daily inspections at underground electricity substations since April. According to Qian Xiaoyu, marketing director at Deep Robotics, “Our robots can take over dangerous, repetitive, and monotonous work.”
Consumer-facing tech devices are also making their mark at the Games. A vending machine, developed by Hangzhou-based Kuaie Fresh, can prepare meals with pre-cooked ingredients in just two minutes. Chen Xiaoqiang, the company’s founder and CEO, envisions a “new way of eating with its own characteristics and technology adoption.”
At another event venue, an “intelligent AI fragrance machine” developed by Hangzhou firm ScentRealm emits the aroma of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. The founder, Huang Jianwei, said, “Whether it is the Asian Games or Olympic Games, these events set the stage for scientific and technological achievements to be displayed.”
All these companies aim to expand into the mass market through their participation in the Asian Games. Huang from ScentRealm plans to officially launch the herbal medicine fragrance machine after the Games, with hopes to see it become a part of many Chinese families’ medicine kits in the next two to three years.
Chen from Kuaie Fresh, which has over 70 food vending machines in Hangzhou, plans to expand to Shanghai and use both cities as a base for further expansion. He believes that “intelligence and digitisation are definitely the future,” despite the challenges of food safety and market competition.
Robot dogs help Hangzhou Asian Games pic.twitter.com/GZpiZGa0g5
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