XJTLU-Baidu AI joint venture launched

On 26 March, Suzhou Pudu Co-Intelligence Technology Company, a joint venture between XJTLU and Baidu Group, was launched as China’s first AI-focused joint venture co-founded by Baidu and a university.

AI+education: Redefining learning

Through AI-driven innovation, Pudu Co-Intelligence seeks to transform the whole education value chain, empower industrial evolution and cultivate localised service ecosystems.

The company will soon launch the Pudu Co-Intelligence AI Forum, bringing together Baidu’s chief scientists, XJTLU’s AI researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders to share their thinking on cutting-edge technologies, AI research, interpretation of relevant policies, and personal experience in industry.

The company will work with local players to integrate AI capabilities into software, intelligent devices, and computing infrastructure, ensuring rapid local response to industry needs that will extend AI’s benefits to all sectors.

In addition to regular Pudu AI forums and an upcoming white paper, the joint venture aims to launch the following:

• The Pudu Co-Intelligence AI Learning Space, which will feature AI-powered teaching hardware and the company’s large-model training system, offering personalised learning paths, mixed-reality labs, and intelligent evaluation and feedback tools;
• The Pudu Co-Intelligence Large Model Research Collaboration Platform, which will combine Baidu’s generative AI capabilities with XJTLU’s research scenario insights into a platform to optimise the research cycle, serving as a “super brain” for researchers;
• The AI+ Professional Certification Programme, to certify the capabilities of academic staff, alumni, and managers in digital transformation; and
• The Pudu Co-Intelligence Cup AI innovative application competition, which will be held with local governments and enterprises to connect industrial demand with teaching and research.

Pudu Co-Intelligence came from an existing cooperation between XJTLU and Baidu, begun in 2023. Early that year, the two jointly established the XJTLU-PaddlePaddle AI Industry Institute and the Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan Large-Scale Model Platform (Suzhou) Innovation Centre. That September, with the support of the government authority at Suzhou Industrial Park, the XJTLU-Baidu Artificial Intelligence Innovation Alliance was launched.

In 2024, the two parties signed a joint venture agreement. Dr Dou Shen, Executive Vice President of Baidu, remarked: “This joint venture with XJTLU represents Baidu’s deepening commitment to university-enterprise collaboration in AI.”

Professor Youmin Xi, Executive President of XJTLU, said: “By blending research and talent development at universities with real-world industrial scenarios, we can accelerate the translation of research into tangible applications, taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies, including AI.”

Edited by Bo Kou and Patricia Pieterse

Translated by Xiangyin Han