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Shi Huang

Twenty years ago, technologies developed by Liang Jie at Microsoft were incorporated into products like the Windows Media Video Player and Blu-ray discs used by millions worldwide.
A decade on, while a professor in Canada, Liang ventured into entrepreneurship, developing an intelligent sensor system for elderly care to address global population ageing.
Today, he brings his top-tier expertise in image and video compression back to China.
According to the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (EIT), he joined the university in January as a chair professor at its School of Electronic Science and Technology.
Liang was admitted to the special programme for gifted students at Xian Jiaotong University in 1988, transferring to the electrical engineering programme in 1989.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees there in 1992 and 1995. This unique programme, one of only two in China at the time, enrolled junior high graduates, allowed free choice of major and offered direct progression to master’s studies.
Liang then earned a master’s in electrical engineering from the National University of Singapore in 1998 and a PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 2003.
From 2003 to 2004, he worked in the Windows Media video compression team at the Microsoft headquarters. His research contributions were later adopted into industrial products and international standards, including the Windows Media Video Player and Blu-ray format.


In 2004, he joined the faculty at the School of Engineering Science at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, rising to the rank of tenured professor in 2015. He also served as the school’s associate director (2015 to 2018) and graduate programme chair (2012 to 2015).
Liang’s research spans signal processing, multimedia communication, computer vision, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and smart healthcare.
He has served on the editorial boards of six international journals and on three Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) technical committees, publishing over 200 papers and holding more than 20 US patents.
In 2016, Liang founded the AI company AltumView, leading development of the Sentinare intelligent sensor system for ageing populations. He installed it in the home of his mother, who was then 80.
“I began to notice changes in her daily activity,” Liang said. “A few months later, her condition worsened, and she was diagnosed with dementia.”
“I then realised Sentinare could potentially help identify some symptoms earlier,” he told Canadian healthcare publication Hospital News in 2022.
The product was a Consumer Electronics Show 2021 Innovation Award nominee, integrated into Amazon’s Alexa Together, and is sold in the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Australia and Europe.
In June 2022, Liang was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), among 47 honorees recognised for contributions to research, education and industrialisation. The CAE, established in 1987, is a leading engineering advisory body whose members are elected by peers.
EIT in Ningbo was launched last year with significant backing from a Chinese semiconductor entrepreneur. The university’s strategy focuses on “gathering talent”, actively recruiting researchers from postdoctoral to chair professor levels.
The South China Morning Post has reached out to Liang for comment.


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North America’s top computer vision scientist Liang Jie returns to China

According to the Eastern Institute of Technology, Ningbo (pictured), Liang Jie joined the university in January 2026 as a chair professor at its School of Electronic Science and Technology. Photo: Handout

Liang Jie has top-tier expertise in image and video compression, and holds more than 20 US patents. Photo: Handout

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Brain behind leading Microsoft tech products used by millions across the globe and sensor systems for elderly care joins Chinese university


Brain behind leading Microsoft tech products used by millions across the globe and sensor systems for elderly care joins Chinese university.


North America’s top computer vision scientist Liang Jie returns to China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Brain behind leading Microsoft tech products used by millions across the globe and sensor systems for elderly care joins Chinese university

Brain behind leading Microsoft tech products used by millions across the globe and sensor systems for elderly care joins Chinese university