Baidu, Huawei executives nominated to join China’s top engineering academy as Beijing courts Big Tech

Baidu CTO Wang Haifeng previously oversaw core search products, and Huawei R&D head William Xu led the design of the tech firm’s first chip
Fewer than 90 people out of 655 nominees will be selected to join the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a key body in the national self-sufficiency drive

Baidu

Xinmei Shen

Published: 8:00pm, 1 Sep 2023

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Executives from Chinese technology giants including Huawei Technologies and Baidu have been nominated as candidates for the country’s top national academy, as Beijing taps talent from Big Tech firms to further national self-sufficiency goals.

Wang Haifeng, chief technology (CTO) officer at Chinese search and artificial intelligence giant Baidu, and William Xu Wenwei, president of the Institute of Strategic Research at telecoms equipment maker Huawei, are among 655 new candidates nominated to join the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), according to a list published on Thursday.

Wang, who oversaw Baidu’s core search products from 2014 to 2017, was named CTO in 2019, and has recently made multiple public appearances speaking about large language models, as the Beijing-based firm ramps up its efforts in generative AI.

William Xu, head of Huawei’s Institute of Strategic Research, delivers a speech during European Innovation Day, organised by Huawei, in Paris on October 4, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Xu, who joined Huawei’s research and development team in 1991, became the company’s head of R&D in 2002 and led the design of the Shenzhen-based firm’s first chip.

The CAE falls directly under the State Council, China’s top governing body, and advises the state on major programmes and policies. The academy now counts 909 top scientists and engineers as members, referred to as academicians. New members are selected every two years from academic institutions, enterprises and other institutions both in and outside China.

Wang Jian, founder of Alibaba’s cloud arm, was elected as a CAE member in 2019. Bill Gates, the tech billionaire who co-founded Microsoft, became a foreign member in 2017.

Fewer than 90 people will be selected from the current batch of nominees to become official members, the CAE said in May. Baidu’s Wang and Huawei’s Xu are among 78 candidates shortlisted to join the CAE’s Division of Information and Electronic Engineering, which will add 10 official members this year, according to the academy.

Wang and Xu were both nominated to join the CAE in 2021, and Wang was also a candidate in 2019. Baidu’s Robin Li was shortlisted in 2019, a nomination that drew controversy at the time because of public backlash against the company’s search ads criticised for promoting false and harmful medical information.

Harry Shum, Microsoft’s former head of artificial intelligence and research, has also been nominated this year. Shum is currently the founding chairman of the Shenzhen-based International Digital Economy Academy, a research institute that focuses on AI and the digital economy.

Other nominees this year include Lian Yubo, chief scientist at electric vehicle giant BYD, and Wu Kai, chief scientist of CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric-car batteries.

The Chinese government has in recent years accelerated efforts to enlist the help of the country’s technology giants to advance national goals, including “common prosperity” and self-sufficiency in key technologies like semiconductors.

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In November, the Cyberspace Administration of China deputy director Cao Shumin gave a lecture at Huawei urging private companies to play a leading role in helping the country accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies.

The number of CAE members has fallen this year after 20 members died between December 15 and January 4, after China abruptly lifted its strict Covid-19 control measures.

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