This article is reproduced from Xinzhiyuan
IBM China Research Institute, one of IBM's 12 largest research institutions in the world and the most influential research institution in China, has been completely closed.
Recently, according to Weibo netizen @马力在知群 broke the news, IBM CRL (IBM China Research Institute) was closed, and accompanied by a text of exclamation to miss this once glorious research institute, "Quietly. The wheels of history are rolling forward" .
The IBM China Research Institute was established in September 1995 and is now 25 years old. Many well-known scientific and technological achievements come from this department, including the famous artificial intelligence program "Watson."
After verification, it is confirmed that the news is basically true. "IBM China Research Institute has been closed recently, but IBM China Development Lab, IBM China System Lab and Customer Innovation Center are also in the same building. IBM's future R&D layout in China may be based on these R&D labs and innovations. The center serves as a fulcrum."
Such news caused a sensation in the technology circle.
On the one hand, in the era of increasingly fierce competition in the Internet era, the closure of such a well-known and technologically advanced research institute of foreign companies is unavoidable.
On the other hand, IBM recently announced its financial report, and its revenue has been declining for ten consecutive quarters. The former "Blue Giant" seems to have disappeared.
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna
This is the end of an era, but also the end of a generation of foreign companies. Let us start with the IBM China Research Institute itself.
IBM's first research center in developing countries: talent gathering, the cradle of "Watson"
IBM China Research Institute, also known as IBM CRL, is located in the northwest corner of Beijing Shangdi Information Industry Base, in the Zhongguancun Software Park, and is the first research center set up by IBM in a developing country.
In 2008, the Shanghai branch of IBM China Research Institute was established. Over the past two decades, hundreds of researchers have worked in the Institute, most of whom have PhD and master degrees from China and even world-class universities.
Source: WSJ
The main research directions of IBM CRL are systems and networks, information management and collaboration, distributed computing and system management, and next-generation services.
In the field of cognitive computing, the most famous result of the IBM China Research Institute is the "Watson" born in 2011. It is named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson. It is a computer system that can answer questions posed by natural language.
The "Watson" research and development process has four years, and nearly 30 researchers around the world have participated in the development. In addition to the American Research Institute, IBM's China Research Institute, Japan Research Institute, and Israel Research Institute have also participated.
Watson is an application of open question answering technologies such as advanced natural language processing, message retrieval, knowledge representation, automatic reasoning, and machine learning. According to researchers, Watson can process 500GB of data per second, which is equivalent to reading 1 million books in 1 second.
In 2011, the system defeated two human champions on the American TV quiz show Jeopardy! (Dangerous Journey!) and became famous ever since.
This research has been optimistically used as a medical assistant artificial intelligence system. Its prospects seem simple and practical: just enter the patient’s personal information into the system, and the system will recommend appropriate recommendations based on a large amount of medical research, medical guidelines, clinical trials and other information The treatment plan for the doctor’s reference.
In addition to cognitive computing, the key research areas of the IBM China Research Institute include industry solutions, computing as a service, and the Internet of Things.
However, IBM's pillar areas may not be able to bring the expected results, Watson took the lead in entering the medical field but was not moving forward, and the proposed "Internet of Things 3.0" did not yield results.
And with the rise of domestic Internet companies, the role of many foreign companies such as IBM in China has become increasingly marginalized. There are reasons for the times, but it may also be related to the overall dismal situation of IBM in recent years.
From "Watson" to IoT 3.0, IBM China Research Institute has developed 25 years
IBM Research has twelve laboratories around the world, three of which are in the United States.
The nine locations outside the United States are: Zurich in Switzerland, Haifa in Israel, Tokyo in Japan, Beijing in China, Delhi and Bangalore in India, Nairobi in Kenya and Johannesburg in South Africa, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Dublin in Ireland. , Melbourne, Australia.
For a long time, the research fields of IBM China Research Institute span multiple disciplines and industries. Key research topics include technological innovation and application of big data analysis, cloud computing, Internet of Things and cognitive computing. There are successful solutions in the fields of logistics and supply chain, medical and financial services.
Even so, what is unexpected is that, like many foreign companies that have withdrawn from China, the IBM China Research Institute will have to say goodbye.
Will foreign companies become more and more marginalized in China after 2020?
Throughout the past few years, there have been many examples of foreign companies and foreign research institutes saying "goodbye" to China, which seems to imply that the golden age of foreign companies is gone forever.
On March 19, 2015, Yahoo announced its withdrawal from the Chinese market and Yahoo’s Beijing R&D center announced the closure.
In 2019, Amazon announced its withdrawal from China.
In the same year, Oracle, which is doing enterprise software, officially closed its R&D center in China after being hit by cloud computing and laid off about 900 employees.
The former high-rise building of foreign companies is now gone. Many people are sighing: The era of foreign companies has passed. The beautiful scenery of foreign company employees wearing suits and ties, drinking coffee and speaking English is no longer there.
First of all, this is a way for foreign companies to make strategic adjustments in the new era of China’s decoupling of science and technology. Just as IBM responded to the closure of the Chinese Research Institute this time, it defaulted to the closure of its Chinese Research Institute. news:
On the other hand, Chinese domestic companies have established their own research institutes, which is in sharp contrast, such as Huawei Research Institute. Perhaps these research institutes rooted in the local environment have more advantages in long-term development in China.
The closure of the IBM China Research Institute has aroused extensive discussion among netizens.
Some people miss this once-fascinating "dream workplace":
But it is more a sigh of the times:
No matter what, pay tribute to the IBM China Research Institute. Then say it seriously, goodbye