MIDEA FOUNDER CREATES FUND TO BOOST INNOVATION

He Xiangjian says 3 billion yuan endowment will focus on AI and climate research as he calls on young to take part in technological advancement

Billionaire entrepreneur He Xiangjian, founder and the largest shareholder of home appliances giant Midea Group, has unveiled a 3 billion yuan (HK$3.3 billion) science fund to boost artificial intelligence (AI) and climate research in the country.

He, 80, revealed the fund’s creation on Sunday via a video recording played on the second day of the Greater Bay Science Forum 2023, which concludes today in the Nansha district of Guangzhou.

“Setting up the science fund will help more scientists focus on their work and attract more youngsters to take part in technological advancement and innovation in the country,” said He, who indicated this initiative was both his duty and responsibility.

He called on the country’s younger generation to help shore up local scientific research, saying “technology development is pivotal to a powerful nation and booming economy”, according to a report by state-backed financial newspaper Securities Times.

The large science-focused endowment from He underscores the increased effort by the private sector to support basic research at a time of intense tech rivalry between China and the United States.

Robust basic research was the only way to make China a global scientific and technological power, President Xi Jinping told members of the Politburo, the Communist Party’s No 2 decisionmaking body, at a meeting in February.

Diverse funding sources, international collaboration and talent training were crucial to achieve that goal, Xi said.

Basic research accounted for 6.5 per cent, or 182 billion yuan, of China’s overall research and development expenditure in 2021 as the country moved closer to its goal of 8 per cent by 2025.

Midea chairman and president Paul Fang Hongbo, who also serves as president of He’s namesake science fund, on Sunday said the independently run endowment would reward scientists who achieved breakthroughs in fundamental research, helped commercialise cutting-edge innovation and invested in areas that included AI, healthcare, climate change and renewable energy.

Fang said the fund would launch an annual award to recognise outstanding scientific research and a grant scheme to support such research.

The Midea founder, who transformed a neighbourhood manufacturer of water bottle caps into the world’s largest producer of major appliances and a robotics powerhouse, is no stranger to philanthropic causes in China.

With a personal net worth of US$23.7 billion as of May 22, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he founded in 2013 and serves as honorary chairman of the He Foundation, a 6 billion yuan charity programme focused on community development, caregiving for the elderly and revitalisation of the less developed areas on the mainland.

The He family made 1.03 billion yuan in endowments last year to rank ninth on the 2022 Hurun China Philanthropy List.

That list was led by JD.com billionaire founder Richard Liu Qiangdong, Meituan founder and chief executive Wang Xin and Xiaomi Corp founder and chief executive Lei Jun with endowments of 14.9 billion yuan, 14.7 billion yuan and 14.5 billion yuan, respectively.

Shenzhen-listed Midea, with 166,000 employees worldwide, recorded 29.6 billion yuan in net profit last year on total revenue of 345.7 billion yuan.

Technology development is pivotal to a powerful nation and booming economy

HE XIANGJIAN