Building new R&D Institutions is an important component of Beijing’s effort to become a global research hub. The city is making bold reforms to its research system, introducing mechanisms, marketization, and cutting-edge development strategies that rival the top institutes in the world, along with stable financial support and flexible policies. Through such innovative methods, Beijing is forming an academic environment that helps scientists to focus on their studies without distraction.

Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences: A cradle of talentPartnering with top research institutions including Tsinghua

University, Peking University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences along with IT companies, Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS) was founded by taking advantage of the most favorable strengths in quantum information research in Beijing. The institute is dedicated to fundamental research in quantum information science as well as the development of quantum information technology in order to promote the next-generation technology for the well-being of humanity.“We are gathering the most brilliant researchers, producing the

best results, and developing the most competitive technologies,” says Qi-Kun Xue, president of BAQIS and deputy president of Tsinghua University. The institute was established in December 2017, and focuses on

four major fields: quantum states of matter, quantum computation and communication, quantum materials and devices, and quantum precision measurement. Two years after its commencement, BAQIS has developed two

world-class infrastructure platforms. The micro/nano fabrication platform is essential for the development of quantum chips. It includes five clean rooms, installed with high-end equipment with a total investment of RMB 256 million (USD 36 million). The platform

is able to provide one-stop service for chip manufacturing and packaging, and hence will avoid instability due to the transfer of samples, improving productivity while reducing the chance for defects. The synergetic characterization platform, on the other hand, is

dedicated to the measurement of quantum transport properties of low-dimensional quantum materials and devices at ultralow temperatures and high magnetic fields. It is very helpful for research into superconducting and topological quantum computation, for example, as well as more extensive research of various quantum states of matter.One of the many research projects BAQIS is currently conducting

involves the fabrication and characterization of multiqubit quantum chips; the academy is attempting to fabricate and test 50-qubit-level-chips in the near future—in an effort to catch up with the rapid global pace of superconducting quantum computation research.Google’s demonstration of quantum supremacy in 2019, and

recent successful experiments in quantum key distribution indicate that research on quantum computation and quantum communication is entering an era of rapid development, Xue says, noting that BAQIS has also been looking into both of these areas, since they have great potential in applications such as financial security, new drug development, disaster forecasting, and big data processing. BAQIS has an innovative management style and makes every

effort to attract talent at all levels, including internationally renowned scientists as well as excellent young researchers. Principle investigators (PIs) are given the freedom to make independent decisions on research, including the selection of research topics, recruitment of team members, budgeting, and implementing research within the scope of designated funds. For the assessment of new candidates, the institute relies mostly on peer review of their research capabilities and potential. So far, PH

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BEIJING: BECOMING A RESEARCH HUB WITH GLOBAL IMPACT

At the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences the average age of full-time staff is 32.

BAQIS has introduced 102 full-time scientific researchers, including 16 full-time PIs and 16 full-time foreign experts. BAQIS also introduced a joint-appointment strategy, allowing

researchers from partner institutions to take partial or full responsibility for BAQIS-funded research projects. These joint appointments have enabled experts to benefit from multiple platforms and resources for research outside their home institutes. “It breaks down the walls between different institutions, walls between different disciplines, and walls between research and industrialization,” says Xue. “It helps to consolidate talent around major research projects requiring concerted efforts by distinct expertise.”Xue is now leading the BAQIS full-time team with the members

at an average age of 32. “They are in their prime for very ambitious research,” says Xue, adding that he looks forward to the institute becoming a cradle of talent in the quantum information sciences.

Beijing Graphene Institute: Dual-track innovationRegistered in 2016 and officially opened in 2018, the Beijing

Graphene Institute (BGI) is one of the most recently approved R&D organizations in Beijing. It is dedicated to developing world-class materials and incubating the graphene industry. BGI researchers are focused on preparing high-quality graphene

material, such as thin graphene film, single-crystal graphene wafers, super graphene glass, and graphene fiber. They are also developing advanced graphene manufacturing and testing equipment, and producing products such as LED lighting devices and fiber optic sensors with these new materials. Innovation at the institute runs on two tracks: (1) developing

original disruptive technology to be at the forefront of the graphene industry and (2) cooperating with R&D businesses to build up its edge in the marketplace.The team takes innovation seriously. “Innovation is not magic,”

says Zhongfan Liu, director of BGI and an academician at the

Chinese Academy of Sciences. “It takes careful planning and the courage to think outside the box.” Such courage has guided Liu and his team in developing

super-clean graphene growth technology in 2019. Their study replaces the traditional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method of preparing graphene films with a method that—unlike the former—introduces almost no contaminants in the process. The technology marks a breakthrough in graphene film preparation, creating a new type of graphene film with qualities approaching theoretical levels. Moreover, the team has developed equipment to realize mass production of the film. Belief in innovation has guided BGI researchers to turn the

impossible into reality. In search of a graphene material with better transmittance, a BGI team began experiments to produce graphene on glass instead of on metal, which is the traditional method. The difficulty with this procedure is that there is no effective catalyst. After thousands of experiments, the researchers developed a technology that could produce high-quality graphene film on any glass, called “super graphene glass” technology, which produces films with good thermal and electric conductivity while allowing better transparency. The film has promising applications for smart windows, touchscreens, transparent circuits, and intelligent building materials, and has been used to realize the first blue laser–induced photocuring 3D printing in 2019. Moving from the lab to the marketplace is even more

challenging, a task that often requires persistence. Liu and his team have been researching the CVD growth of graphene film since 2008, and have run into many scientific, industrial, and environmental roadblocks. By the end of 2019, the team finally realized mass production of the film.“The real good materials take time to develop,” says Liu. “There is

no shortcut.” BGI’s innovative power stems from its open policies. With full

support from the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (BMSTC) and the local government, BGI gives young PH

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Based on the abundant natural graphite found in China, and in cooperation with related companies, the Beijing Graphene Institute focuses on the sustainable mining and deep processing of graphite resources.

stroke community. Ge and his team also discovered that the cells of gliomas, a most common brain cancer in humans, interact with distinct brain-cell types, a finding that sheds light on the mechanism of this cancer.Ge knows that CIBR is the best place for continuing his studies,

as it provides an equally collaborative culture with even more support. Established in 2018 by the Beijing Municipal Government and multiple higher-education institutions, CIBR aims to make cutting-edge breakthroughs in brain science research. It focuses on building a common technology platform and a repository for major diseases related to cognitive impairment, brain-like computing and machine intelligence, the intellectual development of children and adolescents, and cognitive processes. CIBR is based on the independent-laboratory PI system, which

empowers individual researchers to allocate project resources. The institute now has about 10 PIs and 2 Fellows in the system. “CIBR provides decent and ongoing support for its PIs,” Ge says. “This allows us to spend more time thinking about the most important questions in our field; we can dedicate ourselves to research instead of looking for funds.” Ge hopes his research at CIBR will eventually benefit patients

with vascular diseases or brain cancers. “We plan to work with physicians from many top hospitals around China,” Ge says. His team has developed a method that allows them to characterize very small molecules, called metabolites, which are consumed and produced by gliomas; their success has encouraged them to use a similar strategy to perform analysis of various cancers in patients. His research at CIBR will include more analysis of patients and follow-up experiments in animal models. By taking his work back to Beijing, Ge is turning his career

dreams into reality. “I like bench work and love to develop a new method or technique to test a new idea,” he says. “Now I have plenty of time to work closely with my team in the laboratory, instead of spending nearly all of my time in my office. This is the life I am looking for.”

talent strong financial backing and freedom to pursue their research interests.More importantly, BGI’s venture into the “research foundry”

model—assembling research teams to develop technology based on the demand from companies—has shown great potential. So far, it has established collaboration with nearly 10 enterprises. With 210 members, BGI is now a world-class research center for

graphene; in the next decade, the number of R&D staff will grow to 1,000. Every October since 2018, the institute holds the Beijing Graphene Forum, a top international platform in the industry. To Liu, knowledge is not only power, but also wealth. The

institute is a place to guarantee that researchers are rewarded properly for what they have achieved. “BGI is a place where dreams come true,” he says.

Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing: Unraveling the secrets of the brain For neuroscientist Woo-Ping Ge, the decision to come back to

Beijing for research came naturally. Having worked at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical

Center (UTSW) for over 6 years, Ge bid goodbye to what he calls “a fantastic place for research” with “extremely collaborative” researchers, and earlier this year joined the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (CIBR), an institute co-led by Yi Rao and Minmin Luo, both leading professors in biological studies.

In previous years, Ge and his collaborators have developed an approach to characterize the underlying mechanisms of

brain injury from the onset of stroke and of brain repair after stroke. They call the technique SIMPLE (Stroke

Induced with Magnetic Particles), owing to its convenience and reliability in producing

small ischemic strokes in mouse brains. Now, SIMPLE has become

increasingly welcomed in laboratories from the PH

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The Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing (CIBR, Beijing) mainly focuses on brain science and brain-like intelligence technology development.

California, Berkeley, and Stanford University’s Christopher Manning, attended the conference. The 2020 BAAI Conference will be held in October, and AI researchers around the globe are welcomed to join.BAAI hopes to connect 3,000 top AI scholars worldwide and

build a collaborative network of over 100,000 researchers across the scientific community. It has also worked closely with research centers such as the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute (Mila) and the Alan Turing Institute to promote exchange of information and people. “All these activities are aimed at the rapid development and

continuous iteration of AI technology, and effectively support AI research teams to enhance the quantity and quality of innovation,” says Tiejun Huang, BAAI’s director. BAAI also serves as an intermediate platform for overseas

scholars who are new to Beijing and want to get to know the city and the jobs it offers before settling down. “We are a window for helping global AI scholars, technicians, and entrepreneurs to understand Chinese artificial intelligence,” says Huang.

Get to Know UsThe new R&D institutions in Beijing take knowledge exploration

and technological innovation to the next level. Through institutional reforms, they have made significant progress, accelerating the transformation of achievements, cultivating creative talent, and building a culture of innovation.For more information, please contact Song Yang via email at

yangs@kw.beijing.gov.cn.

Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence: A world-leading AI innovation ecosystemEstablished in November 2018, the Beijing Academy of Artificial

Intelligence (BAAI) is a nonprofit research institute dedicated to promoting collaboration between academia and industry. Its founding members include leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies such as Baidu, ByteDance, Megvii, Meituan-Dianping, and Xiaomi, and top universities/research institutes such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and the institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.BAAI supports researchers to solve the most basic and most

important problems of AI development. The “BAAI Scholars Program,” which funds researchers from universities, research institutes, and enterprises, focuses on the original innovations and core technologies of AI. So far it has supported 85 scholars from leading AI organizations covering a wide range of research fields, such as the mathematical foundations of AI, machine learning, natural language processing, intelligent information retrieval and mining, and intelligent architecture and chips. These scholars receive additional funding besides their salaries, and stay at their position to do research work. The number of supported scholars is expected to increase to over 300 in 3 years.BAAI values young scholars, with almost half of its 85 scholars

under the age of 38. In 2020, it is expanding its projects to support young scholars within 5 years of doctoral graduation. BAAI supports not only individual experts, but is also dedicated to forming both domestic and international communities for communication and cooperation. The BAAI Community, an online and offline science hub, is a highly collaborative place for simulating ideas and innovation. The annual BAAI Conference is a highlight of the community’s

activities. In 2019, over 100 top AI scholars, including Turing Award winner John E. Hopcroft, Michael I. Jordan of the University of

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Scheduled to open later in 2020, BAAI’s new building will be a multifunctional space for academic exchange, scientific research, and incubation.