YA-QIN ZHANG
Chair Professor of AI Science, Tsinghua University
Dean of Institutefor AI Industry Research(AIR),Tsinghua University
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Dr. Ya-Qin Zhang is Chair Professor of AI Science of Tsinghua University, and Dean of Institutefor AI Industry Research of Tsinghua University (AIR).He served as the President of Baidu Inc. for 5 years (2014.09-2019.10), responsible for Autonomous Driving, Cloud Computing, Emerging Business, and Technology divisions.Prior to Baidu, Zhang was a key executive at Microsoft for 16 years, serving as Corporate Vice President and Chair/Cofounder of Microsoft Asia-Pacific Research and Development Group.
Zhang was inducted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019. He joined the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE) as the only foreign Fellow in 2017. He became an IEEE Fellow in 1997 at age 31 as the youngest Fellow of the organization’s 100+ year history at the time. He is one of the top scientists in digital video and multimedia, with 558 papers in leading international conferences and journals, 62 granted US patents, and 11 books. He has received many prestigious academic, technological, and industrial awards, including the IEEE Centennial Medal, IEEE Industrial Pioneer Award, IEEE Richard Merwin Medal, over a dozen best paper awards of various IEEE transactions and journals.
Zhang was named one of the top 10 CEOs in Asia, 50 Global Shapers, Executive of the Year, IT Innovator Leader Award by IT Times, Business Week, CNBC, Global business and Vision magazine. He served on the Board of Directors of five public companies. He is on the industry board of United Nation Development Program (UNDP), and received UN’s special award for sustainable development in 2016. He is the Chairman of world’s largest open autonomous driving platform “Apollo” alliance with over 160 global partners. He has been an active speaker in global forums including APEC, Davos World Economic Forum, United Nations, and Bo’Ao Asia Forum.
