Archives September 2017

Too few online security talents

Cybersecurity talents are in short supply in China, and many employers have no choice but to lower their requirements and recruit people with little work experience to fill the gap, a report concludes.

Posts about cybersecurity published on Zhaopin.com, a leading recruitment website, increased from January to June by 232 percent year-on-year, according to the report published by Zhaopin and 360 Internet Security Center.

Work experience was not required for half the posts. On average, the expected salary of job seekers in the field stood at 7,533 yuan ($1,160) a month.

In stark contrast, the average salary employers offer is 25 percent higher, the report found.

Zhaopin didn’t disclose the sample size for the report, calling it a business secret, but said the sample was large enough to ensure solid conclusions – the firm has 135 million users.

The difference between the low salary expectation and high offer suggests the supply of candidates is inadequate to meet the demand in the labor market for cybersecurity talents, said Wang Yixin, a senior Zhaopin consultant.

There are more than enough low-skilled candidates for basic posts, but the demand for the highskilled candidates exceeds the supply, she said.

Only 11 percent of cybersecurity job seekers have an education background in cybersecurity or information security – more majored in computer science, communication and information engineering and network engineering.

More than 70 percent of the job hunters are aged 25 to 34.

The shortage of cybersecurity talents will continue in China for some time, the report said.

Zhao Zeliang, director of the Cybersecurity Coordination Bureau at China’s Cyberspace Administration, said cybersecurity talent education is urgent and important in the country.

“We can catch up with Western countries’ pace of cybersecurity protection by buying their advanced technologies or products, but if we are short of talents, our following generations will be affected,” he said.

He also said the administration has paid high attention to and taken measures in education for talents, considering its importance in cybersecurity protection.

Now the administration has joined hands with the Ministry of Education to set up an academic institute to cultivate cybersecurity talents, “hoping to improve our capabilities in cybersecurity protection and make our talents more competitive in the world,” he said.

Talent is crucial in taking the sector forward

Young visitors interact with a robot at the 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing themed “Win-Win Collaborative Innovation Toward the Building of an Intelligent Society”.

China is beefing up efforts to attract highly-skilled professionals to work in AI as companies across the world scramble to get an edge in this cutting-edge field.

A report released by Hays showed that Chinese mainland enterprises have stepped up plans to hire staff involved in the artificial intelligence industry from the United States and Europe.

Many firms were offering the right candidates lucrative packages, including a 50 percent salary rise to relocate to China, the global recruitment agency stated.

“We are seeing significant government and private investment in AI across natural language processing, computer vision, speech recognition and data science,” said Simon Lance, managing director for Hays Greater China.

Earlier this year, the government launched plans to invest heavily in research programs.

The aim is to turn the country’s AI sector into an industry worth more than 150 billion yuan ($22.15 billion) by 2020, 400 billion yuan by 2025, and 1 trillion yuan by 2030.

“As a result, employers in the artificial intelligence space are becoming particularly competitive in their efforts to attract top people,” Lance added.

But China faces key challenges and a skill gap compared with the US.

A major problem is that the country lags behind the world’s biggest economy when it comes to employment numbers.

“China’s AI talent (pool) is only half that of the United States, which may (hinder) future development of (the) AI industry (here),” a report from the Tencent Research Institute stated.

The survey, conducted by a division of internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, showed China had 592 artificial intelligence companies with nearly 40,000 employees by June, 2017.

In comparison, the US had 1,078 AI businesses with more than 78,000 employees.

The US is also ahead in four key employment areas, including processor and chips, and machine learning applications, as well as natural language processing and smart drones.

More than 20,000 people work in the natural language sector in the US compared to China’s 6,600, the Tencent report highlighted.

Studies also found that Chinese AI staff are concentrated in sectors such as automated vehicles and smart medical treatment.

In the US, the focus is on wider sectors, including the chip industry, big data and storage, as well as technical areas such as image identification and robotics.

Research in automated vehicles was also pioneered there.

“One of the reasons that China lags behind the US in AI is because it started much later”, the Tencent report stated.

Among the world’s top 20 universities for artificial intelligence research, 16 are in the US, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University, according to the American National Science and Technology Council.

Not one Chinese university made the list.

“Up until now, China has not established a system to cultivate talent in AI,” said Yu Youcheng, deputy secretary-general of Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence.

“For example, artificial intelligence science and technology have not been set up as a first-level discipline,” Yu added. “This may lead to the loss of core AI talent.”

But the problem can be fixed by putting the right pieces of the jigsaw together.

“We should work to develop an ecological chain in the AI field,” Yu said. “This would combine AI talent cultivation, technology standards and products and applications.

“But (doing this we can) transform and upgrade the whole industry,” Yu added.

China National Nuclear Power plans to establish Hebei company

A China National Nuclear Corp stand at an industrial expo in Beijing.

China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd (CNNP), a unit of one of the country’s three largest State-owned nuclear operators, has announced plans to establish a Hebei-based company to promote the development of traveling-wave reactor, or TWR, technology.

The move will be carried out in partnership with Huadian Fuxin Energy Limited Company, Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power Co Ltd, Shenhua Group and Jointo Energy Investment Co Ltd Hebei, the CNNP said in a statement with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The new company, located in Cangzhou city, Hebei province, has a registered capital of 1 billion yuan ($153.23 million). CNNP will own 35 percent of the company; Shenhua Group, 30 percent; Huadian Fuxin Energy, 15 percent; Zhejiang Zheneng Electric Power, 10 percent, and Jointo Energy Investment, 10 percent.

CNNP said, in the statement, the establishment of the new company will be in accordance with the strategy for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) region, and added it would also help support the development of the advanced TWR technology.

In addition, CNNP Technology Investment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNNP, also plans to establish CNNP TWR Technology Investment (Tianjin) Co Ltd together with the four investors, sporting the same investment proportion. The new company, located in Tianjin, has a registered capital of 750 million yuan.

TWR, a new nuclear design using fourth-generation technology, could reduce the need for the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium. CNNP stated the establishment of the TWR demonstration project will be in accordance with, and respond to, the national energy plan arrangement.

Bellevue, Washington-based Terra Power, co-founded by Bill Gates in 2006, is working closely with China National Nuclear Corp to conduct research into the use of the new technology.

Li: Make way for new growth drivers

Technical workers assemble engines at a plant in Yiwu, Zhejiang province.

Companies should consider outside investment, mergers, premier says

Premier Li Keqiang promised more incentives to boost high-end manufacturing in China during a visit to Huaxiang Group, a private steel-casting company in Linfen, Shanxi province?part of a two-day visit to the area on Monday and Tuesday.

The company’s moves to retain top-level professional engineers have brought success, turning it into a major supplier for a number of overseas automobile companies. Huaxiang provides an annual salary of 3 million yuan ($456,000) to some of its top craftsmen, four times that of the company’s CEO.

Li spoke warmly about the approach as he talked with some of the craftsmen from whom young workers have learned, noting that providing better incentives to lure talent in high-end manufacturing is also a key strategy for the country as it seeks to shift from old economic drivers to new ones.

“We should pass on the spirit of craftsmanship from one generation to another, so that the idea of Made in China will be competitive not only in terms of prices but also in quality,” Li said.

Also on Tuesday, Li visited Linfen Iron and Steel Co to learn about the region’s efforts in cutting outdated capacity. The company, which is affiliated with Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp, stopped most of its outdated operations in 2016, and 10,000 workers have been relocated with new jobs. Among them, more than 2,500 have started their own businesses.

“These workers may be seen as a burden for a company with outdated capacity, but their talent may be in demand when they find new and more suitable jobs,” Li said, calling on companies to focus on developing high-end products.

Companies that rely on traditional models should be open to private investment, mergers and reorganization, Li said, adding that China is determined to phase out outdated and excess industrial capacity as a key part of its structural reform, especially as coal prices have been rising again in recent months. The idea is to truly make room for new economic growth drivers, he said.

Li also visited the Shigejie Coal Mine, which ceased production of low-quality coal in 2016, and poverty-stricken Chengzhuang village in the Taihang Mountains to learn about local poverty alleviation and medical services.