Enterprise and education must combine to nurture sector's development

Greater cooperation between universities and businesses is essential to nurture future generations of artificial intelligence talent in China, according to an expert.

In addition to accomplished AI specialists, the country also needs people capable of transforming the business model to make the development of AI sustainable, said Zheng Nanning, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"The development of AI rests on two fundamental factors: big data and excellent computational capability. Those things are difficult for universities to achieve, so we have to rely on help from businesses," said Zheng, a former president of Xi'an Jiaotong University in Shaanxi province.