Dr. Kai-Fu Lee is the Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures, which is a leading technology-savvy investment firm focusing on developing the next generation of Chinese high-tech companies. Prior to founding Sinovation in 2009, Dr. Lee was the President of Google China. Previously, he held executive positions at Microsoft, SGI, and Apple.
Dr. Lee founded Microsoft Research China, which was named as the hottest research lab by MIT Technology Review. Later renamed Microsoft Research Asia, this institute trained the great majority of AI leaders in China, including CTOs or AI heads at Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, Lenovo, Huawei, and Haier. While with Apple, Dr. Lee led AI projects in speech and natural language, which have been featured on Good Morning America on ABC Television and the front page of Wall Street Journal. He has authored 10 U.S. patents, and more than 100 journal and conference papers. Altogether, Dr. Lee has been in artificial intelligence research, development, and investment for more than 30 years.
Dr. Lee received his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Lee holds honorary Doctorate Degrees from the City University of Hong Kong and Carnegie Mellon. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and selected as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by the Time Magazine in 2013. He has written eight top-selling books in Chinese, and has more than 50 million followers on social media.
