Chapter 4 Primer

The Sigma Building on Zhichun Road, Haidian District, Beijing—one of the buildings known as "the highest IQ density in China" is also the headquarters of Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group.Zhang Yaqin, who had just returned to Beijing from a business trip, finished a day of internal meetings and hurried to the long-awaited photographers and media to take photos for the new version of the company brochure of the R&D Group.Standing in front of the background board of the R&D Group's slogan "Intelligent Manufacturing in China, Wisdom to the World", Zhang Yaqin said, "Although we are now 'Asia-Pacific', these 8 words remain unchanged."

In January 2010, Microsoft announced that it would upgrade the Microsoft China R&D Group to the Asia-Pacific R&D Group, with Zhang Yaqin as the chairman. In March 2010, Microsoft announced that the Asia-Pacific R&D Group would be headquartered in Beijing, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Taipei. More than 3,000 scientists and engineers in Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney and Bangkok. This is a no-nonsense move. It not only reflects Microsoft's commitment to China, but also the symbolic meaning of the event itself, which means that China, Beijing, has already obtained the central position of Microsoft's Asia-Pacific R&D!This is unprecedented, and it is exactly what Zhang Yaqin strives for.Just imagine, if the world's top 500 companies all use China as their research and development center, then China's status as the world's new scientific research center will be a matter of course.Some people predict that within ten years, Beijing, China will become a world-class innovation center.If ten years later, Beijing really becomes the innovation capital of the world, looking back, who will be remembered by history?

"We are building a platform so that top overseas Chinese scientists can have a space to display their personal value after returning to China." Zhang Yaqin said to us in his office on the fifth floor of the Sigma Building on Zhichun Road, his tone revealed pride is evident. As a world-class scientist, what Zhang Yaqin is doing is at the forefront of scientific and technological research in the world. It seems to be far away from ordinary people, but in fact it is very close. The VCD, DVD, Internet video, mobile TV, digital TV, etc. we use now, these Behind them all contain the image and video compression transmission technology and algorithm developed by Zhang Yaqin.Talking about the many awards he has won in the industry, Zhang Yaqin has always felt normal and calm, but every time he talked about the R&D Group's attraction and training of Chinese talents, as well as the promotion of China's IT industry, his eyes shone with a strange look ——For a scientist who has repeatedly proved his self-worth in the international academic field, success in the purely academic field is far from enough for Zhang Yaqin.

After I started writing this book, I asked many friends around me the same question: "Do you know Zhang Yaqin?" It has become the two labels of "prodigy" and "Dean of Microsoft Research". "First of all, let me declare that I am not a 'god', nor a 'child'." During our interview, Zhang Yaqin made such opening remarks with a smile. The word "child prodigy" is old.In the college entrance examination in 1978, which was a symbol of the times, among the 6.1 million candidates, a dark horse broke out-a 12-year-old boy who was admitted to the junior class of the University of Science and Technology of China with a perfect score in mathematics, becoming a student of his age at that time. The youngest college student is Zhang Yaqin.

Many friends don’t know the structure of Microsoft. In fact, Microsoft is divided into two parts in China: R&D and sales.Therefore, Zhang Yaqin's accurate title is not "President of Microsoft China", but "Senior Vice President of Microsoft Global", "Chairman of Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group", and "Chairman of Microsoft (China) Co., Ltd." Some people use "star plus coach" as a metaphor for Zhang Yaqin's status in the world, which is very interesting.In academia, he has the charisma of a star like Yao Ming.So far, Zhang Yaqin has more than 60 US patents and has published more than 500 academic papers and monographs.At the beginning of the establishment of Microsoft China Research Institute, among the few core backbones, at least 4 joined because of Zhang Yaqin.In the entire development process of Microsoft China's R&D business, Zhang Yaqin has always played the role of the helm.

In 2008, a large-scale lecture tour of Microsoft's innovation journey with the theme of "China's wisdom, wisdom and the world" swept all major universities across the country.The core figure of this lecture tour is Zhang Yaqin. Zhang Yaqin put forward the goal of "China's wisdom and global wisdom", which is to let Microsoft, which has been rooted in China for more than ten years, exert a greater influence. He wants to use Microsoft's technological innovation practice to set off a wave of innovation in China. Once the slogan "Made in China, Wisdom reaches the world" was put forward, it received a lot of response.Microsoft China's innovation, or more broadly speaking, the R&D and innovation of all foreign companies in China, is an important part of China's overall independent innovation.Microsoft China is not only about its own success, but also cooperates with the industry and innovates together to achieve cooperation and win-win results!

More and more people realize that it is Zhang Yaqin's efforts that make Chinese people understand Microsoft better and accept Microsoft; it also allows Microsoft to re-understand China and integrate more into China, thereby increasing investment in China's research and development capabilities, and bringing the American mainland to China. The largest research and development base in the world is located in Beijing.It is self-evident that Microsoft's decision has brought confidence and encouragement to other giants in the world to invest in China; at the same time, it is undeniable that this is also a great affirmation of Zhang Yaqin's achievements in the past 4 years from the Microsoft headquarters.

How to define Zhang Yaqin?Where is Zhang Yaqin from?How did Zhang Yaqin make it?If you read this book, you will naturally get the answer in your heart!