West Bund Service Space opens with public lecture
A public forum at the newly opened West Bund Service Space in the Shanghai AI Tower on Saturday.
One of the first West Bund Service Spaces on the Huangpu River waterfront in Xuhui opened to the public over the weekend with a forum discussing technology, sport, food and health.
Xuhui plans to develop a total of 20 such service spaces along the 8.4-kilometer-long waterfront with toilets, resting spaces and mobile phone charging facilities along with bag deposits, events organization and consultation services.
The newly released space, to be a flagship project, is on the fifth and sixth floors of the Shanghai AI Tower, a key site for the city’s plan to become a world “AI Highland.”
The Hui Forum, a popular cultural brand of Xuhui to invite industrial leaders and officials to share the latest information with the public, was held at the space on Saturday.
Speakers included Xing Kechun, senior vice president of Mininglamp, an AI start-up based in the building, Shen Kai, sports marketing director of Adidas China, and Cui Song, director of cardiology of Shuguang Hospital.
A Runbase has been developed on the West Bund for running enthusiasts to gather, deposit bags and rent shoes, said Shen. The site near the Long Museum is built with four containers. Coaches will guide training plans and organize running events, he added.
People visit the Mininglamp's office on the 31st floor of the AI Tower after the lecture.
The number of running events across China has increased to over 2,000 in 2019 from only 20 in 2011, Shen said. The base is open between 7am and 9pm in summer, and 8am and 9pm in other months.
Xing introduced the latest AI technology developed by the company, and invited the audiences to visit the company's office on the 31st floor of the building.
An automatic ice-cream machine developed by Xing's firm has been unveiled at the Raffles City mall in People's Square. The machine can receive orders and conduct food safety inspections before delivering the product to customers.
"We've entered the era of Strong AI which means people are living with intelligent machines," Xing said.
Additional service spaces are being developed along the riverside region. Visitors are expected to find a space every 1,000 meters by the end of 2020. The spaces are either in stand-alone pavilions or attached to museums, art galleries or buildings such as the tower, according to the district government.
A bird's eye view of the West Bund waterfront from the AI Tower.
