Roundtable Dialogue: "Seizing the Domain and Taking Off", Envisioning the Future of Low Altitude in 2024 | WISE 2024 Business King
The environment is constantly changing, and the times are always evolving. The "Business Kings" follow the trend of the times, insist on creating, and seek new driving forces. Based on the current major transformation of the Chinese economy, the WISE2024 Business Kings Conference aims to discover the truly resilient "Business Kings" and explore the "right things" in the Chinese business wave.
From November 28 to 29, the two-day 36Kr WISE2024 Business Kings Conference was grandly held in Beijing. As an all-star event in the Chinese business field, the WISE Conference has now reached its twelfth session, witnessing the resilience and potential of the Chinese business in the ever-changing era.
2024 is a year that is somewhat ambiguous and with more changes than stability. Compared to the past decade, people's pace is slowing down, and development is more rational. 2024 is also a year of seeking new economic momentum, and the new industrial changes have put forward higher requirements for the adaptability of each subject. This year's WISE Conference takes Hard But Right Thing as the theme. In 2024, what is the right thing has become a topic we want to discuss more.
As one of China's strategic emerging industries, the low-altitude economy has ushered in its first year of development this year. Entrepreneurs are continuously pouring in and local governments are competing to seize the opportunity. With the encouragement and guidance from the policy side, the patient investment from the capital side, and the entrepreneurs' insistence on doing the "right things", looking forward to the future of China's low-altitude economy, we can foresee a vibrant and innovative industry landscape.
WISE2024 Business Kings Conference "Low-altitude Economy" Theme Roundtable Dialogue Site
Under this background, 36Kr specially planned a roundtable dialogue centered on the low-altitude economy at WISE2024, with the theme of "Low-altitude Flight, the Fog Has Dispersed, Discussing the New Trend of Sky Development". Zhang Qi, Investment Director of Lenovo Star, Cao Yabing, CEO of Fuya Intelligence, He Tianxing, Vice President of EHang, Li Wei, Chairman of Hive UAV, and Xie Ling, Founder and CEO of Yufeng Future, five big names jointly explore the development innovation and future direction of the low-altitude economy industry.
The following is the live record of the roundtable dialogue, edited and sorted by 36Kr:
Zhang Qi (Host): Hello everyone! I'm Zhang Qi from Lenovo Star, mainly responsible for the frontier technology field, including the low-altitude economy field. In the past year or more, the low-altitude economy has received unprecedented attention. This year's Zhuhai Airshow even opened a special pavilion for the low-altitude economy for the first time. The four of you are senior practitioners. Let's discuss the present and future of this industry together today.
Zhang Qi, Investment Director of Lenovo Star
The first question, please introduce your company, specific business and position in the low-altitude economy industry respectively.
Xie Ling: Hello everyone! I'm very glad to participate in the roundtable forum on such a stage of 36Kr. Yufeng Future is an innovative enterprise in air travel, dedicated to creating a high-safety, cost-effective, and green intelligent eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) aircraft. Our vision is to make air travel accessible to everyone. We have developed a 2.5-ton electric vertical takeoff and landing fixed-wing aircraft. The goal is to bring everyone a more efficient travel mode that "turns a 2-hour car ride into a 20-minute flight experience", and it is also known as the "air taxi" of the future. This aircraft has currently entered the airworthiness certification process of the Civil Aviation Administration, and we hope to launch an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that meets safety requirements and is affordable for everyone within 2 - 3 years. In addition to the 2.5 - ton eVTOL, we also have a brand called Fukun Aviation, which mainly focuses on the R & D and manufacturing of small and medium - sized industrial drones. Currently, Yufeng Future has R & D, manufacturing and test flight bases in Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta and Zhongshan in the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macao Greater Bay Area.
Xie Ling, Founder and CEO of Yufeng Future
Li Wei: Hello, experts! Thank you 36Kr for giving this opportunity to share. I'm Li Wei, the founder of Hive UAV. Hive UAV was established in 2015 and is a military - civilian integration enterprise. We have been previously positioned in the military industry, cooperating with scientific research institutes, and focusing on the supporting services of small and medium - sized drones under 200 kilograms. Based on military technology, we have extended our business to the emergency field. We previously developed an emergency communication drone for the theater, and currently, in cooperation with operators, we have customized an emergency communication satellite drone for China Unicom. This drone can achieve communication coverage in the "three - disruptions" situation of water cut - off, power cut - off, and road cut - off, and can also transmit the real - time images of the disaster area to meet emergency needs.
In addition, we have also developed an unmanned automatic drone nest, achieving truly unmanned operation. Drones can charge in the nest and be connected through the 5G network to realize cloud management, cloud control, and cloud application, which is used for the inspection of border defense, coastal defense, national parks, and islands. This is one of our important products. This year, we have also laid out in the low - altitude economy field and launched a low - altitude air traffic control platform. This platform can declare flight routes and airspace in real time and provide low - altitude airspace guarantee for local governments to ensure that drones can take off smoothly, be effectively managed, and be well applied.
Li Wei, Chairman of Hive UAV
He Tianxing: Thanks to the invitation of 36Kr, I'm He Tianxing from EHang, a globally leading company. Special thanks to the invitation of today's 36Kr event. Our enterprise may be more familiar and well - known to everyone. When everyone pays attention to the low - altitude economy today and sees the air taxi and the realization of science fiction, basically, the figure of EHang can be seen. Our self - developed two - seat unmanned manned aircraft has obtained the world's first airworthiness three - certificates. In the past 10 years of growth of EHang, it is similar to the growth stage of 36Kr. In the past 10 years, we have involved in multiple scene applications such as logistics and fire rescue, including the familiar drone formation performance, which is also one of the earliest businesses carried out by EHang.
At present, we mainly focus on the R & D, production, and manufacturing of new electric aircraft, as well as providing a complete set of ecological solutions for the entire low - altitude economy. These two directions are the main development directions of our enterprise. Of course, in the subsequent discussions, we will specifically talk about today's theme, that is, how to achieve commercialization.
He Tianxing, Vice President of EHang
Cao Yabing: I'm Cao Yabing, the CEO of Shanghai Fuya Intelligence. You may not be familiar with our company because we mainly serve enterprise and government users, which is far from consumers. We are one of the earliest companies to start developing unmanned aircraft automation systems, aiming to make the application of unmanned aircraft fully automated and free from manual operation. We started to develop the automation system of rotorcraft unmanned aircraft since 2018. In the process of developing the automation system, we found a problem: Because the control of unmanned aircraft is an over - the - horizon remote operation, the operator cannot see the overall situation, which poses a challenge to the control of unmanned aircraft operations. To solve this problem, we have invested a lot of resources in the research of unmanned aircraft flight intelligence. With the accumulation of technology, our focus has shifted to flight intelligence. Since this year, we have also expanded our business direction, using our AI and intelligence capabilities on unmanned aircraft to expand to more scenarios that require flight intelligence.
Cao Yabing, CEO of Fuya Intelligence
Zhang Qi (Host): In the entire low - altitude economy field, unmanned aircraft is actually a very important carrier. Next, I will ask each guest the same question: Concepts including the low - altitude economy and unmanned aircraft are not new and have been developing for some time. But recently, these concepts have suddenly received enthusiastic pursuit from all aspects. What is the reason behind this? From the aspects of policy, technology, and industry, what changes have contributed to the current highly concerned situation?
Cao Yabing: Actually, we are not very clear about why the unmanned aircraft low - altitude policy has received so much attention this year because we are slightly far from the policy - making. But even without the attention to the low - altitude economy this year, I think the unmanned aircraft automation field we are in may also usher in an explosion within these two years. There are several reasons:
First, since 2017 and 2018, our subdivision track has developed for 5 or 6 years. Whether it is the hardware of the unmanned aircraft itself, or the related software, algorithms, and systems, they have been well prepared. In terms of functions, it has basically been able to meet the needs of industry users, so there is sufficient preparation at the functional and technical product level.
Second, the entry of more enterprises such as DJI has had a significant impact on the industry price. The industry price has decreased by about 60% in recent years. Therefore, for many users, the cost performance and return on investment (ROI) of unmanned aircraft have crossed a critical point. Even without the support of the low - altitude economy policy, I think at the application level, this industry itself will develop in these few years. From my perspective, this is the case.
He Tianxing: Today's meeting is almost at five o'clock, but there are still so many listeners in the venue, which also reflects everyone's interest in the low - altitude economy and the attitude of embracing this upsurge. Just mentioned, in addition to the policy, what is the biggest driving force for the low - altitude economy. But I think so far, the biggest driving force is still the policy. This year is called the first year of the low - altitude economy, but for us, the low - altitude economy has been a ten - year journey. Everyone here has been deeply cultivating in the low - altitude economy field for many years, because the low - altitude economy is the new quality productivity that everyone is most passionate about. Whether it is the superposition of innovative elements such as aircraft, digital management, and big data, or the actions around this industry, it is not something that started this year or last year. Every industry and every enterprise has been deeply cultivating in the industry for many years.
Therefore, when we look at the low - altitude economy, we should think about whether we need to develop the low - altitude economy and its impact on our lives. We should think about whether if this industry develops well, it will bring a huge change to our entire industry.
Just now, everyone also talked about that perhaps some of our new technologies, including the development of the past new energy vehicles and the digital industry, have laid a good foundation for this industry. So maybe we have reached this time and this stage, and the development of low - altitude eVTOL is a natural result. I think this is driven by the maturity of technology. What we are discussing today is not low - altitude flight, but the low - altitude economy. We should return to these two words to see how many new industrial growth points and profit growth points we can create to allow more people to participate. An industry that can form a trillion - level track must be an inclusive industry. If everyone here cannot participate in the low - altitude economy, or cannot experience, understand, and enjoy the low - altitude economy, our scale today may be a bit exaggerated. The purpose of the few of us here is how to make this new economic form, like the past Internet economy, digital economy, and automotive industrial economy, be able to truly achieve inclusive development, so that we can bring such a huge economic increment.
So I think, from the policy end, the industrial end, the investment end, and the enthusiasm of everyone's attention to the low - altitude economy this year, we now need such a transformative and revolutionary new industrial development. We may usher in a revolutionary economic growth. Because in the past, as we can see, we are not a traditional aviation power. In the past, due to policies, advanced technological development, and some other objective / subjective reasons, we have not been able to truly develop the aviation industry. But in the past few years, due to the development foundation of unmanned, electrification, and digitalization, it has also driven the development of unmanned aircraft, and we have a good foundation in the new civil aviation industry. We can first have some new breakthroughs in the field of equipment manufacturing, and even some new opportunities for overtaking on a curve, which has laid the foundation for us to form an economic format and a revolutionary format in the entire low - altitude flight and low - altitude manufacturing format. This is also a very good development element that we have in addition to the policy in the low - altitude economy this year.
Li Wei: As a veteran in the field of unmanned aircraft, we have experienced more than ten years of development. This year is particularly busy, and I feel that the low - altitude economy is somewhat overheated and too popular. For enterprises, it remains to be seen whether they have really gained tangible benefits. Looking back over the past ten years, since 2013 and 2014, we entered the agricultural field, followed by mapping, the Land and Resources Bureau, the national three - dimensional mapping, and related work on the three - dimensional earth, which are all applications in specific fields. Breakthroughs have also been continuously made in fields such