In the field of meta-universe, Baotong Technology has been a bit busy recently. In Shanghai, boton space1, a naked-eye 3D mixed reality product, was officially put into trial operation; was elected as the chairman unit of the inaugural meeting of the Wuxi Meta-Universe Innovation Alliance; cooperated with domestic energy companies to build a digital twin system for coal mines; and increased the capital of VR/AR company Hashiqi.
"Metaverses will grow different types, some of which are social and some of which are workflows." Yang Kaifeng, assistant to the president of Baotong Technology and general manager of the Strategic Investment Center, said that as a meta-universe concept stock, Baotong Technology is firm that virtual and real must be combined, and the company focuses more on how to solve specific workflow problems through meta-universe related technologies.
Recently, the media had an in-depth dialogue with Yang Kaifeng, assistant to the president of Baotong Technology and general manager of the Strategic Investment Center, who talked about the business logic of the company's industrial Internet and mobile Internet dual main business development, the investment logic of a traditional industrial company in the field of mobile Internet in recent years, and the views on the company's inclusion in the topic center "meta-universe".
SPACE1 landed in operation Plus element universe
On January 18th, BOTON SPACE1, a naked-eye mixed reality product jointly operated by Baotong Technology, Yiyu Qianxiang and Hedi Technology, was officially put into trial operation in Shanghai.
SPACE1 is a naked-eye 3D fully immersive mixed reality interactive space product developed by Ichigo Senxiang, in September 2021, Baotong Technology invested in 10 million yuan to seize the opportunity of naked-eye 3D technology and industrial development.
The landing of SPACE1, to some extent, can be regarded as the latest blossoming fruit of Baotong Technology in the meta-universe. On the same day, the media present personally experienced this naked-eye 3D device.
Enter a 4*4*3.5 space, you can see a high-tech SPACE1 - installed on the top of the house, unlike VR glasses, this is a non-mobile & non-wearable product, users do not need to wear any equipment, in a natural state can immediately enter the virtual world.
Here, you can see the 1:1 virtual simulation of coal mine deep well operations, the Bank of Communications virtual human customer service explanation system, Lancome's new product release exhibition and van Gogh Art Gallery.
According to the staff, the core component of SPACE1 is the central 5 depth cameras, which have an algorithm mode that can realize human eye position tracking and behavior attitude recognition, and after image distortion processing through an exclusive geometric algorithm, it projects a picture that conforms to the logic of human eye perspective, which is also the essential technical point that can be thrown away from the wearing device.
It is understood that SPACE1 currently serves B-end customers in the form of leasing and selling, such as restoring various types of industrial equipment, plant and operating environment in the virtual space, as well as serving beauty, live broadcasting, exhibition and other industries. ** In the future, it will gradually expand to the C-end. *
Don't forget the original dual-track parallel plus code meta universe
At the beginning of September 2021, the A-share market began to form a meta-universe concept plate, and Baotong Technology was naturally included in the first batch of concept stocks because of its resource accumulation in online games, VR/AR, etc.
"Entering such a trendy but controversial sector, as the head of the company's strategic investment center, was you panicked at that time?"
"Don't panic," Yang Kaifeng replied with a smile, lean and firm, "In this (meta-universe), we have solid technical accumulation and application scenarios."
The direct reason for the accumulation of the meta-universe described by Yang Kaifeng lies in the series layout of Baotong Technology in the mobile Internet business - in the early years, it invested in and acquired a number of game companies, including Yi fantasy network, etc., established Hainan Yuan universe company in June 2021, recently invested in a corner of silicon valley 3D naked-eye technology provider, and increased the capital of VR/AR company Hashiqi twice. After the latest capital increase, Baotong Technology and its related entities held a total of 43.61% of the shares of Beijing Hashiqi, and Baotong Technology became the controlling shareholder of Hashiqi. This is also the first layout of Baotong Technology in the meta-universe business field in 2022.
From the earliest conveyor belt main business, to the industrial Internet + mobile Internet dual main business parallel development, and even today's meta-universe concept stock leader, this leap, somewhat let the outside world understand.
"In fact, Baotong has long had this awareness, to carry out the digital twin application of our scenes", Yang Kaifeng said, in the early years, the company has felt the downstream customers' demand for intelligent transportation systems, front-line operators also need to operate the machine more accurately and concretely in the digital scene. But the technology at that time was far from meeting the requirements, or the cost was too high.
"So we need to reserve industrial Internet-related technologies, including some better, immersive technologies," the turning point came from the acquisition of Yifan Network in 2016.
"At that time, investing in Yi fan network, the outside world seems to be a game company, but in fact, we are treating it as a big data, AI company to do", Yang Kaifeng said, Yi fan network itself does not develop games, but a publishing platform, which means that it is a good product through accurate big data analysis and other technologies to promote the hands of users, and in the process of game promotion, many technologies can also be combined with the industrial Internet, such as artificial intelligence customer service, IDC server construction, data communications, etc.
Big data analysis, artificial intelligence and other technologies that were originally preferentially applied to the mobile Internet are now applied to baotong technology's intelligent transportation, smart ports and other industrial Internet services, and mobile Internet and industrial interconnection thus form a logical closed loop in business.
"From the perspective of the development logic of the entire business line, we actually foresee the opportunity of Internet technology upgrading, the mobile Internet is not only the VR of the game scene, it can also be combined with the traditional industry", Yang Kaifeng said, like game design related technology, can also be applied to the digital 3D modeling of industrial scenes.
Hindsight Hindsight Metacosm step by step for the camp digitalization
"In fact, we didn't know what a meta-universe was at the beginning," Yang Kaifeng said, and when he looked back and took stock of the business, he found out, "Isn't what Baotong has been doing in the meta-universe?" Since 16 years, the company has been laying out around the core technologies of the meta-universe such as computing power, AR/VR, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things."
To some extent, Baotong Technology seems to have stepped on the wind of the times.
But for any company, after the meta-universe is popular, as long as it is linked to it, it is difficult to avoid the suspicion of rubbing hot spots, and as a result, many listed companies have been repeatedly questioned by regulators.
According to Choice data, among the more than 70 meta-universe concept stocks in the A-share market, many companies do not have meta-universe-related technologies or products, and some companies have not landed meta-universe projects, or only emphasize that the company is good at using virtual reality technology on the investor interactive platform, and some even participate in VR/AR and other companies to "rank" among the meta-universe concept stocks.
"We are very adamant that virtual and real must be combined, and we are more focused on how to solve specific workflow problems through metaverse-related technologies," Yang Kaifeng responded to the hot spot.
Previously Baidu released the meta-universe product "Xilang", according to Yang Kaifeng, Hashiqi is a content developer, involved in the construction of Baidu Xilang platform, in Xilang "Creator City", users can experience the "Fantasy Shooting Fish" and "Fantasy Skiing" developed by Hashiqi, "Baidu working group was stationed in Beijing Hashiqi Company for a month, almost 24 hours non-stop work."
During the dialogue, it can be understood that baotong technology development strategy is more inclined to reserve industrial application scenarios with investment. "Like investing in artificial intelligence image companies, sensor companies, new energy companies, game companies, etc., can derive the application of digital scenes, such as unmanned mines."
Under the background of "double carbon", Baotong Technology is also expanding cooperation in the field of new energy business.
As early as 2017, Baotong Technology became its shareholder through the private placement of Tianli Lithium Energy. In 2020, it invested in Haike Xinyuan, the largest lithium-ion battery electrolyte solvent in China, and Ailang Technology, the largest wind blade manufacturer in China. Through the above layout, on the one hand, the new energy track among the latter, on the other hand, the intelligent transportation system of Baotong Technology has an application scenario that is suitable for the supply of raw materials on new energy.