Ant Group Launches 2025 'Ant InTech Award' Nomination for Frontier Fields like AGI}

On July 1st, Ant Group officially announced the launch of the 2025 "Ant InTech Award" nomination process, aimed at outstanding young scholars and current PhD students in the field of computer science, providing public research funding support. Established in 2024, this is the second edition of the award. Besides continuing to offer a 200,000 RMB "Science and Technology Award" for young scholars, it also introduces a new 50,000 RMB "PhD Scholarship" to support the full research cycle of young researchers and PhD students, encouraging more emerging talents to reach new heights.

Ant Group launches the 2025 "Ant InTech Award"

The Ant InTech Award is a purely scientific and technological public welfare award aimed at recognizing young talents in China's computer science field for their outstanding contributions in theoretical exploration, technological breakthroughs, and engineering practice. This year's focus is on four cutting-edge areas: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), embodied intelligence, digital medicine, and data processing & privacy security. These are not only core directions in global technological competition but also key areas of long-term investment and industry innovation for Ant Group.

It features two main categories: the "Ant InTech Science & Technology Award" and the "Ant InTech Scholarship."

The "Ant InTech Science & Technology Award" continues the evaluation mechanism from the first edition, targeting full-time researchers in Chinese universities and research institutes who have obtained a PhD within the last 10 years. Each year, up to 10 young scholars are selected, each receiving 200,000 RMB, with their nominators earning the "Outstanding Nominator" honor. Additionally, 10 "Future" scholars will be awarded certificates and trophies to motivate future innovation.

The newly established "Ant InTech Scholarship" targets global Chinese PhD students, selecting up to 10 each year, each receiving 50,000 RMB to support their research during their studies. This aims to encourage them to tackle valuable technical challenges in computer science, forming a full-cycle incentive system for cultivating China’s top scientific talents.

Both awards are nomination-based, with nominators including national academic institutions, academic societies, academicians, overseas academicians, and qualified experts. Nominators are responsible for the authenticity, compliance, and confidentiality of the materials.

The "Ant InTech Award" External Guidance Committee will participate in the final review and be responsible for the evaluation results. Members include Chinese Academy of Engineering academicians, Zhejiang University professor Chen Chun, US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Arts academicians Michael I. Jordan, Beijing Zhiyuan Artificial Intelligence Research Institute advisor and foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering Zhang Hongjiang, Chinese Academy of Sciences academician and Nanjing University professor Zheng Hairong, Tsinghua University professor and Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Zheng Weimin, Nanjing University professor Zhou Zhihua, among others.

From now until 24:00 on July 31, 2025, applicants can submit their materials via the official website (www.antresearch.com/cooperation/InTech). The results will be announced at the 2025 Inclusion·Bund Summit Award Ceremony in Shanghai on September 11. Leading academicians, industry leaders, and scholars from around the world will witness the event, and all participants and nominators are invited to attend.

The first "Ant InTech Science & Technology Award" has already shown promising results. In September 2024, ten young scholars from top universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Hunan University, and Westlake University received awards for research in AI algorithm optimization, data privacy, and other fields, with some results already applied in industry. Nearly 100 senior scholars participated in the nomination process, with awards presented by academicians Zheng Weimin, Chen Chun, Michael I. Jordan, and Ant Group executives.

Ant Group CTO He Zhengyu stated that supporting young scholars is a consensus across academia and industry. Ant Group is honored to participate and hopes to contribute to cultivating top scientific talents and fueling breakthroughs in core technologies in China.