An Eye to the Future

THE Zhongguancun Haidian Pioneer Parkin Beijing is a business incubator set up in1989 to nurture startups with cutting-edgeinnovation capabilities so that they cancontribute to global innovation. Since then it hasbecome a hub of young Chinese who have returnedhome after completing their higher studies abroadto start their own innovative businesses， with growinginternational links.

Liu Min is one of them. A master ’s in automationscience， Liu is the protégé of Professor TobiDelbruck， an American neuromorphic engineer atETH Zurich， a public research university in Switzerland，and son of Max Delbrück， the 1969 Nobellaureate in physiology/medicine. When he was applyingto do his doctorate， Liu chose to do it underProf. Delbruck since he found the latter’s work indynamic vision sensor technology， involving biology，circuits， and algorithms， fascinating. His applicationto research under Prof. Delbruck was accepted andin 2016， he began studying the technology at ETHZurich under his mentor.

After receiving his Ph.D and coming back toChina in 2023， Liu started a company called DVSense（Beijing） Technology with a partner. The companydescribes its objective as being “committed to creatinghuman-comparable vision solutions to helpintelligent manufacturing， consumer electronics，humanoid robots and autonomous driving industries，leading the new revolution in computer vision.”

The core technology of the company comes fromthe dynamic visual sensor （DVS） invented by Prof.Delbruck. “This technology is very promising， andresearch on it is absent in China，” Liu said， explainingwhy he wanted to start a bionic vision businessin China. “I think bringing this technology to Chinawill create many significant application scenariosand facilitate its implementation and commercializationdomestically.”

Learning the Ropes

While Liu was doing research in Zurich， Miracle-Plus， an accelerator for startups and a venturecapital investment firm， realized the potential of thetechnology and contacted him. After his return toChina， he participated in a camp for startups organizedby MiraclePlus， where he learned the knowhowto start a business， like how to do marketingand get financing.

When the camp ended， his project was chosenfrom over 8，000 ones presented to investors throughroadshows. It was a hectic time. “Sometimes， Iwould meet five investment organizations in asingle day， explaining to them things like what kindof technology we have， who are the members of ourteam， and what problems we want to solve，” Liu toldChina Today .

At first， the investors didn’t care much for whathe was proposing to do. “Initially， we planned touse the technology for robotic navigation， but theinvestors thought the application scenario was toolimited.” Luckily， he met a friend who is in the fieldof industrial vision， and Liu realized his technologycould be used to help industrial production.

Based on this and feedback from the investors，Liu revised his plan， gradually forming a clear ideaof how to commercialize it. For nearly a month， hekept meeting potential investors and two monthslater， received an angel round of early-stage fundingfrom investors.

This year， Liu visited Prof. Delbruck to tell himabout the progress， and his doctoral supervisor saidhe was very proud of the fledgling company.

On his WeChat， Liu shared a selfie taken with theprofessor during the visit. You can see from it thatdespite his high science talent， Liu is not good atposing for the camera and his jaw is missing in theframe. But his shining eyes more than make up forthat.

From Researcher to Marketeer

For Liu， running a startup as its CEO is a seachange. Meeting the investors is the biggest challengefor him. “I don’t think I’m good at expressingmyself. But to get financing， I have to talk withinvestors about my technology and vision，” he said.“The change of status from a researcher to an entrepreneurwas a challenge to me since I’m not good atit.”

Though plagued by anxiety and pressure， histraits as a scientist whose work teaches him topersevere and try to resolve problems made himeventually understand the three most importanttasks of a CEO – finding the right people to work forthe organization， the money to run the organization，and the direction the organization should take.Finding money is the first step to start the work.“The process of persuading investors is like learninga new technology，” Liu said. “I told myself that I waslearning technologies that I knew nothing aboutbefore.”

Being a founder also means shouldering moreresponsibilities. When Liu was a student， what heneeded to think was only about his own studies. Butnow as the head of a company， he needs to considerhis 20-odd employees each time he makes a decision.“Now， much of my work has little to do withthe specific technological aspects. Instead， I haveto think of the bigger picture and play my role as amanager，” Liu told China Today .

DVSense now has a productcalled DVS Cam， a new camerawith a new type of high-speedbionic eye sensor technology.Highly sensitive to change inlight， Dvs Cam is like a pro versionof the traditional camerathat can capture objects in justone microsecond and work inmore extreme conditions. Inother words， it creates highlysophisticated eyes for machines.

“Our core technology is theDVS. Globally， there are only about five or six companiesthat can make chips for DVS and basically allof them are run by former students of Prof. Delbruck，”Liu said.

According to Liu， the camera is now mainly usedto detect defects in goods on the production line，like fiber optic cable. When there is a defect in theproduct， it will reflect a different brightness of lightto the camera， which is transmitted to the screenin real time， and the workers locate the defect andrectify it.

Apart from this scenario， Liu is also hoping toapply the technology to other fields in the future.For example， his company is already cooperatingwith a higher education institution in the R&D ofrobot navigation. “Currently， we are focusing on itsapplication in the industry. In the future， as we accumulatemore technologies， we hope to enter thefield of robots and self-driving vehicles，” Liu said.

A Sense of Home-Coming

The DVSense office moved to the Haidian PioneerPark this year because it gives Liu a sense ofbelonging， since the founders of the other startupshere also studied abroad. Besides， the park providesfavorable policies for startups.

That has been a huge support. The park， forinstance， helps its enterprises apply for governmentsubsidies and also to apply for higher titles that willbring more opportunities， like “national high-techenterprise.”

“The Haidian Pioneer Park has a lot of first-handinformation regarding policies， which it shares withus in a timely manner so that we don’t miss thedeadline for applying.” Besides， the park has a wholeset of procedures that saves startups the trouble ofpaperwork while applying for benefits.

The park authorities say they provide comprehensiveguidance to the enterprises by integratingvarious resources. This includes policy consultation，management consultation， financing assistance，talent recruitment， and more. The park also offerspreferential office space and assists with handlingbusiness registration， taxation， intellectual propertyagency， and other related matters.

There are similar parks across China. Governmentsat different levels have rolled out variouspolicies to support returned overseas Chinese studentsin starting businesses and in 2009， a supportprogram was launched for them. As early as in 2000，Beijing set up an award for outstanding contributionto innovation and entrepreneurship by overseasreturnees.

While acknowledging the fierce competition，Liu says one of the greatest advantages of startinga business in China is the huge market. “Today，no matter whether in Beijing or in other places inChina， the government’s efforts to attract overseastalents have ratcheted up significantly， providing alot of tangible support，” he said.