Top education provider seeks bigger overseas presence with innovative learning solutions
A visitor experiences virtual reality equipment at the tech experience center of NetDragon in Fuzhou, Fujian province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd, a leading Chinese education and gaming provider, is looking to leverage artificial intelligence to gain more presence in the overseas market and transform the global education sector, said Simon Leung, the company's vice-chairman.
"We will definitely invest in AI, as the technology will change the entire education sector, despite short-term pressure to profit," said Leung, a telecommunications veteran and former CEO of Microsoft Corp Greater China.
NetDragon was founded in 1999.It used to be a leading dedicated online gaming provider, but has transformed in the past decade into a diversified business with a focus on education since 2010.The company has expanded its businesses into over 190 countries and regions across the world, including Russia, Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia.
The company has developed and launched a string of integrated educational devices, including smart boards and panels as well as feedback and evaluation systems, with many of its products and services being sold to public schools and governments.
The Fuzhou, Fujian province-based company has been actively promoting its AI products and solutions in emerging markets, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and Ghana, this year after winning a deal in Egypt by offering 94,000 Promethean interactive displays to local schools.
The Promethean interactive display, the company's most popular product overseas, is an interactive, touch-sensitive whiteboard that allows students to engage with the displayed content through different tools and software.
Leung said the product currently occupies a top market share in nine markets including the United Kingdom, Italy and Australia. The United States is its largest market. The company's financial report showed that its shipments hit 253,000 units last year, up 37.5 percent year-on-year.
But the development of hardware is limited and the company has been transforming to be a well-rounded provider of digital education solutions, Leung said, adding that is why AI is very important to the company.
His logic is forward-looking: AI can be embedded into its hardware to help teachers prepare and teach lessons, which is equivalent to a software as a service model, where Net-Dragon can use the model to charge subscription fees.
"The emergence of the current AI large model and generative AI offers greater room of imagination, which may redefine SaaS services and accelerate the transformation of SaaS from tool-based and business-oriented to an enabler," he said.
Leung denied that NetDragon would build a large-scale model by itself, but said that the company will seek external cooperation in the sector, with Microsoft and Google being potential partners.
To fully release the value of its overseas business, NetDragon announced earlier this year it would spin off its overseas education business and go public in New York through a backdoor listing through a merger with Gravitas Education. The merged entity will be renamed MYND.AI with an estimated valuation of $750 million.
"As we execute our plan to transform education with AI, this spin-off transaction will provide the right platform for the MYND.AI team to pursue our goal to become the category-dominant leader in the AI-enabled classroom technology space," he added.
"We are confident that AI will help more overseas students to learn at their own pace or be able to utilize personalized learning," Leung said.
Tarek Shawki, Egypt's former minister of education and technical education, said: "The unprecedented times that we have found ourselves in mean that all governments around the world need to find innovative solutions to ensure the continued education of all learners.
"We find ourselves well-positioned to be able to support distance learning and the rapid implementation of the company's products, to ensure that teachers, students and parents can collaborate and learn."
