By Mao Xinhui & Cheng Jiajia
At Harvard University, a professor's lecture is captured by a high-definition camera. The footage is then compressed by an encoder, sent in segments over the internet to students' computers in China, and finally decompressed in real-time by a media player. This is made possible by real-time audio and video technology, which serves as the underlying support technology.
Agora, based in the GKIC Park, is a company that focuses on this foundational technology. The park's ecosystem, combined with the support of neighboring entrepreneurial partners, has enabled Agora to continuously innovate and rapidly progress. Today, it has entered the unmanned cleaning vehicle sector.
Since 2017, many provinces and cities have begun piloting unmanned cleaning vehicles to save labor resources. In practical applications, besides recognizing vehicles, pedestrians, and traffic lights—common for autonomous driving—these cleaning vehicles also need to identify trash, water pipes, rocks, and potholes on the ground, and safely navigate around obstacles.
Agora's low-latency, low-stuttering solution allows vehicles to avoid obstacles and ensure safe travel through remote control. Remote operations usually suffer from command delays, but Agora's solution, even in weak 4G network conditions, achieves end-to-end video latency as low as 100ms; with a 60% resistance to weak network packet loss, the system runs smoothly with a stutter rate of less than 0.01% during stable periods; under 20% packet loss + 50ms network jitter, the stutter rate is less than 0.1%.
Leveraging its proprietary software-defined real-time network, Agora ensures that real-time signaling can achieve a 100% message arrival rate even with 70% packet loss, significantly enhancing the safety of autonomous cleaning vehicle operations. Moreover, Agora supports over 100 billion-level message concurrency with no upper limit on concurrent users, aiding enterprises in managing multiple vehicles simultaneously to improve operational efficiency.
From starting with just three workstations to building its own headquarters on the Yangpu Riverside, Agora's growth mirrors that of the 4,500 innovative enterprises in the GKIC Park.
"Just a five-minute walk to a popular restaurant, where you can exchange ideas and spark creativity with students from nearby universities. Why not check out GKIC Park?" In 2014, a casual suggestion from a friend led Zhao Bin, who had just returned from abroad, to "move in with just a suitcase" and take the first step in founding Agora. Today, Agora's technological services reach over 200 countries and regions.
During the limited opening hours of the University Road pedestrian street, Ms. Xiang made a special trip to "check in," marveling at the dramatic changes over 20 years at GKIC Park: "In 2003, when I was studying at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, this area was filled with old residential buildings and abandoned roads. Now, it's a place for leisure and entertainment, truly embodying the charm of the digital age."
University Road, one of the first "Sci-Tech Innovation Blocks" in the city, is a crucial part of the GKIC Park in Yangpu District. Last May, it transitioned into a pedestrian street for limited hours, blending artistic flair, a sense of community, and a technological vibe.
How did GKIC Park transform from "old residential areas and abandoned roads" into a renowned cultural and technological industry hub that exudes the charm of the digital intelligence era, becoming Shanghai's only national-level cultural industry demonstration park? According to Jiang Jianxing, the executive director of Shanghai Yangpu Knowledge Innovation Area Investment Development Co., Ltd., "co-creation" is the key to GKIC Park's success.
"Co-creation" includes collaboration among campuses, communities, and the park itself, as well as between technology and culture, and online and offline initiatives. In GKIC Park, the overflow of academic research achievements and the gathering of outstanding talents from nearby universities have injected vitality into cultural industry innovation. In recent years, entrepreneurial achievements by alumni of neighboring universities have continuously emerged in the park.
Chen Xuefeng, a Fudan University graduate, founded ATRenew, a company that has grown to be a leader in China's digital recycling economy and was listed on the NASDAQ in 2021. MetroDataTech is a leading enterprise in the field of urban big data and artificial intelligence, with most of its founding team graduating from local universities such as Tongji University and Fudan University. The team is widely known as the "Urban Data Team."
As the city undergoes a digital transformation, digitalization has also become a distinctive feature of GKIC Park. On one hand, the park's cultural and technological companies, represented by ByteDance, AECOM, and MetroDataTech, have developed strong digital capabilities over years of deep cultivation in the digital-related industries. On the other hand, thanks to Yangpu's rich university resources, GKIC Park has attracted a large number of highly educated young people who are receptive to new technologies and ideas, ensuring ample user demand for digital applications. Moreover, the park actively encourages cultural enterprises to integrate their online and offline products, vigorously promotes the formation of cultural landmarks through virtual reality spaces, proactively explores the construction of a digital twin indicator system for cultural parks, and seeks to establish a digital "Metaverse Youth Community."
