With Alibaba surpassing Amazon and its market value exceeding 470 billion US dollars, "Watson Information" was officially opened in Hangzhou in 2017. Watson has learned that the most important news of the Cloud Habitat Conference is undoubtedly that Ali has set up a global research institute, which is called the Da Mo Institute (DAMO). But what is most expected is Ma Yun's speech. In his speech, Ma Yun mainly talked about three things:
- First, why didn't Alibaba set up a research institute before the 18th anniversary?
- Second, why is it an appropriate opportunity to officially establish the Dharma Hall?
- Third, how will the Dharma Hall develop in the future?
As for the first thing, Ma Yun said that Alibaba has had a hard time every day in the past 18 years, thinking about how to survive. Especially in the first 10 years, Ali people are absolutely not allowed to mention the "establishment of research institutes".
As for the second thing, Ma Yun believes that Alibaba has had enough influence today, has a mature business model and profitability, has more than 25000 technical talents, and has more than 500 million users. If Alibaba only wants to make money, then it is a "unprofitable company", and should be responsible for the world, the times, and social problems, Therefore, it was decided to establish the "Dharma Hall".
For the third thing, Ma Yun put forward three requirements for the future development of the Dharma Hall:
1) Dharma Hall should live longer than Alibaba, just like the lakeside university and public welfare fund;
2) By 2036, Dharma Hall will serve the world's fifth largest economy, provide employment for 100 million people, serve 2 billion consumers, and empower 10 million enterprises to make profits;
3) After Ali invested 100 billion yuan in the startup, the Dharma Hall must be able to make money on its own.
Finally, Ma Yun also said that to become a great enterprise, we need to solve great problems. To become a great enterprise, we need to solve great problems. He hoped that the Dharma Institute could actively participate in solving social problems.
The following is the full text of Ma Yun's speech:
The starting point of R&D technology is to solve social problems
When the company was just founded seven or eight years ago, I was firmly opposed to any research room or laboratory in the company. In the past ten years, no one can talk to me about the laboratory, and definitely not about Microsoft's R&D department IBM R&D departments, I think these R&D departments will not go far.
Because we were a start-up company at that time. Although we emphasize technology, it is a disaster for the company to consider R&D before it has a foothold. I found that the vast majority of companies are research for fun, which cannot go on for a long time; Research for profit， It is impossible to walk for a long time. At that time, I went to a large foreign company, and the engineer told me how to make money with this product instead of telling me what problems the customer would solve. I felt that the problem was serious.
Previously, I knew that Alibaba had no Ready. I only wanted to solve many problems through technology, rather than upgrading to the laboratory at once. And Microsoft, Bell IBM is also good. These laboratory based models in the industrial era made great contributions at that time, but in fact, they have shrunk in the last decade. They are not the future. What is the future of the laboratory? You should not act rashly until you understand it and your company has a firm foothold.
Alibaba's profits were very low at that time, and this money might disappear once it was done. But today Ali is eighteen years old. We should have a sense of responsibility; Today's Alibaba is also different from the past. You know that Alibaba is an e-commerce company. In fact, e-commerce is only 20% of Alibaba's products. We are famous for e-commerce, but we are not an e-commerce company in essence. Nine years ago, we positioned ourselves as a data driven company, In the past nine years, Alibaba has become one of the few companies that can handle rich data sources.
Today, Alibaba is the largest e-commerce in the world in terms of scale effect. In fact, Amazon eBay， The amount of the last five is less than that of Alibaba. This is supported by Alibaba's strong technical force. Just one "Double 11" has more technology than many people think.
So I am very grateful that Alibaba has a group of engineers who have made continuous efforts. I don't understand technology, but because I don't understand technology, I support technology more than anyone else. I always feel that something I don't understand is going to happen. In contrast, both Tencent and Baidu are engineers in BAT. Their judgment is based on whether the technology can complete the task; My judgment is based on whether people will die tomorrow if we don't finish this task. If we don't do this, we will have bad luck tomorrow. Our company can't cross the border tomorrow. Even if we can't do it, we must find ways to do it. Because of this, Alibaba fully entered cloud computing nine years ago.
We judge by solving problems, not by taking things for granted to solve the future, let alone by thinking of yesterday. This is the difference between Alibaba and other companies.
The responsibility of technology research and development is to create the future for the country and society
Alibaba is no longer an ordinary commercial company. We have great responsibilities in this country and this era. Ten years ago, I said at Alibaba: China's e-commerce has developed well, which has nothing to do with Alibaba; However, China's e-commerce is not developing well, which is related to Alibaba. At that time, 90% of China's e-commerce talents were in our company. If we did wrong, it meant that the country did wrong.
In the end, I think Alibaba must be a company that creates the future.
We must be an innovative company. We must become the engine of national innovation, not our own innovation; We must be a company of the times, The company of the century； We must be a global company, and we must represent the young people of this era. I have never changed this view for ten years. Only if you think like this, will this company's intention be different from other companies on the first day.
Someone challenged Alibaba to do anything. You are everywhere. But I think Alibaba itself should not be just an e-commerce company, but an engine of innovation for the country, society and even the world. Just like electricity has no boundaries, you can't say that industry can use electricity, and agriculture can't use electricity. We should use Internet technology and ideas to influence and change all walks of life. Alibaba must shoulder this responsibility.
The purpose of establishing "Dharma Hall" is to support the fifth largest economy and serve the world economy
It is precisely because of the implementation of this thinking, and because of our appreciation and awe of technology, Alibaba may be the best cross-border company, and the best combination of business and technology.
Today, it is not difficult for Alibaba to make money. In the past 18 years, the meetings I have considered and convened to discuss making money did not exceed three hours. I think if we do the right thing, we will have more money; If things are not done right, money will eventually go. Now that Alibaba has money, it should consider the future. Alibaba positions itself as a company that creates the future, so it must think about the future.
What is the orientation of our laboratory? I think it should not be Research for fun or Research for profit, but Research for solving the problem with profit and fun. In the 21st century, companies can only survive by solving social problems. They can't survive without solving problems.
For fun goes too far, For prof it goes too close, but it doesn't go long. How big an enterprise does depends on how big social problems it solves. The greater the social problems solved, the greater the responsibility and the more benefits. This is the logic of Alibaba's thinking.
Today, Alibaba is the 21st largest economy in the world. We have more than 500 million monthly active users, huge data, and countless consumers. The daily troubles of Alibaba are far beyond everyone's imagination. But these troubles are opportunities for scientists. Ten years ago, I pointed out that Alibaba is not short of engineers, but sociologists, economists, psychologists, computer experts and so on. What we want to nurture is a society, not a company.
Alibaba's goal in the next 20 years is to build the world's fifth largest economy. It is not our arrogance, but the world needs such an economy, and it will certainly have such an economy. Today's Alibaba is rich, resourceful, talented, influential, and has the world's largest data repository. It is our sincere idea that these resources, talents and data should not only be used by Ali, but also by the world and the future.
We need to achieve three goals to build this economy. The first goal is to make the world economy more inclusive, the second goal is to make the world economy more sustainable, and the third goal is to make the world economy more happy? And Health. Achieving these three goals will create 100 million jobs for the world, serve 2 billion people across borders, and create a profitable platform for 10 million enterprises.
Such a fifth largest economy needs technical support, and there are too many technical problems to deal with, so this laboratory is built for economies in the next two decades. The economy does not belong to Alibaba, nor does the laboratory belong to Alibaba. I don't want to turn it into Alibaba's laboratory. It's difficult for Alibaba's engineers to solve their own problems, but the problem is not too big.
"Dharma Hall" lives longer than Alibaba
I hope Alibaba has three things that can be passed on. I personally hope that the first thing is that Alibaba will leave this laboratory, which will live longer than Alibaba; The second is to leave a lakeside university to train entrepreneurs and tell others about all their gains and losses; Moreover, Alibaba's public welfare foundation has lived for a long time. One day Alibaba was gone, and these three things were the best things we left for the world.
But if you want to live long, you may not live well. If a candle burns brightly, it must burn quickly; If you burn it for a long time, it must not be so bright. I told Wang Jian (Chairman of Alibaba Technical Committee) straightforwardly that this laboratory must not wait for funds. This money is the venture capital fund for you, and this laboratory is to earn money. You need to be aware of making money to survive. If you rely on funding, the company will live if it has money and die if it has no money. What I want is that the company is dead and the laboratory is still alive. This is a good model that can be found. I hope that more than 90% of the research can not only be done in the laboratory, but also in the market. Only in this way can the laboratory go on for a long time.
In terms of setting up the laboratory, I have been thinking about it for a long time, so it was delayed. Real scientists and real entrepreneurs have something in common. First, we are all optimists. We see it because we believe it. Most people believe it because they see it. If you don't believe that this will happen, it is impossible to research for fun; Second, we have a sense of responsibility, and we dare to take risks; Third, there must be innovation, creativity and creativity, and we must take a different path. When I do something in Alibaba, I always ask: What can you do differently from others? If you do the same thing, why do you do it?
Two weeks ago, I received a phone call from Tong Wenhong (chief human resources officer of Alibaba Group) to discuss the name of the laboratory. I said why we must have research institutes and laboratories. Why can't we create our own name? I think Dharma Institute is very good. What does she mean by Dharma? How do you translate it in English? I call it Damo. Google sounded strange at first, and slowly called out; I don't know what Intel means until now. I'm used to shouting. It's better to call it Dharma Hall. You will like it more and more if you call it, keep it and love it.
Eighteen years later, we have now decided to set up this laboratory. Many people have discussed what is your future, whether to learn from Microsoft or Bell Labs. An enterprise in the last century will become a great enterprise if it seizes one or two opportunities. But in the 21st century, to become a great enterprise, we must solve great problems. To become a great enterprise, we must solve great problems.
So Alibaba hopes to go out of its own mode. We will learn from IBM, Microsoft, Bell Labs, and the great experience and lessons learned from the development of science and technology in the past, but we must go out of our own way. We Chinese think a lot about what gaps to fill in the world. The United States used to have one, and we must have one; The Soviet Union used to have one. We must have one. Why? Why can't the Chinese go it alone? With today's Chinese resources, Chinese responsibilities, talents and capital, we can go our own way in the field of science and technology and create our own first-class. We must think that Dharma Institute must also surpass Intel, Microsoft and IBM, because we were born in the 21st century, and we have the opportunity to develop our advantages later.
In the past, we looked at the social and economic development, looked at the power index, and in the future we will look at the calculation index; In the past, whether we had access to electricity and roads or not, in the future, we will see whether we have access to data and Internet coverage. I think that in the next 30 years, all walks of life will undergo tremendous changes. In the future, it will not belong to Internet companies, but will belong to the best companies that make good use of the Internet.
Now more and more people are worried about the future. They are worried that technology will replace human beings, that technology will eliminate employment, and that technology will widen the wealth gap between the rich and the poor. I believe this is all empty worry, because technology and science and technology must exist for people. Worry about technology is due to the lack of confidence in themselves and the lack of imagination for the future. Any technological revolution does have an impact on traditional industry, traditional technology and traditional employment, but any technological revolution has brought new employment.
The IT era is to make yourself more and more powerful, while DT technology is to make others more and more powerful and make the world more and more shared. So the IT era is 28 theories, DT era is 82 theory. The DT era must emphasize inclusive and sustainable development, In the DT era, we must pay attention to personalization, because only personalization can lead to Happy&Healthy and real happiness. E-commerce will become real E-Business. In the future, SMEs will be multinational enterprises. In the future, there will be no Made in China, no Made in America, only Made in the Internet. What the Dharma Hall needs to do is to really promote technology. If we can't make technology inclusive and let more people share and enjoy the dividends of technology, I believe that the first is that we will not go long, and the second is that we will be overthrown if we go long.
I hope that the leadership of this laboratory should have strong business sense. Our CTO (Zhang Jianfeng) has a strong Business Sense. He has rotated many departments. It is useless to fool him with pure technology and it is useless to fool him with pure commerce. A scientist should have the awareness of entrepreneurs, and an entrepreneur should have the rigorous attitude of scientists, because only in this way can there be a future.
In five years, we will invest more than 100 billion yuan in Dharma Hall. Alibaba doesn't expect to make money on it, but it has to make money on its own. Of course, making money depends on solving problems. We have many problems to solve. This is my thinking on the orientation of the Institute.
Based on these thoughts, I have full confidence in our Dharma Hall. Not only because we need to invest 100 billion yuan, not only because we have resources, but also because we have too many problems to solve and cross over.
