First established in the 1950s, China’s Friendship Awards honor the achievements of foreign experts in the country’s economic and social progress. Beijing’s municipal government established the Great Wall Friendship Award in 1999, and it remains the highest award that foreign experts working in Beijing can receive.
On September 26th, the Beijing Municipal Government presented a 2014-2016 Great Wall Friendship Award to Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, Chairman of Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group, and Managing Director of Microsoft Research Asia. Hon was chosen for his extraordinary contributions in the fields of science and technology research, talent cultivation, university cooperation, environmental protection, intelligent cities and the construction of the innovation ecosystem. The award is also a significant recognition of Microsoft’s contributions to developing Beijing into a global center for scientific and technological innovation.
Mayor of Beijing, Jining Chen, attended the 2014 – 2016 Great Wall Friendship Award Ceremony and presented awards to Dr. Hsiao-Wuen Hon and other recipients.
At present, Beijing is optimizing its capital allocation strategy, focusing on strengthening the city’s “four centers” of national politics, culture, international exchange, and science and technology. The development of science and technology is not only part of a national strategy, but also a major step in Beijing’s innovative development efforts, for which Microsoft has made extensive contributions over the last several decades. In 1992, Microsoft opened its first office in Beijing, which was the precursor for today’s R&D center, the Microsoft Asia-Pacific Research and Development Group (ARD), in Beijing. Ever-focused of the growing capacity and inherent strength of Chinese innovation, Microsoft ARD’s motto is Innovation in China, Innovation for the World. The group, headquartered in Beijing’s Zhongguancun SciTech District, has become Microsoft’s largest and most comprehensive R&D base outside the US. With a complete innovation chain of fundamental research, technology incubation, product development, and industrial partnerships, Microsoft ARD plays a significant role in Beijing’s convergence of international resources for innovation.
In receiving the award, Dr. Hon said, “I am honored to be awarded with the ‘Great Wall Friendship Award’. In my more than 10 years of working and living in Beijing, I have personally seen the dynamic and rapidly developing economy of Beijing and China, as well as the call for technological transformation and innovative talent development. Microsoft will continue exerting its advantages for its innovation platform and leveraging global resources to promote the development of Beijing’s science and technology center, while pushing forward the implementation of the capital’s strategic planning in the future.”