Ant Group and CCF Launch Third‑Phase Green Computing and Privacy Computing Funds at CNCC2024

On October 24, the three‑day China Computer Conference (CNCC2024) opened in Hangzhou, featuring the launch of the third phase of two research funds jointly announced by Ant Group and the China Computer Federation (CCF).

The Green Computing fund, with a 5 million‑yuan commitment from Ant Group, targets five areas—compute services, compute governance, intelligent computing networks, AI infrastructure, and model algorithms—supporting 21 research topics and fostering collaboration with more than 100 universities.

The Privacy Computing fund, backed by a 3 million‑yuan investment, will sponsor 16 topics covering trusted confidential computing, cryptography, and privacy‑enhanced large‑model techniques, aiming to make privacy‑preserving computation as efficient as clear‑text processing.

Since the first two phases, Ant Group has invested over 20 million yuan, bringing the total contribution to nearly 40 million yuan for the CCF‑Ant Group research fund, which also backs databases, hardware‑software co‑design, and graph computing.

Beyond funding, Ant Group has co‑established 11 joint laboratories with top institutions such as Tsinghua and Zhejiang universities, covering privacy computing, data security, intelligent computing, and distributed databases, and launched the “InTech Technology Award” to recognize innovative young scholars.

The company also expanded its Scientific Advisory Committee, adding internationally renowned academicians and Turing Award winners to provide strategic guidance for its technology development.

University professors praised the initiative, emphasizing that industry‑funded projects help address real, impactful problems in computer science and encourage deeper academia‑industry collaboration.