Geely-Backed Xinwei AI Institute Opens in Sanya With First 50 Students
Geely Holding Group has opened a new artificial intelligence college in Sanya, Hainan, enrolling 50 first-year students in what its backers describe as China’s first "AI-native" university. The Xinwei Institute of Artificial Intelligence held its opening ceremony and a roundtable on September 16 under the theme "Breaking Boundaries, Setting Sail — The University Sitting on AI," marking the formal launch of an institution first announced last year.
The institute is the flagship project of Xinwei Education, established by Geely Holding together with Xinwei Technology, with students jointly cultivated by Sanya University and Geely University. Attendees included Geely Holding chairman Li Shufu, Geely Holding CEO An Conghui, and Lu Dan, CEO of Geely Talent Development Group and chairman and global CEO of Xinwei Technology. Steve Hoffman, chairman and CEO of Founders Space, attended as director of the institute’s incubation and commercialization center.
An Conghui said the auto industry is shifting from mechanically defined products and software-defined functions toward AI-defined experiences and ecosystem-defined value, with R&D, manufacturing, marketing and service all being redefined. "But technological competition is ultimately competition for talent," he said, restating Geely’s principle that "wherever industry is built, talent cultivation extends." In his view, the AI era no longer needs narrow specialists, but young innovators who can cross disciplinary boundaries, understand industrial logic, master AI tools and solve real, complex problems.
The four-year program applies full-stack AI and project-based learning throughout, starting from genuine industry problems and backed by AI-mentor companionship, with academic supervisors and enterprise mentors working in tandem. Students tackle live or pre-research corporate projects under a "real problems, real work" approach. Just ten days after enrolling, the first cohort presented the results of its initial project, a Mini Hackathon.
Li Chuanhai, vice president of Geely Auto Group and president of its Central Research Institute, released the first batch of 2026 enterprise projects, spanning smart cockpits, intelligent driving and AIGC — all drawn from business and technology scenarios Geely’s research arm is currently advancing. Enterprise mentors will join syllabus design and project supervision, and Geely will open real industry settings including intelligent-driving algorithm development, smart-cockpit interaction development, large AI model development and vehicle R&D.
The ceremony also activated the institute’s "three campuses" mechanism: an enterprise cross-boundary campus, a global university cross-region campus and an online-offline campus, connecting corporate scenarios, domestic and overseas university resources and digital learning platforms. A matching "three mentors" system pairs students with an academic mentor, an enterprise mentor and an AI-agent mentor. According to People’s Daily’s Hainan channel, the model runs 2.5 years on campus followed by 1.5 years of enterprise practice; Geely Holding and Xinwei Technology have also launched a youth innovation and entrepreneurship incentive plan backed by RMB 300–500 million (roughly US$42–70 million).
Executive president Wang Dan described the institute as a small, precise, independently established and exemplary higher-education institution, built to validate the idea that "the process of forming competence is the process of earning a degree." Lu Dan added that AI is changing how educational resources are allocated, and said Xinwei Technology has developed an academic training agent to support students’ scholarly work.
The first cohort focuses on intelligent driving and smart cockpit tracks — areas closely tied to Geely’s own business — before expanding into other AI fields. Li Shufu told students that university education must move from "learning for knowledge" to "learning for the future," and that theory and practice must stay tightly connected.
The institute is the flagship project of Xinwei Education, established by Geely Holding together with Xinwei Technology, with students jointly cultivated by Sanya University and Geely University. Attendees included Geely Holding chairman Li Shufu, Geely Holding CEO An Conghui, and Lu Dan, CEO of Geely Talent Development Group and chairman and global CEO of Xinwei Technology. Steve Hoffman, chairman and CEO of Founders Space, attended as director of the institute’s incubation and commercialization center.
An Conghui said the auto industry is shifting from mechanically defined products and software-defined functions toward AI-defined experiences and ecosystem-defined value, with R&D, manufacturing, marketing and service all being redefined. "But technological competition is ultimately competition for talent," he said, restating Geely’s principle that "wherever industry is built, talent cultivation extends." In his view, the AI era no longer needs narrow specialists, but young innovators who can cross disciplinary boundaries, understand industrial logic, master AI tools and solve real, complex problems.
The four-year program applies full-stack AI and project-based learning throughout, starting from genuine industry problems and backed by AI-mentor companionship, with academic supervisors and enterprise mentors working in tandem. Students tackle live or pre-research corporate projects under a "real problems, real work" approach. Just ten days after enrolling, the first cohort presented the results of its initial project, a Mini Hackathon.
Li Chuanhai, vice president of Geely Auto Group and president of its Central Research Institute, released the first batch of 2026 enterprise projects, spanning smart cockpits, intelligent driving and AIGC — all drawn from business and technology scenarios Geely’s research arm is currently advancing. Enterprise mentors will join syllabus design and project supervision, and Geely will open real industry settings including intelligent-driving algorithm development, smart-cockpit interaction development, large AI model development and vehicle R&D.
The ceremony also activated the institute’s "three campuses" mechanism: an enterprise cross-boundary campus, a global university cross-region campus and an online-offline campus, connecting corporate scenarios, domestic and overseas university resources and digital learning platforms. A matching "three mentors" system pairs students with an academic mentor, an enterprise mentor and an AI-agent mentor. According to People’s Daily’s Hainan channel, the model runs 2.5 years on campus followed by 1.5 years of enterprise practice; Geely Holding and Xinwei Technology have also launched a youth innovation and entrepreneurship incentive plan backed by RMB 300–500 million (roughly US$42–70 million).
Executive president Wang Dan described the institute as a small, precise, independently established and exemplary higher-education institution, built to validate the idea that "the process of forming competence is the process of earning a degree." Lu Dan added that AI is changing how educational resources are allocated, and said Xinwei Technology has developed an academic training agent to support students’ scholarly work.
The first cohort focuses on intelligent driving and smart cockpit tracks — areas closely tied to Geely’s own business — before expanding into other AI fields. Li Shufu told students that university education must move from "learning for knowledge" to "learning for the future," and that theory and practice must stay tightly connected.
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