A post-95 entrepreneur who linked the development of his company to space computing research.
On 23 October 2026, at the 23rd Chinese Computer Congress (CNCC2026), held in Sichuan, China, the CCF-Central Computing Fund, jointly established by the Chinese Computer Society (CCF) and the Chinese Computer Science Association (CCF), was officially launched.
Founded in June 2024 and incorporated into the Institute of Computing and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. For more than two years, the young hard-tech enterprise has worked with national academic organizations to set up a specialized research fund focused on basic computing and critical technology approaches, inviting more teams to explore the technical issues of space computing together.
95-year-old entrepreneur, chairman and CEO of TechCrunch, Xi presided over the launch ceremony
He pointed out that the CCF Production Research and Cooperation Fund has been in operation for many years, in the past the partners were mostly large enterprises, and now hard-tech enterprises have joined the ranks of establishing special funds, reflecting the improvement in the level of innovation and accountability of our state-of-the-art technology start-ups.
Chairman of the Computer Society of China, Professor of Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Sun Jae-in, speaks
Why do young entrepreneurs choose to support basic research in space computing? At the launch ceremony, Liu introduced the limitations of environments such as radiation in space, high- and low-temperature shifts, weight loss and vacuum, which provide clear boundaries for technological breakthroughs. To address these issues, the Fund hopes to closely combine original research in universities and research institutes with the needs of enterprise engineering to support more avant-garde ideas for practical testing.
The fund focuses on supporting disruptive technology exploration and engineering applications. On the one hand, it encourages research into space biotechnology around new processes, new structures and new materials; on the other hand, it promotes the realization and practical application of the results of large models and smart bodies.
In his speech, he stressed that scientific research issues should be taken from industry practice, so that basic research addresses real needs sooner, shortening the cycle of transformation of results. The fund aims to establish this connection in the early stages of production research and collaboration. CCF undertakes the collection of topics, expert reviews and related organizational work.
On the spot, Sun Jae-in and Tony Q.S. Quek of the Singapore Institute of Engineering, as well as guests such as China Update, Lee Ji-dong, Hyeongqing, Jiangsu, and Qingdao, jointly launched the fund. Experts from the fields of computing and space witnessed the launch of this space-based research grant program.
Guests such as Sun Jae-in and others launched the CCF-Middle-School Astronomy Fund
The 2026 Annual Fund published 10 research directions and 20 research topics covering space supercomputing architectures, space distributed computing networks, space native chip devices, native large models and intelligent objects, etc. Individual grants ranging from RMB 20 to RMB 300,000, a research period of one year, and excellent collaborative outcomes can be evaluated with rolling support.
Applications for the project will start from the date of publication of the Guide and end at 24 hours on 6 November 2026, with the completion of the review and publication of the results on 13 November 2026.
The Fund welcomes the submission of materials by national universities, research institutes, technology companies and researchers in related fields through the CCF's official declaration review system. For young researchers and cross-disciplinary teams, this is both an opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research and a practice to combine original ideas with real space missions.
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