Top education provider seeks bigger overseas presence with innovative learning solutions

NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd, a leading Chinese education and gaming provider, is looking to leverage artificial intelligence to gain more presence in the overseas market and transform the global education sector, said Simon Leung, the company's vice-chairman.

"We will definitely invest in AI, as the technology will change the entire education sector, despite short-term pressure to profit," said Leung, a telecommunications veteran and former CEO of Microsoft Corp Greater China.

NetDragon was founded in 1999. It used to be a leading dedicated online gaming provider, but has transformed in the past decade into a diversified business with a focus on education since 2010.The company has expanded its businesses into over 190 countries and regions across the world, including Russia, Egypt, Nigeria and Malaysia.

The company has developed and launched a string of integrated educational devices, including smart boards and panels as well as feedback and evaluation systems, with many of its products and services being sold to public schools and governments.

The Fuzhou, Fujian province-based company has been actively promoting its AI products and solutions in emerging markets, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and Ghana, this year after winning a deal in Egypt by offering 94,000 Promethean interactive displays to local schools.

The Promethean interactive display, the company's most popular product overseas, is an interactive, touch-sensitive whiteboard that allows students to engage with the displayed content through different tools and software.

Leung said the product currently occupies a top market share in nine markets including the United Kingdom, Italy and Australia. The United States is its largest market. The company's financial report showed that its shipments hit 253,000 units last year, up 37.5 percent year-on-year.

But the development of hardware is limited and the company has been transforming to be a well-rounded provider of digital education solutions, Leung said, adding that is why AI is very important to the company.

His logic is forward-looking: AI can be embedded into its hardware to help teachers prepare and teach lessons, which is equivalent to a software as a service model, where Net-Dragon can use the model to charge subscription fees.