CRI听力:Chinese startups sparkle at French tech show

Chinese tech startups are gathering at a major technology conference in Paris to showcase their strengths in artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing, as they seek new opportunities in the European market.

The tech company Cloudpick was off its newest smart retail services at the Paris VivaTech innovations fair.

The company is focused on developing intelligent systems for managing cashless stores.

Zhang Yimei is a representative of the tech firm. She hopes to find more opportunities to cooperate with French companies at the Paris fair.

"We really want to enter into Europe now. This event offers us excellent chance to showcase our products and services. We have already inked some cooperation deals with big French companies that have headquarters in China. I have met with some representatives from the companies at the fair. The event also has a platform for French companies with a corporate strategy in digital retail to find partners. I think this is also a very good opportunity for us."

The Shanghai-based tech firm Bigpixel has attracted visitors to its stall with its panoramic pictures of Chinese cities, using cutting-edge technology that allows customers to view every detail of the city on their smartphones and tablets.

A local visitor said he was impressed by the visual experience offered by the images.

"You can freely zoom in and out of these photos. I was impressed when I first saw the picture on Facebook. The thing I like most about it is that I can view the pictures in high-definition on my mobile phone."

Bigpixel CEO Li Minhua said the photos, which have hundreds of billions of pixel, help tourists to get a clear picture of the city they're travel to.

"We developed a set of algorithm that helps us produce the pictures. First, we find the optimal position and shoot over ten thousand photos, which are scanned and put in order. This material is then processed by supercomputers with certain algorithms, until they finally form a full picture. We cut the photo and make it viewable on smartphones, which allows travelers to see whatever they want to see about the city. "

And in addition to these smaller scale startups, the Chinese telecom giant Huawei also showed up in Paris with its latest cloud services.