We are proud to introduce this month’s Get to Know the CEO feature: Albert Liu, Founding Chairman & CEO, Kneron.

 

 

Albert Liu is the founder and CEO of Kneron, a full-stack edge AI company. Prior to establishing Kneron in 2015, He has held both R&D and management positions at Qualcomm and Samsung Electronics R&D centre. Albert owns 30+ international patents in the areas of artificial intelligence, computer vision and image processing and has published 70+ papers in major international journals. As of 2022, he received the IEEE Darlington Award for seminal work on a reconfigurable architecture for CNN accelerators.

He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Read our full interview with him below.

 

Q:What personal projects will you be working on this weekend? (Are you building anything cool? Any electronics or software projects, for example?) 

A:I am driving a project to build and port ChatGPT-level AI into edge devices. In the progression of human history, all big computing processes are gradually moving from big machines into edge devices. For example, even our cell phones today are much more powerful than super computers 10 years ago. When we enable ChatGPT-level AI in various devices, we enable unprecedent safety and convenience for everyone’s daily lives. 

 

Q:What advice would you give to early-career engineers/people wanting to get into your vertical market/people wanting to start a company in the current climate/etc? (You do not need to answer each of these, please select the one you prefer to answer and delete the others.) 

A:Try to find a need as well the solution. Any engineer with great impact has provided a simple solution for improving important daily life needs. 

  

Q:What book do you read over and over again? What book are you currently reading? 

A:The Little Prince is a timeless classic beloved by readers of all ages. It’s a beautiful story about the power of friendship, the importance of imagination, and the complexity of adult life. It reminds us to stay true to our hearts in the journey of life. 

  

Q:What has been the highlight of your career to date? 

A:I have built a team with my best friends and colleagues from different periods of my school and work journey. We founded Kneron, working tirelessly to bring cutting-edge AI solutions to the market. Our products are now commercialized and recognised by awards such as the IEEE Darlington Best Paper Award and Corporate Innovation and Leadership Award. 

 

Q:Who has inspired you most in your life/career? 

A:Steve Jobs has inspired me most in my life and career because of his passion, drive, and determination to make a difference. His dedication to his craft and relentless pursuit of excellence has driven me to set higher goals and strive for greater achievements. He has also shown me that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible. Stay hungry, stay foolish! 

  

Q:What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career, and how did you overcome it? 

A: The biggest challenge I have faced in my career was the difficulty of gaining the market’s trust for innovative AI solutions as a new startup founder back in 2015. My team worked to build strong relationships with our customers and partners, showing them that AI could enhance their products. We also invested in research and development to create products that were innovative and reliable.Â