Wang Jian
Chief Architect, Alibaba Group
President, Alibaba Cloud Computing

Wang Jian is chief architect for Alibaba Group with responsibility for building a world-class technology team and further developing the technology framework and infrastructure for the company. He also serves as president of Alibaba Cloud Computing, which was established in September 2009 to provide advanced data-centric cloud computing services. He joined Alibaba Group in September 2008.

Prior to this, Wang Jian was assistant managing director at Microsoft Research Asia, where he oversaw research projects of user interfaces, machine learning and large-scale data processing as well as the Microsoft adCenter Lab in Beijing. He was also responsible for research into core technologies and infrastructure related to data-driven software (including SQM and the data structure and analysis of Watson), technologies related to Microsoft's advertising platform and seamless personal computing.

At Microsoft, Wang Jian led the development of the SQM large-scale data processing system, which was used to help develop Office 2007 and dozens of other Microsoft products. Technologies developed from the adCenter lab in Beijing have also been widely used in Microsoft's new advertising platform. Wang Jian invented the digital ink technology, which was shipped with the first release of the Tablet PC, OneNote 2003, Windows XP Tablet PC 2005 edition, Windows Vista and the next-generation Windows platform. He also led a dedicated team to invent a model-free user switching interface which supports Asian languages for application to software, including Windows XP and Office XP. His handwritten mathematical formula recognition tool was launched in 2005 and even demonstrated to President Hu Jintao during the president's visit to Microsoft in 2006.

Prior to joining Microsoft Research Asia in 1999, Wang Jian worked at Zhejiang University, in Hangzhou, China, as a professor and Ph.D. course tutor for the department of psychology as well as head of The National Key Laboratory on Industry Psychology. He graduated from the psychology department of Hangzhou University in 1990 and has a Ph.D. degree in engineering.

Wang Jian is a standing committee member of the China Computer Society (CCS), which recognized him in 2008 with an award for outstanding contribution. He was honored by the Young Computer Scientists & Engineers Forum under the CCS as one of China's outstanding young IT professionals.

He is also an editorial committee member of the American publication 'Communications of the ACM'.