Analysis of the Smart Education Industry: Continuous Policy Release in the AI Education Sector
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Since the release of ChatGPT, major tech giants have shown significant interest. Currently, ChatGPT can be applied in scenarios such as marketing copywriting, literary creation, code development, and academic reports. How to leverage ChatGPT to empower education has become a hot topic in the industry.
AI and other technologies are driving innovative developments in the education sector
After the introduction of the "double reduction" policy, the path to capitalization for education and training institutions has become increasingly difficult. Financing in the primary market has cooled, and the market value of education-related listed companies in the secondary market has significantly evaporated. According to statistics, there were 121 financing deals in the education sector in 2022, a 49.8% decline compared to 2021. The policy adjustments have cooled capital in the education industry, bringing education back to "rationality" and emphasizing quality development in operations. Meanwhile, the effective application of technologies such as artificial intelligence, real-time interaction, AR, and VR in the education sector has timely driven innovative developments in education.
Recently, at the education forum of the RTE2023 Real-Time Internet Conference, Zhang Gejian, Partner and Managing Director of Frost & Sullivan Greater China, analyzed: "Although the education industry faces challenges in the capital market, the evolution of technologies such as 5G, AR, VR, and AIGC is opening a new pathway for smart education. From the perspective of the smart education industry ecosystem, whether it's upstream providers like Agora, midstream consumer and enterprise-level electronic equipment suppliers, or downstream distributors and users, all are contributing to the entire smart education industry chain."
According to IDC forecasts, China's AR/VR market expenditure will exceed $12 billion by 2026. In the education market, the integration of smart education with AI and AR/VR technologies will provide more possibilities for teaching, such as more three-dimensional and intuitive teaching content, personalized virtual learning environments, interactive learning, reduced teaching risks, and improved teaching efficiency. At the same time, AIGC, as an extension of AI technology, with its diverse application scenarios including text, audio, image, video, virtual scene, and code generation, may further empower the development of the education sector in the future.
Analysis of the Smart Education Industry
Smart education is a response to and concern for the transformation of education in the intelligent era. Smart classrooms, powered by technologies like iPads and smart terminals as tangible forms of smart education, have driven changes in traditional teaching models. Students have shifted from passive recipients to active learners, while teachers have transformed from knowledge transmitters to learning organizers. This accelerates the integration of smart terminals into classroom teaching, making classroom research more systematic and gradually covering teaching objectives, processes, and evaluations. With this momentum, smart education is increasingly gaining practical attention.
The smart education industry primarily includes four business models: B2G, B2B, B2B2C, and B2C. Typically, G-end participants consist of education committees/bureaus, procuring products like smart campus management platforms. B-end participants include schools, purchasing items such as teaching equipment.
Under the B2B2C model, smart education products first gain awareness through schools before reaching students and parents, with procurement examples including apps reflecting student learning data. C-end participants comprise parents and students, buying products like online tutoring courses.
Amid the Education Informatization 2.0 initiative, the overt technological characteristics are gradually fading, shifting focus back to education itself and emphasizing fundamental changes in educational models. Smart education demonstration zones are not only accelerating the construction of smart classroom environments but also creating new AI-powered classrooms.
Continuous Policy Releases in AI Education
Over the past few years, China has steadily rolled out policies in AI education, coupled with the rapid implementation of large model technologies, promising swift development in the smart education sector.
On July 21, 2021, the Ministry of Education, alongside the Cyberspace Administration, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Finance, and People's Bank of China, outlined a clear path for new educational infrastructure during the 14th Five-Year Plan. The policy emphasized focusing on information networks, platform systems, digital resources, smart campuses, innovative applications, and trusted security. By 2025, a structured, efficient, and secure new educational infrastructure system should be established.
In July 2022, six departments, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, released the Guidelines on Accelerating Scenario Innovation to Promote High-Level AI Applications for Economic High-Quality Development, promoting scenarios like online classes, virtual classrooms, virtual simulation training, and virtual teaching research groups. In August 2022, the Notice on Supporting the Construction of New Generation AI Demonstration Application Scenarios was issued, listing smart education among the first batch of demonstration scenarios to support the national education digitalization strategy.
In 2023, the national level continued to stress enhancing campus education informatization and smart education scenarios. On February 27, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Overall Layout Plan for Digital China Construction, advocating for the vigorous implementation of the national education digitalization strategy, improving the national smart education platform, and strengthening industry-academia-research collaboration led by enterprises. It called for joint participation from universities, research institutions, and businesses in building Digital China, establishing research bases, and conducting comprehensive pilot projects.
With strong national policy backing, the construction of new educational infrastructure will be fully rolled out, driving sustained demand for educational informatization and smart campus development. Leading companies with strong comprehensive capabilities in related businesses are expected to benefit continuously.
In March, Zhejiang Province announced that artificial intelligence will become a foundational and compulsory course in primary and secondary schools, with AI content being extensively integrated into subjects like science and mathematics. The nation's strong demand for digital talent suggests that AI training institutions may benefit from the growing need for AI professionals.
The Smart Education Industry Research Report provides a comprehensive analysis covering domestic and international development overviews, industry environment, market analysis, competitive landscape, product pricing, user analysis, substitutes and complements analysis, key driving factors, channel analysis, profitability, growth potential, solvency, operational capacity, key enterprise analysis, sub-sector analysis, regional market analysis, risk assessment, development forecasts, and related business and investment recommendations. The report features a rigorous framework with objective, impartial, and systematic analysis, accurately reflecting the current market status and future trends of China's smart education industry.