Frost & Sullivan executives attended the 2026 EY Entrepreneur Award launch ceremony, discussing the transformation path of professional services in the AI era and future investment directions

"Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award" 2026 Launch Ceremony

Since 2025, the global AI large model industry has officially moved away from annual iteration and entered a new stage of high-frequency quarterly and monthly competition. The accelerated iteration of artificial intelligence has led to the emergence of many new industries while also putting traditional industries under pressure. As we stand at the forefront of industry transformation, whether traditional industries will stick to the status quo and be eliminated by the times, or adapt proactively and transform to thrive, has become the core issue in industry development.

In response to the impact of AI on professional services organizations, Dr. Wang Xin clearly stated that AI is never simply replacing humans; instead, it empowers industrial upgrading, liberates human value, and redefines development models. Therefore, he advocates for the “AI (Artificial Intelligence) + HI (Human Intelligence) = CI (Co-Intelligence)” hybrid service model. Through the deep integration of technology and professional judgment, the efficiency and reliability of consulting research can be improved. Under the human-machine collaboration framework, AI can help traditional industries break through their inherent bottlenecks. How to effectively integrate human intelligence with machine intelligence has become a strategic challenge for enterprises.

He further pointed out that future industry competition will shift to large-scale, integrated system-based operations, with data as the core asset. In the future, data assets, intelligent technologies, and enhanced human-machine capabilities will become key areas of competition. At the same time, advanced technologies are accelerating toward generalization, and the space for industrialization implementation is continuously expanding.

When discussing future investment areas worth focusing on, Dr. Wang Xin used the discovery journey of the Hubble Telescope as an analogy to explain the leap in human cognition and the broad prospects of technology investment. From the design of the blueprint in 1979 to its launch in 1990, the construction took about ten years, costing approximately $1.5 billion (estimated by media in 1990). Since its launch, it has been in operation for over 35 years. Its observations have challenged traditional human understanding of the universe—from the Big Bang to the birth of stars, each discovery reshapes the boundaries of human knowledge.

He further explained that each new astronomical discovery shows that “humanity is getting farther and farther from the center of the universe,” revealing significant blind spots in human cognition and the infinite nature of knowledge itself. From the geocentric theory to the heliocentric theory, and then to the discovery that the sun is not the center of the universe, each cognitive correction confirms humanity’s limitations and the eternity of exploration.

Dr. Wang Xin believes that AI is fundamentally changing this situation. AI can enhance cognition and break through the limits of human learning ability, enabling significant leaps in human cognition in a short period. He predicts that in the future, brain-computer interfaces will become as common as consumer electronics, providing cognitive enhancement capabilities for humans in a non-invasive manner. Currently, Frost & Sullivan is about to release the “2026 Global Brain-Computer Interface Industry White Paper,” which has attracted nearly a hundred companies to participate, indicating the broad prospects in this field.

Based on in-depth research on industry trends, Frost & Sullivan will present the “2026 China’s Industrial Development Trends White Paper” for the annual Frost & Sullivan Summit for the fifth consecutive year. Together with FT China, they will select the “Top Ten Chinese Business Cases That Will Impact the Next 50 Years.” Dr. Wang Xin pointed out that there are four core areas worth attention this year. He emphasized that breaking through cognitive boundaries requires support from critical infrastructure, with chips and satellite communication being essential technical foundations.

● Space Science: Represented by SpaceX, the space exploration and satellite communication fields require extensive computing power and chips. The space economy is becoming a strategic area that both China and the US attach great importance to;

● Life Sciences: Biotech breakthroughs driven by AI are transforming the future of human health;

● Computational Science: Fundamental computing power and chip technology are the foundation of all AI applications;

● Artificial Intelligence: AI technology itself will continue to evolve and penetrate various industries.

Dr. Wang Xin specifically noted that the coordinated development of these areas requires the deep integration and systematic support of large-scale computing power, advanced chips, and satellite communication networks.

Speaking of China’s opportunities, Dr. Wang Xin clearly stated, “China is a cornerstone of world economic development, and there is significant potential for growth in the tertiary and service sectors in the future.” He called on investors to “focus on China, focus on AI.” He specifically citedNature IndexData shows that the index was previously dominated by U.S. institutions, but now the pattern has fundamentally changed, with Chinese research institutions occupying most seats, highlighting the rise of China’s research capabilities.

Frost & Sullivan has rich research achievements in AI, including the continuous publication of the “Hong Kong Stock Market AI Industry White Paper” and the “AI Empowering Various Industries White Paper,” covering Digital Infrastructure, Large Models,Edge AI, Embodied Intelligence, AI Medicine, AI Agents, AI Solutions, andPhysical AIkey areas. Early research findings and current industry and capital market concerns are continuously aligned.

Dr. Wang Xin analyzed that under the current global competitive landscape, the main economies capable of participating in large-scale systemic competition are China and the United States. Future development will feature large-scale, systematic competition, and only economies with sufficient scale and capability can participate.

Under this context, the importance of data has been elevated to an unprecedented level. Frost & Sullivan has nearly 70 years of global and nearly 30 years of Chinese data accumulation, totaling nearly a century, which provides a solid foundation for industry research. At the same time, past advanced technologies are accelerating toward generalization—mobile communication technology has evolved from a scarce resource to a mass consumer product, and autonomous driving technology will follow the same path, eventually becoming a universal technology.

Dr. Wang Xin further emphasized that enterprises should adhere to three principles: first, maintain the capabilities of core personnel; second, ensure sufficient cash flow; third, continue to innovate and focus on core business. He pointed out that although a few leading enterprises possess a lot of high-value resources, traditional enterprises still have irreplaceable value in the industrial ecosystem. Frost & Sullivan will work with Ernst & Young to discover, support, and help these enterprises grow.

For the AI era, Frost & Sullivan builds a complete AI-native cognitive system with “trustworthy knowledge” and “trustworthy delivery” as its two wheels.

At the knowledge input side, KNIT (Knowledge Network of Integrity & Trust) serves as enterprise-level cognitive infrastructure. Based on real-world data, research conclusions, structured graphs, third-party verification results, and traceable information sources, it uses six layers of engineering—AI cognitive baseline diagnosis, real-world verification, fact anchoring, knowledge structuring engineering, trustworthy content dissemination, and continuous monitoring and cognitive consolidation—to weave scattered unstructured information into a standardized knowledge system that can be understood, referenced, and reused by AI. This helps enterprises gain control over cognition in the AI era and avoid systematic risks such as data poisoning, algorithm hallucinations, and cognitive dilution.

At the outcome output side, OIRF (Open Industry Research Format) proposes a three-layer architecture with presentation layer, reasoning layer, and version layer. It structures key facts, judgments, evidence, sources, assumptions, responsible persons, and AI participation processes in reports. With five values—white-box, auditable, collaborative, evolvable, and AI-native—each key conclusion can be traced back to its source and responsible person, achieving a paradigm shift from “delivering reports” to “delivering research assets.”