BEIJING, Oct. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — iQIYI, an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, held its second iQIYI Hack Day competition from Sep.5 to Oct. 22, cementing iQIYI’s commitment of tech-empowered entertainment. Themed "Launching the Future of Entertainment," this year’s iQIYI Hack Day concluded just ahead of China’s Programmers’ Day on Oct. 24.

Creating a platform to champion tech-enabled innovation and application 

The iQIYI Hack Day is unique in that it requires all contestants to submit a specific product application or demo of their creative ideas, which potentially lead to real-life applications.

LIU Wenfeng, Chief Technology Officer of iQIYI, said: "iQIYI Hack Day aims to provide a platform for tech enthusiasts to leverage expertise from across technical fields and propose practical implementation of innovative ideas. I am deeply impressed and encouraged by this year’s entries as the projects not only showed ambitious thinking on turning innovative ideas into reality, but they also demonstrated concerns for business logic, commercial model, and delivering user value—and I believe that beyond the competition, such innovative spirit is integrated into our daily work."

Compared to last year, this year’s competition featured contenders from a wider range of iQIYI departments, which shows that strong technical talents are embedded across the company. The event has attracted the participation of 177 tech enthusiasts from within the company across the country who made up 44 project teams of various technical focus.

This year’s Hack Day featured different tracks. As contenders of this year’s Hack Day focus their projects on either functional experience, technological tools, social interaction, virtual production / gaming, blockchain / digital collectables / Web3 or consumption / monetization, they are encouraged to innovate in cutting-edge categories most relevant to the future of entertainment.

Celebrating innovation-driven and practical entertainment solutions

The philosophy of leveraging tech-enabled innovation to provide users with premium content and viewing experience underpins this year’s iQIYI Hack Day, which features a strong focus on technical innovation and practical application. Some teams focused on making the audio-visual experiences more accessible to a wider audience, while others dedicated their projects to imagine the new entertainment experiences that future can make possible.

The projects showcased a wide array of tech-empowered creative ideas, including allowing families to remotely assist their elderly relatives who might experience technical challenges while viewing content, enabling the real-time in-video interaction using virtual avatars, applying metaverse technology in a business context, as well as allowing eye movements to control video playback.

"From front-end algorithms to intelligent production, the entries presented clear new directions that the integration of cutting-edge technology and content production can take. The projects are well positioned to inspire new industry possibilities," Liu commented.

Over the years, iQIYI has made continuous efforts in technological innovation, bridging the gap between imagination and reality with tech-driven solutions to bring users premium content and quality viewing experiences. By introducing interactive features such as "Chat Together," "Rhythm Mode," interactive video, and "Vivid Picture MAX," iQIYI has pushed the boundaries of innovation and remained dedicated to producing immersive audio-visual experiences for users. iQIYI has also leveraged technologies such as virtual production to improve content creation efficiency and advance the industrialization of China’s film and television.

CONTACT: iQIYI Press, [email protected]