(Yicai Global) June 19 -- Eastern China's Anhui province plans to strengthen research and development into artificial intelligence to value the regional sector at over CNY15 billion (USD2.3 billion) by 2020.

The program will center around an industry park specialized in speech recognition, China Speech Valley, in the provincial capital Hefei, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. The scheme will support companies, universities and research institutes to broaden applications in agriculture, manufacturing, education, medicine and urban management.

"China Speech Valley will provide the scientific and education resources," said Qi Dongfeng, head of operations at the park. "The program will focus on industrial applications up and down the supply chain, with research directed at chips, algorithms, smart voice products and intelligent sensors."

Last year, Anhui's AI sector was worth around CNY7 billion after leaping more than 46 percent annually and making up 10 percent of the national total. The region is home to some of the country's top tech institutions and companies, including the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei Institution of Physical Science and Iflytek, China's best-known voice recognition firm.

Based in Hefei National New and High Technology Industrial Development Zone, China Speech Valley was set up by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the provincial government in 2012. It is home to more than 200 companies, including Iflytek, and had a total output of CNY51 billion last year, encompassing AI and related industries.

Editor: James Boynton