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Ruopeng Liu (Chinese: 刘若鹏; pinyin: Ruòpéng Líu, born September 1983), is a Chinese entrepreneur, the founder and executive chairman of Kuang-Chi Group, a Chinese diversified technology company and strategic investor in technologies. Before founding Kuang-Chi, Liu was a PhD scholar at Duke University, and part of a team that developed an "invisible cloak" using metamaterials.

Liu is considered one of China’s leading technology leaders, and is often referred to as “the Elon Musk of China” by media, due to Kuang-Chi’s pioneering aerospace activities.

As an industry leader, he is a prominent consultant to the Chinese government on technology and business. Liu is a member of the Standing Committee of Shenzhen Youth Federation, the Vice Chairman of Shenzhen Federation of Industry and Commerce since 2012, the Vice President of Shenzhen Youth Chamber of Commerce since 2013 and a member of the First Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Consulting Committee for Authority since 2014.

In June 2017, Forbes recorded Liu's net worth at $1.25 billion.

Biography
Born in 1983, Liu came to Shenzhen - China's southern special economic zone - with his family when he was 9 years old. He went to Shenzhen Middle School, whose alumni also include the founder of Tencent Inc., Huateng Ma. Having displayed great potential in physics, Liu was guaranteed priority admission to Chu Kochen Honors College at Zhejiang University, one of the most selective higher education programs in China.

After receiving his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, Liu went to Duke University to pursue a PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering with full scholarship. While at Duke, Liu focused his research on metamaterials, under the mentorship of David R. Smith, one of the best known researchers in the field.

At Smith's lab, Liu contributed heavily to the development of a cloaking device capable of blocking an object from visual light. The findings were published in the journal Science in January 2009. First authors of the paper were Ruopeng Liu and Chunlin Ji, who later co-founded Kuang-Chi. Metamaterials ranked among the 10 "Insights of the Decade" chosen by Science magazine in 2010, and the cloaking device developed by Liu and his teammates was used as an example to demonstrate the functionality and potential of metamaterials.

Driven by the childhood dream to "change to world," Liu decided to return to China and use academic results to solve real world problems. He brought with him several good friends, who were all fellow scientists and scholars overseas. Together they decided to launch a research institute in Shenzhen. Liu commented that the fundamental guiding principle in this move was for the team to "stay together."

Kuang-Chi
Kuang-Chi Institute of Advanced Technology was established on July 13 2010, with the slogan "Future is Now." The founders, Ruopeng Liu, Lin Luan, Chunlin Ji, Yangyang Zhang, and Zhiya Zhao, remain the senior executives of Kuang-Chi. The name Kuang-Chi was chosen based on Chinese scientist Xu Guangqi (pinyin: Guāng Qǐ) from the Ming Dynasty, who made important breakthroughs in fields such as agriculture and astronomy.

According to Liu, the start-up capital for Kuang-Chi was a USD50 thousand loan from his mother. More money quickly came - in 2010 alone, Kuang-Chi received RMB30 million of investment, followed by further governmental research grants.

As of 2017, Kuang-Chi Group has become a global community of innovation with more than 2600 employees and research centers in 18 countries. The group operates through three public vehicles, KuangChi Science (439.HK), Zhejiang Longsheng (2625.SZ) and Martin Aircraft (MJP.ASX). In 2016, KuangChi Science was evaluated at a market capitalization of about USD2 billion.

Although Kuang-Chi set off to specialize in the development and commercialization of metamaterials, the company has expanded its focus to include telecommunication, aerospace, near-space, smart-city, and digital health technologies. Kuang-Chi’s most prominent products include an aerostat called Cloud used for aerial surveillance and communications, and China’s first near-space commercial platform called Traveler. Kuang-Chi has also set up Israel-based headquarters to operate global investments concerning aerospace, smart-city, and digital health technologies. Examples of the company's partners are Gilo Industries Group, which focuses on aerospace engineering, SkyX, which makes UAVs for monitoring long-range assets, and eyeSight Technologies, which develops computer vision and gesture control solutions.

Because of the company's achievements in aerospace and aviation, Kuang-Chi is compared to SpaceX by media, while Liu is dubbed the "Chinese Elon Musk."

Recognition
Liu was awarded “Guangdong New-Focus People Top 10” and “4th May Youth Excellence Award in China” in 2014.

In 2012, Liu was the youngest among a group of notable industry experts invited by the State Council to advise the government in Beidaihe, China. He was also the youngest scientist to participate in the 863 Project, or State High-Tech Development Plan, in 2012.

Vision
In interviews, Liu often speaks of bringing into reality the future technologies portrayed in science-fiction movies. He describes KuangChi Science's mission as “design the future, then realize the future, then share the future.” Liu is committed to solving not just "technology" problems, but "real world" problems. He considers Kuang-Chi’s global investments examples of his effort to create better lives for everyone.

When asked about the balance between being a dreamer and an entrepreneur, Liu says "I could be considered a dreamer and I’m sure I will be forever, because that’s my philosophy."