The Symposium on AI-Empowered Western Financial Center Construction and the inauguration ceremony of the Robert C. Merton Nobel Laureate Workstation were held at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications in Southwest China's Chongqing on May 29, 2026. (Photo/China Daily)

Chongqing – Robert C. Merton, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, recently established a Nobel Laureate Workstation at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CQUPT) on May 29, 2026, supporting Chongqing’s ambition to become a leading financial center in western China.

Merton, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, is widely known as the "father of options" for his pioneering work on derivative pricing.

The workstation is established in collaboration with CQUPT, Merton, and Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co. (Photo/China Daily)

The workstation is a tripartite collaboration among CQUPT, Merton, and Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., a subsidiary of Ant Group, adopting a "university-government-enterprise" model. Merton will serve as honorary director.

The initiative plans to build a cross-disciplinary research team of more than 30 members and establish research platforms, including a financial supercomputing center and a financial large-model training platform. Research will focus on four key areas: asset pricing, risk management, pension finance, and inclusive finance.

Chongqing aims to expand inclusive small and micro loans to 700 billion yuan (approximately 102.75 billion U.S. dollars) by 2027 and has been strengthening its digital finance infrastructure. CQUPT’s original “granular computing” theory, an AI approach that simulates human-like fuzzy reasoning, has earned international recognition.

At the inauguration event, Merton expressed enthusiasm about leveraging technology to solve real-world challenges. "I'm looking forward to being a part of that and helping to see that happen here in western China, and beyond," he said.

The Symposium on AI-Empowered Western Financial Center Construction and the inauguration ceremony of the Robert C. Merton Nobel Laureate Workstation were held at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications in Southwest China's Chongqing on May 29, 2026. (Photo/China Daily)

Chongqing Ant Consumer Finance Co., the workstation’s industry partner, provides real-world financial scenarios and data. The company and CQUPT have already established a joint laboratory and developed a tampering detection model based on granular computing, which has processed over 20 million transactions.

Li Lin, Party secretary of CQUPT, said, "We will use this workstation as an opportunity to further integrate Professor Merton's cutting-edge financial theories with our university's strengths in disciplines like artificial intelligence."

Following the unveiling, Merton was named an honorary professor at CQUPT. He continued his academic tour across China, visiting the School of Economics at Yunnan University on June 3, where he encouraged young scholars to focus on fundamental economic principles while using AI to expand research frontiers.