Beijing targets 15 billion yuan in robotics industry by 2020

Visitors watch the demostration of a welding robot at the World Robot Conference 2017 in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2017. Over 300 artificial intelligent (AI) specialists and representatives of over 150 robot enterprises attended the conference. (Xinhua/Li Mingfang)

Beijing’s robotics industry aims to achieve a revenue of between 12 billion yuan and 15 billion yuan by 2020, according to the ongoing World Robot Conference 2017 which opened in Beijing on Wednesday.

At the conference, the Beijing Robotics Industry Innovation and Development Roadmap outlines a two-stage scheme to develop the robotics industry.

Beijing plans to achieve robotics industry revenue of between 12 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) and 15 billion yuan, develop 10 leading enterprises in the sector and 10 research and development innovation headquarters by 2020.

By 2025, the city looks to achieve a revenue of 60 billion yuan in the industry. Beijing aims to form a top-notch robotics technology collaborative innovation system, develop a world-class artificial intelligence and construct a leading robotics innovation and application base.

Zhang Boxu, director of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Economic and Information Technology, said Beijing will strive to become a leader in robotics innovation with its advantage of scientific research, ecology and policy.

He added that Beijing is speeding up the development of its robotics industry, prioritizing the integrated application of industrial robots and supporting the development of service robots and special robots.