China's technology expansion plans now include becoming a global robotics innovation hub by 2025 . The Asian giant released its projections for the coming years and has made clear its ambition to position itself as one of the top countries in the field.
According to ZDNet, the Chinese authorities project that the robotics industry will have an average growth of 20% in its operating income between 2021 and 2025 . In addition, the intention is to double the density of robots per 10,000 people (currently 246 units) in the same period. This last data is not minor since, in fact, on this edge, China is currently almost double the world average.
It is logical to think that the Chinese intention to achieve dominance in the robotics industry globally will not happen overnight. In Asian territory they understand this, and therefore in this first stage they will focus on promoting the development of key components of the sector. Specifically, the approach to optimize the development and production of control panels and servo motors is mentioned.
The aforementioned report quotes an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, who indicates that the intention is to bring the robotic parts developed in China to “reach the level of advanced foreign products.” Thus, the sights are set on to improve performance and reliability ; With a view to the future, the intention is to make its place in industrial robotics -a segment clearly dominated by Japan-, mainly in sectors such as automotive and aerospace.
China, such as world robotics innovation center
Beyond the controversies surrounding China's treatment of its main technology companies and the restrictions imposed in different areas, its long-term planning capacity has been key to establishing its current economic strength. And with robotics, everything seems to indicate that the path to travel will be the same.
Let us also bear in mind that the pandemic has played a key role in increasing the levels of automation in different countries. Only in the United States, during the first quarter of 2021, the demand for industrial robots increased by almost 20% ; This percentage corresponds to the comparison with the same period in 2020.
But this is not all, since there have also been very important changes in the American industrial landscape. Last year, for example, for the first time most of the robots purchased were not destined for the automotive or auto parts sector. The increase in automation has occurred in sectors such as pharmaceuticals or biomedical companies . It is impossible not to think of China studying these data in its planning to, in the future, dominate the world robotics industry
The path will not be easy, clearly. Today China is ninth in the world ranking for robot density, but the growth in recent years has been evident; in 2015, the Asian giant was in 25th place since it only had 49 robots for every 10 thousand people.
