Innovation center to boost robot parts business

China plans to set up an innovation center this year to boost the capacity of domestic companies to produce key robot components, Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said on Sept 9.

The move is part of a broader plan to tackle technological bottlenecks in key industries.

The aim is to build about 40 state-level innovation centers by 2025, to make the manufacturing industry smarter, safer and more flexible.

Miao says the center will focus on developing speed reducers, drive and control devices, and other key robot components that China currently imports.

"The center will be established by leading robotics firms and research institutes, and it's designed to reduce repetitive investments by pooling resources," the minister says.

A source at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also told China Daily that funding for the center will come from companies and governments. "But the investment size has not been decided yet," the source said.

The move comes shortly after China set up its first innovation center in June to advance research and development in batteries used in electric vehicles.

So far, that center has attracted first-phase capital of more than 1.2 billion yuan ($179 million; 159 million euros) from automakers and local governments. It aims to help China to catch up with Japan and South Korea in battery technology by 2020.

Vice-Premier Ma Kai said on Sept 9 that when cranking up the automation of factories, "it's important to ensure that domestic firms master core technologies".

China is targeting an annual output of 100,000 industrial robots by 2020. Fueled by rising labor costs and a declining labor pool, the country became the world's biggest buyer of industrial robots in 2013, data from the International Federation of Robotics show.

Wang Bin, product director at Cloud Minds, a startup in Beijing, says a robot arm can be worth several million yuan and most of that cost comes from foreign components, such as speed reducers and servomotors.

"The state-level innovation center will lower the entry barrier for startups and inspire mass innovation in the cash-intensive robot industry," he says.

He Dongdong, senior vice-president at machinery maker Sanyi Group Co Ltd, says the government's plan for 40 innovation centers values the role of enterprises in driving innovation.

Contact the writers at masi@chinadaily.com.cn