News release on May 8. In response to the current development of the robot industry, Luo Junjie, Deputy Director-General of the Equipment Industry Department of MIIT, stated recently that robots represent advanced manufacturing and constitute a key development sector defined in Made in China 2025. Going forward, MIIT will advance the high-end development and large-scale application of robots and their key components in four aspects.

First, improve industrial quality and move toward the medium-to-high end. MIIT will focus on resolving bottleneck technologies. Leveraging the National Robot Innovation Center and jointly building collaborative innovation platforms, it aims to make breakthroughs in key generic technologies such as human-robot interaction compliance, functional thermal insulation and intelligent perception.

Second, prevent disorderly competition and standardize industrial development. MIIT will further implement standardized industrial management, guide the concentration and aggregation of policies to curb cutthroat competition. Meanwhile, industry organizations including the China Robot Industry Alliance will be used to promote industrial self-regulation.

Third, foster world-class robot industrial clusters and boost integrated development among large, medium and small enterprises. Specifically, it will expand a group of backbone and leading enterprises with strong core competitiveness, nurture a number of single-champion enterprises focusing on niche segments, and build a new pattern for the robot industry featuring local adaptation, distinctive strengths, regional coordination and differentiated competition.

Fourth, strengthen international exchanges and open new horizons for opening-up. Attach equal importance to bringing in foreign resources and going global, deepen international cooperation on technology and production capacity, and better integrate into the global robot innovation and industrial division system through industrial chain integration and capital operation.

Luo Junjie said that China's robot industry is undergoing rapid development at this stage. The output of industrial robots in China exceeded 130,000 units last year, representing a year-on-year growth of 68% and accounting for roughly one-third of global output. The robot industry is presented with rare opportunities for growth.