On December 7, 2018, under the guidance of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province, Industry & Information Technology Commission of Guangzhou Municipality, Science and Technology Innovation Bureau of Guangzhou Economic & Technological Development District, Economy and Information Technology Bureau of Guangzhou Economic & Technological Development District, China Robot Industry Alliance and Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, and sponsored by Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center, Guangzhou Risong Technology Co., Ltd., China (Guangzhou) Intelligent Equipment Research Institute and SINOMACH Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd., the Opening Ceremony of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center and 2018 Experts Symposium on Innovation and Development of Robotic Industry of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area was held in Luogang Conference Center of Guangzhou Economic & Technological Development District.

Photo: Opening Ceremony of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center and 2018 Experts Symposium on Innovation and Development of Robotic Industry of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area 

With the theme of "Innovation Driving • Intelligentized Manufacturing", a summit dialogue was developed centering on the overall layout and development of robots and intelligent manufacturing industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, and the establishment and research & development strategy of the Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center, for the purpose of driving the implementation of the deep integration strategy of "information and industrialization" and strengthening the understanding and mutual communication on the current technological innovation and development of robots and intelligent equipment.

This is one of the activities at 2018 International Conference on Robotic Welding, Intelligence and Automation (RWIA' 2018) and the 12th Chinese Conference on Robotic Welding (CCRW' 2018).  The conference was strongly supported by Robotics and Automation Special Committee of Chinese Welding Society, the Fifth Electronic Research Institute of MIIT, Guangdong Mechanical Engineering Society, Intelligent Manufacturing Alliance of GDST Member Societies, Guangzhou Industrial Robot Manufacturing and Application Industry Alliance, MIIT&SINOMACH-IT Technical Service (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., South China University of Technology, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangdong Mechanical Engineering Society Welding Branch, Guangdong Robotics Association, etc.

Photo: Chen Jianhua, Director of the Industrial Development Division of the Industry & Information Technology Commission of Guangzhou Municipality, presides over the launching ceremony of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center.

Chen Jianhua presided over the "Opening Ceremony of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center". Zhang Yanmin, Executive Vice Chairman of Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, Song Xiaogang, Executive Chairman of China Robot Industry Alliance, Zhuang Lecong, Chief Economist of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province, Li Danrong, Deputy Inspector of Industry & Information Technology Commission of Guangzhou Municipality, Zhang Chaoping, Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of Guangzhou Economic & Technological Development District, and other leaders, as well as Sun Zhiqiang, Chairman and President of Guangzhou Risong Technology Co., Ltd., who is the representative of sponsoring shareholder unit of the Innovation Center, delivered a speech at the "Opening Ceremony of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center".

Photo: Sun Zhiqiang, Chairman and President of Guangzhou Risong Technology Co., Ltd., delivers a speech

Sun Zhiqiang said that the Innovation Center is established for the purpose of developing the intelligent technology industry. The Innovation Center will control the links of technology research and development, product design, quality control, production and manufacturing, etc. Through the transformation of technological achievements, it will strengthen the quality and quantity of invention patent applications for key core technologies, actively make plans for intellectual property with core competitiveness, drive China's patents to become international patents, and support the healthy and orderly development of robot technology.

Photo: Zhang Chaoping, Deputy Director of Administrative Committee of Guangzhou Economic & Technological Development District, delivers a speech

"The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to speed up the construction of a powerful manufacturing country, accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing industry, and promote the deep integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and real economy. The robot industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area has a good foundation and a huge market. By analyzing the current situation and looking forward to the future, we need to strengthen the basic research, the application research and the research of key generic technology in the robot industry. We need to break through the bottleneck encountered in the development of the robot industry. This is also the significance of this Symposium." said by Zhang Chaoping in his speech.

Photo: Li Danrong, Deputy Inspector of Industry & Information Technology Commission of Guangzhou Municipality delivers a speech

Li Danrong pointed out that the Innovation Center was established by internationally leading units in robot research & development and design, system integration, inspection and testing, etc. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the development of networking and intelligentization should be accelerated. It is essential to enhance the core competitiveness of the robot industry as it is an important basis for the strategy of strengthening market with manufacturing. "Therefore, Guangdong will boost the rapid development of the real economy. The advantageous resources of the robot industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area will be integrated to resolve the core key technology in the robot industry, upgrade the robot industry base in the Greater Bay Area, and construct a modern industrial system to provide strong support. The Industry & Information Technology Commission of Guangzhou Municipality will fully support the development of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center."

Photo: Zhuang Lecong, Chief Economist of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Guangdong Province, delivers a speech

Zhuang Lecong believed that the establishment of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center is not only a powerful measure to comprehensively enhance the international competitiveness of the robot industry, but also an important attempt to establish a new innovation platform with enterprises as the main body, industry chain linkage and combination of production, education and research. The Innovation Center is not only a new brand for the innovation and development of the robot industry in Guangdong Province, but also a new measure for the new round of industrial revolution and a new means to seize the commanding point of the industry.

Photo: Song Xiaogang, Executive Chairman of China Robot Industry Alliance, delivers a speech

Song Xiaogang stressed that the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements in China is far lower than the average level in developed countries. The establishment of the Innovation Center will promote the transformation of scientific research achievements, resolve generic technologies in the industry, and promote the transformation and upgrading of Guangdong's large-scale manufacturing industry. It will also propel the integrative development of robot technology, new generation information technology, big data and other fields from automation to digitization and intelligentization.

Photo: Zhang Yanmin, Executive Vice Chairman of Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, delivers a speech

"On behalf of the Intelligent Manufacturing Alliance of CAST Member Societies and Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, I want to express that we are very willing to strengthen cooperation with Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center, complement each other's advantages, share resources and jointly make contributions to drive the development of the robot industry technology and intelligent manufacturing." said by Zhang Yanmin.

Photo: Opening Ceremony of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center

Afterwards, Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center was inaugurated by Zhang Yanmin, Song Xiaogang, Zhuang Lecong, Li Danrong, Zhang Chaoping, Sun Zhiqiang, as well as Peng Bing, General Manager of SINOMACH Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd., and Cheng Debin, General Manager of China (Guangzhou) Intelligent Equipment Research Institute.

Photo: Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center is officially established

Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center (hereinafter referred to as the "Innovation Center") was organized in the form of "company + alliance". By taking Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center Co., Ltd. as the carrier, it was launched by Guangzhou Risong Technology Co., Ltd., together with 10 leading enterprises in the robot industry, artificial intelligence industry and intelligent equipment manufacturing industry, including the Fifth Electronic Research Institute of MIIT, SINOMACH Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Branch of Shenyang Institute of automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Greatoo Robots, Mingsen Technologies, ADTECH (SHENZHEN), LEADERDRIVE, Suntek Technology and iFLYTEK. Subsequently, a large number of universities and research institutions will be further united to form the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Robot Innovation Alliance. Such universities and research institutions include Harbin Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, South China University of Technology, Guangdong University of Technology and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Photo: Liu Erbin, General Manager of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center, and Deputy Chairman and Vice President of Guangzhou Risong Technology Co., Ltd.

Liu Erbin mentioned in the chair that industrial robots, as the key equipment to support the intelligentization of the manufacturing industry, are more and more applied in all aspects of production and manufacturing, which accelerates the transformation of existing production methods and promotes the upgrading of industrial structure. On the other hand, as a new product to improve the quality of life, service robots are gradually accepted by and applied in more and more households, which accelerates the change in traditional lifestyle and promotes the upgrading of consumption structure. At the same time, special robots are more and more widely applied in the engineering fields with key technologies strengthened. These special robots include in-service robots used in special environments, medical robots and rehabilitation robots. It can be predicted that the development of the robot industry will accelerate the reshaping of the industrial chain and the restructuring of the value chain, and accelerate the improvement of global production efficiency and the quality of life of all mankind.

The Innovation Center will focus on technology realization, product guarantee and achievement transformation to solve the bottlenecks in technology, quality and promotion that restrict the development of the robot industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, so as to open the innovation chain and realize technology promotion. With the aid of standard revision, talent training, cooperation and exchange, the Innovation Center will resolve the problems encountered in the development of the robot industry, such as lack of standards, lack of talents and poor communication, and build an open platform to realize industrial support.

Subsequently, Pan Jiluan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Tsinghua University and Honorary President of Nanchang University, Toshio Fukuda, Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and Wang Tianmiao, Leader of the 863 Program Robot Technology Subject Expert Group and Director of the Intelligent Technology and Robot Research Center of Beihang University, respectively delivered a keynote speech.

Photo: Pan Jiluan, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Tsinghua University and Honorary President of Nanchang University, delivers a keynote speech

Pan Jiluan said that the establishment of the Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center could develop core technologies in coordination with various forces. For example, the force of colleges and universities and the force of industries could be integrated to realize industrialization and marketization. "I experienced that the research work in colleges and universities should be subject to industrialization and marketization. Therefore, I think the Innovation Center can play a great role in industrialization and marketization, and contribute its own strength to "Made in China".

Photo: Toshio FUKUDA, Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences/Chairman of IEEE, delivers a keynote speech

Toshio FUKUDA stressed in the theme report that robots should be understood and positioned in a broad sense, not only in terms of technology and research & development, but also more importantly in terms of research & development and application of achievements such as complex structural robots in various environments, especially in complex structural environment. In addition, it is necessary to master independent intellectual property rights in key parts such as sensors and shock absorbers, and give them as much added value as possible to achieve functional differentiation.

Photo: Wang Tianmiao, Leader of the 863 Program Robot Technology Subject Expert Group and Director of the Intelligent Technology and Robot Research Center of Beihang University, delivers a keynote speech

Wang Tianmiao was very optimistic about vigorously developing robotics related industries in Guangdong and Guangzhou. He believed that "Guangdong has always been the vanguard of China's reform. Enterprises in Guangdong can endure hardships and consolidate their core competitiveness bit by bit from all aspects of subdivided fields."

Photo: 2018 Experts Symposium on Innovation and Development of Robotic Industry of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area

Later, Zhang Yun, Vice President of Guangdong University of Technology, Liu Yihua, Executive Vice Chairman  and Secretary General of Guangdong Mechanical Engineering Society, Chen Xiaoqi, Academician of New Zealand Academy of Engineering, Li Lingqi, Director of Guangzhou Branch of Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Yang Yujun, General Manager of Greatoo (Guangzhou) Robot and Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd., discussed the general layout and development proposals of the robot and intelligent manufacturing industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, key technological breakthroughs in key components and high-end products urgently needed by the robot industry, the introduction and support policies of high-end technologies and high-level talents, and the establishment and research & development strategy of Guangdong Robotics Innovation Center.

Photo: The representatives of the 10 sponsoring shareholder units of the Innovation Center take photos with the leaders, academicians, scholars and guests attending the meeting.