Shandong's robot industry enters the "fast lane" and creates a new growth pole for national research and development manufacturing
The robotics industry, as an important indicator of technological innovation and high-end manufacturing level, is flourishing on the land of Qilu with unprecedented vitality. In recent years, Shandong Province has seized the opportunity of the times and regarded the robot industry as a key lever for cultivating new quality productivity and building an advanced manufacturing province. Through policy guidance, innovation drive, scene expansion, and factor empowerment, it has gradually constructed a high-quality development path for the robot industry with Shandong characteristics.
The industrial scale is growing, and the cluster effect is prominent
The robot industry in Shandong Province has entered the fast lane of development. Data shows that the operating revenue of the robotics industry in the province will reach nearly 30 billion yuan in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of over 15% in the past three years. Since the beginning of this year, the growth momentum has been stronger, with industry revenue of about 16 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 21%. The production of industrial robots increased by 58.6% year-on-year, which is 23 percentage points higher than the national growth rate. At present, there are over 200 upstream and downstream enterprises of robots in the province, and more than 50 enterprises with annual revenue exceeding 100 million yuan. The contribution rate of the four major industrial highlands in Jinan, Qingdao, Zibo, and Jining exceeds 90%, forming a good ecology of park agglomeration development and upstream and downstream cooperation and supporting facilities.
This impressive performance report stems from Shandong's forward-looking strategic layout and precise industrial policies. In June of this year, Shandong Province issued and implemented the "Shandong Province Robot Industry High Quality Development Action Plan (2025-2027)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), which clearly stated that by 2027, the scale of the robot manufacturing industry in the province would exceed 50 billion yuan, cultivate more than three leading enterprises with an output value exceeding 2 billion yuan, and create a national growth pole and new highland for robot research and development and manufacturing applications.
Strong innovation vitality and emerging technological achievements
The core driving force of industrial development lies in innovation. Shandong adheres to the development of the entire chain and continues to accumulate development momentum. On the one hand, we have built a high-level innovation platform system, successfully introduced the Shandong base of the National Robot Innovation Center, and cultivated the construction of two provincial-level manufacturing innovation centers, Hisense Humanoid Robot and Haier Service Robot. Shandong University and other universities have been approved to establish key laboratories and engineering research centers under the Ministry of Education. Six universities, including Shandong Vocational and Technical College of Information Technology, have been shortlisted for the first batch of cooperative universities in the national robot typical scene experimental certification base, ranking first in the country in terms of quantity. 26 universities in the province have opened majors in robotics engineering, injecting a continuous stream of talent into the industry.
On the other hand, there have been fruitful achievements in key technological breakthroughs. Shandong enterprises have demonstrated strong capabilities in core fields such as biomimetic technology, joint modules, and drive control. The "Traveler Mount Taishan" humanoid robot of Ubot not only climbed steadily on the winding path of Mount Taishan Mountain, but also achieved good results at the World Humanoid Robot Games; Alexander Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. has developed a robot universal operating system "Jumang" with independent intellectual property rights, dedicated to solving the dependence on foreign systems; Fengguang Precision has overcome the mass production technology of the entire series of harmonic reducers for humanoid robots, filling the domestic gap. These innovative achievements mark a substantial breakthrough in the research and development of core robot components and complete machines in Shandong.
Widely applicable scenarios, empowering industrial development
Shandong has always adhered to application driven and collaborative innovation, and regards the wider and deeper promotion and application as a key lever to promote industrial development, "said Wang Maoqing, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Information Technology of Shandong Province. The province is deeply implementing the "Robot+" application action, promoting the large-scale application of robots in industrial manufacturing, smart agriculture, medical care, emergency safety, public services and other fields.
In the industrial field, the flexible collaborative arm of Luoshi Robot helps electronic information enterprises increase production efficiency by more than 40%; In the medical field, WeiGao Group's "Miaoshou" surgical robot has completed the country's first "quantum remote surgery"; In the power industry, State Grid's intelligent inspection robots have increased efficiency from hourly to minute levels; In the field of special operations, various types of robots are applied in complex environments such as mines, oceans, and emergency rescue. Especially in the field of service robots, Shandong has accelerated its layout around smart homes, health care services, and other directions. Three companies have been shortlisted for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's pilot project for intelligent elderly care service robots, making robots more closely related to life and serving people's livelihoods.
Strong element support and continuous ecological optimization
A good industrial ecology is the guarantee for high-quality development. Shandong has established a provincial-level robotics industry association to build a service and innovation platform. The fiscal and financial support policies are precise and effective, coordinating various types of funds to support enterprise technological transformation and digital transformation, and giving corresponding rewards to enterprises that meet the conditions and have outstanding achievements. At the same time, we will strengthen the coordination of "finance+finance", "finance+fund", and "finance+capital", and guide social capital to invest early, small, and cutting-edge.
Various regions are actively optimizing the business environment, and Jinan has established the Robot Industry Development Office and Industry Alliance, releasing three lists of application scenarios; Qingdao has established a strategic consulting committee for embodied intelligent robots and an industrial development alliance, attracting key enterprises, platform institutions, universities, research institutes, and venture capital firms to participate in the "government industry university research funding" initiative and jointly build an industrial ecosystem. The layout of the "4+N" industry in the province continues to be optimized, and various cities are encouraged to develop characteristic industries according to local conditions, such as focusing on harmonic reducers in Zaozhuang and developing medical robots in Tai'an, actively building an industrial pattern of differentiated development and complementary advantages.
Looking ahead to the future, the robotics industry in Shandong is standing at a new starting point for development. With the deepening of the Action Plan and the continuous empowerment of the integration of the "four chains", Shandong will continue to strengthen its ability to source scientific and technological innovation, accelerate the cultivation of high-quality enterprise teams, continuously expand diversified application scenarios, and comprehensively optimize the industrial innovation ecosystem. Next, Shandong is actively preparing to establish a robot standardization technology committee, leading industrial upgrading through standard breakthroughs - by building an advanced and applicable standard system, promoting key technology research and achievement transformation, enhancing product quality and industry discourse power, and providing solid support for the overall transition of the industrial chain. Shandong aims to contribute more wisdom and strength to the high-quality development of the national robotics industry, and inject stronger momentum into promoting new industrialization.
Information source: Xinhua Finance and Economics
