Massive investment planned in ‘Made-in-China’ industrial robots
100,000 industrial robots set to be built annually by 2020, with sales of service robots also expected to exceed 30 bn yuan by then, according to official forecasts
China has seen rapid growth in its research and development spending due to strong demand of reducing labour costsand increasing productivity, which should help further the country’s automation sector, according to analysts.
A working paper from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed just how fast China’s innovation input, measured by R&D (research and development) expenditure, increased by an average 22 per cent annually from 1998 to 2013, reaching US$190 billion in 2013.
During the same period, the country’s innovation output, or the number of domestic applications for invention patents, rose from 36,000 in 1998 to 825,000 in 2013.
“While our evidence suggests Chinese A-shares have been turning more cash-flow positive, the above conclusions [by the IMF working paper] are that companies will still spend on automation rather than outright capacity increases as local operating costs rise, ” said Sean Darby, Kenneth Chan, and Irene Zhou, equity analysts for Jefferies, in a recent research report.
While our evidence suggests Chinese A-shares have been turning more cash-flow positive, the above conclusions [by the IMF working paper] are that companies will still spend on automation rather than outright capacity increases as local operating costs rise
In 2015, innovators in China filed a record 1.01 million patents both domestically and abroad, making up more than 30 per cent of global patent applications, according to figures from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo). Many of these patents were in telecoms, computing, semiconductors and medical technology.