Listed among Shanghai's first batch of characteristic industrial parks, Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley in Zhangjiang Science City, a Silicon Valley-like technology and science hub in Pudong, is boosting smart manufacturing and upgrading the industrial chain empowered by robotics.    

During the 2023 Robotics Technological Innovation Forum and the recently held second Zhangjiang Robotics Eco Summit, the Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley Industrial Alliance and the ABB Robotics Empowerment Center were unveiled, injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of the area. The alliance will speed up the agglomeration of the innovative industrial chains covering production, learning, research, and application, playing a key role in driving the robot-powered ecosystem across the country.

By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), the total output value of the robot industry in Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley is expected to reach 70 billion yuan ($10.17 billion), boasting a space of over 1 million square meters. 

Joint development of 'R&D-production-application'  

In January, 17 government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, issued an action plan for the applications of "robot plus", which focused on 10 major areas. They also broke through more than 100 robot-related technologies and solutions, as well as promoted more than 200 application scenarios of robots with innovative modes and remarkable results. The plan aims to cultivate a group of leading enterprises with "robot plus" applications, as well as to carry out practices according to different industrial development stages and local conditions. 

Based on Zhangjiang Science City's advantages in intelligent manufacturing, Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley has formed a complete industrial chain and attracted key enterprises, including Fourier Intelligence, Anwha (Shanghai) Automation Engineering Co Ltd, Siyi Intelligence, Elite Robot, as well as Gaussian Robotics.

As one of the key industrial parks in Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley, Zhangjiang Integrated Innovation Park was launched in November 2022. The park takes AI as its core, focusing on AI-powered biomedicine and medical equipment, as well as striving to create a world-class innovative industrial zone for "medical plus" robotics.

XtalPi, a high-tech enterprise focusing on drug research and development (R&D) fueled by AI, has set up its Shanghai headquarters in Zhangjiang Integrated Innovation Park, which has a construction area of 28,000 square meters.

Wang Mingtai, vice-president of the company, said XtalPi is building the world's largest pharmaceutical R&D automation lab in the park, with a total investment of more than $100 million.

"Zhangjiang is a highland for various industries and XtalPi develops its businesses across different fields," Wang added. "XtalPi will strengthen multi-lateral cooperation with Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley, develop diverse application scenarios, and serve more industries.”

Giving full play to the industrial agglomeration effect of the high-end medical equipment and AI sectors in Pudong, Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley has made breakthroughs in the fields of surgical and rehabilitation robots. It has introduced a batch of enterprises, including rehabilitation robotics company Fourier Intelligence and medical robot developer TmiRob. It also aims to realize the joint development of "R&D-production-application" modes together with the Shanghai International Medical Park and the Shanghai Zhangjiang Medical Device Industry Base.

First-class platforms and services

"Construction of an ecological chain is a vital measure for Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley to create a good business environment. We have launched a series of functional platforms to solve the difficulties and pain points of enterprises and make the transformation of scientific and technological achievements much smoother," said Wang Tao, project leader of Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley.

Relying on those platforms, Zhangjiang AI Robot Valley provides "robot plus" industrial services like bonded maintenance, builds comprehensive application scenarios, and promotes the establishment of new R&D institutions.

The ABB Robotics Empowerment Center and the Innovation Center of the Shanghai Robot Industry Technology Research Institute have settled here. The former is the first medical application center established by ABB Group in China and will rely on ABB's world-leading robotics technologies to empower medical and biopharmaceutical companies, fueling the construction of the valley. The latter focuses on the common technologies of robot intelligence.

Huang Huijie, dean of the Shanghai Robot Industry Technology Research Institute, said that for the robot industry, there is still a "last mile" problem in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, which needs support from all walks of life.

Besides financial support, other key issues cover the implementation of application scenarios, continuous iteration, optimized technical achievements, as well as the path to industrialization and mass production, Huang noted.

"The park offers the intelligent evaluation system, which gives targeted reference indicators for enterprises and is a very practical technology platform," he added.

A one-stop service station centering on quality infrastructure has been built in the robot valley, the first of its kind in Zhangjiang. It can meet the diverse needs of customers throughout the whole product life cycle and manufacturing process of the robot industry. Other functional platforms, such as the bionic robot lab, have also been launched to advance the scientific and technological ecosystem for robot-specific industries.

"Zhangjiang has great advantages in developing the robot industry. In the future, it will accelerate the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, give full play to the strengths of surrounding cities in manufacturing and labor costs, and create a better industrial chain," said Sun Lining, academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering and dean of the Research Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Soochow University.