China’s economic powerhouse seeks AI, humanoid robotics, low-altitude economy upgrade
Shanghai sees industrial services as “a key link in promoting new industrialisation and cultivating new quality productive force”, according to the plan.
Surrounding the strategic sectors, the business centre of the world’s second-largest economy is aiming to cultivate 50 platform enterprises with revenue of more than 1 billion yuan (US$138 million) and “outstanding” service capabilities, including more than five unicorn firms “with international influence”, it said.
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Inside a Chinese factory that makes humanoid robots with enhanced facial movements
Pledging to build a batch of first-class AI companies, the plan emphasised the application of large AI models in drug screening, molecular structure prediction and pharmaceutical testing.
AI-powered humanlike robots, which are expected to replace human labour and significantly liberate productivity in the future, are to be used in car making, equipment production and parts processing as the city works towards establishing a humanoid innovation centre amid a worldwide race in the burgeoning industry.
A number of humanoid robot companies have emerged in Shanghai in the past few years, accumulating key technologies in various modules, including hands, feet and joints, and achieving small-scale production.
Four out of the 12 humanoid robots released in China last year were from Shanghai’s Pudong district, according to official media reports.
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Shenzhen leads low-altitude economy with new helicopter service at railway station
The city is planning the layout of low-altitude routes, “tentatively opening” some commercial routes for drone cargo and electric vertical take-off and landing applications, while encouraging experiments to be carried out in the suburban district of Qingpu, it said.
The municipal government also vowed to enhance services in industrial design, testing and legal services to improve the reputation and quality of Shanghai-made products.
Producer services contribute less than a fifth of China’s gross domestic product, compared to more than a half in the United States, Huang, who remains an influential figure for his economic insights, told a forum in Guangzhou in October.