Intelligent industries inspire modern revival in Shenyang

Once a traditional manufacturing hub, provincial capital now looking to future

A robot capable of writing complex Chinese calligraphy in exquisite detail amazed visitors at the China (Shenyang) World Congress of Robotics, held in 2019.

The robot's core modus operandi is not calligraphy, but rather welding metals and applying adhesives. "We decided to program it to write calligraphy to show visitors how precise it is when executing movements," a staff member of Siasun Robot & Automation, the manufacturer of the robot, told Xinhua News Agency.

Based in Shenyang, capital city of Northeast China's Liaoning province, the robot manufacturer was established in 2000 and has now become the largest of its kind in China, according to the local government.

Committed to being "a creator not an imitator", Siasun has scored hundreds of firsts in the history of China's robotics industry. It has led or participated in more than 800 national technology projects and serves clients from more than 30 countries and regions, according to Liaoning Daily.

Siasun is one of the enterprises that are driving Shenyang's transformation from an aging industrial hub to an economy driven by advanced technologies and emerging industries.

Robotics and intelligent equipment industries feature high on Shenyang's development agenda as the city looks to consolidate its leading position in the sector. It is taking steps to encourage original research and spur the transfer of research results from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Unicorn startups and gazelle companies have been a major force behind Shenyang's shift to new areas of growth in frontier technologies and emerging industries, the local government said. Unicorns are private startups valued at over $1 billion; gazelles are fast-growing, often small and high-tech businesses.

Figures from the Science and Technology Department of Liaoning province show that, as of March 31, 62.7 percent of the 134 gazelle and unicorn companies in the province had established a research and development division, and their R&D spending averaged 20 million yuan ($2.85 million) each.

The Shenyang government said it will support local industry leaders such as Siasun to join the ranks of world-class companies and is stepping up efforts to develop Shenyang into a national leader in robotics that is also competitive globally.

Qu Daokui, president of Siasun, said the company will contribute its share to the revival of Northeast China－once the country's industrial heartland－by developing new technologies, products and business models.

Shenyang rolled out a three-year action plan in 2017 to transform and upgrade its industries. According to the document, the city would create an industrial ecosystem and develop unique industries to form clusters. As of December 2019, the number of companies in the fields of new and frontier technologies in Shenyang reached 1,836, and that of small and medium-sized tech companies was 3,070, according to Xinhua News Agency.

huyuyan@chinadaily.com.cn