GUi hosts livestream talks to explore pathway for robotics growth in Anhui

A livestream event focusing on the development of the robotics industry took place on June 24 at Jiuzi Sci-Tech Innovation Bay in Wuhu in East China’s Anhui province, with experts and industry leaders discussing the challenges faced by Anhui in the high-quality development of intelligent robots, developing key components, and implementing robotic technology in real-world applications.

The event, hosted by Grand Union of Innovation (GUi), an innovation hub in Hefei, the provincial capital, aimed to envision a blueprint for Anhui's robotics industry to achieve "cluster advancements".The event underscored the complementary dynamics between Hefei's research prowess and Wuhu's production capabilities, which are central to the province's strategy.

As a flagship innovation hub in Hefei, GUi has been actively fostering cross-regional collaboration and driving the robotics industry's transformation from isolated breakthroughs to cluster-wide advancement.

As the 11th edition of the "Riding the Wave of Hard Technology" series event, it marked the first collaboration between the GUi and Jiuzi Sci-Tech Innovation Bay.

Anhui aims to lead the nation in industrial robot production by 2030, with humanoid robots in the top tier.

Speaking at the event, Li Haolai, deputy chief engineer at Efort Intelligent Robot, noted the challenge in talent development. Despite support from local universities, such as the University of Science and Technology of China and Hefei University of Technology, Anhui lacks the appeal of major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen in terms of talent attraction, particularly in the field of intelligent algorithms and other core technologies that support industry operations but have high barriers and strong essential demand, Li said.

Lan Bin, director of the Intelligent Components Research Institute at the Jianghuai Advanced Technology Center, suggested leveraging Hefei's innovation ecosystem for original research and Wuhu's manufacturing strengths for production to foster a province-wide collaborative strategy. This approach, he noted, would enable the two cities to play mutually reinforcing roles, with Hefei focusing on breakthroughs and Wuhu on scaling up, thus creating a robust industrial chain.

Experts from AiMOGA Robotics, a subsidiary of automaker Chery Group, and Hefei Zerith Robotics, a developer of embodied intelligence for robots, exemplify their innovative approaches, such as adapting automotive technologies to robotics and focusing on specific application scenarios to accelerate technology commercialization.

The event was guided by the Anhui Provincial Association for Science and Industry Integration Innovation, established in June 2025 to promote industrial and technological integration and to bridge market demands with research and development and engineering.