Advanced technologies for industry : international reports : advanced technology landscape and related policies in China.
Date: 2021-07-15
Institutions: Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
Subjects: China, advanced technology industry, artificial intelligence, big data, coronavirus disease, economic consequence, industrial policy, investment, modernisation of industry, patent, robotics, trade volume

  May 2021 

1 

Advanced Technologies  
for Industry – international reports 

Advanced technology landscape and related policies in 
China 

 
  
 
  
  
ATI international report on China 

This report was prepared by Heidi Heimberger and Maria Karaulova; Fraunhofer ISI - with support 
from Henning Kroll, Fraunhofer ISI and Kincsö Izsak, Technopolis Group. 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) 

Unit I.02.2 — SMP / COSME Pillar 

E-mail: EISMEA-SMP-COSME-ENQUIRIES@ec.europa.eu

Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs 

Unit D.2 — Industrial forum, alliances, clusters 

E-mail: GROW-ATI@ec.europa.eu

European Commission 

B-1049 Brussels

LEGAL NOTICE

The information and views set out in this report are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official 
opinion of EISMEA or of the Commission. Neither EISMEA, nor the Commission can guarantee the accuracy of the 
data included in this study. Neither EISMEA, nor the Commission or any person acting on their behalf may be held 
responsible for the use, which may be made of the information contained therein. 

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu). 

PDF 

ISBN  978-92-9460-715-7  doi:10.2826/573690 

EA-03-21-300-EN-N 

© European Union, 2021 

May 2021 

ATI international report on China 

Table of Contents 

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4 

Section 1 .............................................................................................................................. 5 

1  Overall performance in advanced technologies .............................................................. 5 

1.1  Patent applications .................................................................................................. 5 

1.2 

International competitiveness ................................................................................. 6 

1.3  Startup and scaleup activity .................................................................................... 6 

Section 2 .............................................................................................................................. 8 

2  Analysis of selected technology ecosystems: Artificial Intelligence and Big Data .......... 8 

2.1  Major players ........................................................................................................... 8 

2.2  Underlying conditions ............................................................................................. 11 

2.3  Policies, strategies and initiatives .......................................................................... 13 

2.3.1  Major projects .................................................................................................... 14 

2.4 

Lessons for Europe ................................................................................................. 15 

Section 3 ............................................................................................................................. 17 

3  Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics ......................................................................... 17 

3.1  Major players .......................................................................................................... 17 

3.2  Underlying conditions ............................................................................................. 19 

3.3  Policies, strategies and initiatives .......................................................................... 21 

3.3.1  Major projects .................................................................................................... 23 

3.4 

Lessons for Europe ................................................................................................. 23 

Section 4 ............................................................................................................................. 25 

4  COVID-19 in China: Impact, response and recovery ..................................................... 25 

4.1 

Impact of COVID-19 in China .................................................................................. 25 

4.1.1 

COVID-19 in China .............................................................................................. 25 

4.1.2  Overall economic impact ...................................................................................... 26 

4.2  China's COVID-19 related government restrictions ................................................. 27 

4.3  Economic measures ................................................................................................ 28 

4.4  Pandemic Technology Policy ................................................................................... 30 

4.5  The impact of COVID-19 on Advanced Technologies in China ................................. 31 

4.5.1  Overall impact on Advanced Technologies .............................................................. 31 

4.5.2 

Use of Advanced Technologies to combat the pandemic ........................................... 32 

4.5.3 

New Infrastructure, Supply Chains and Tech Transfer .............................................. 34 

Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 35 

About the ‘Advanced Technologies for Industry’ Project ..................................................... 45 

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ATI international report on China  

Section 

Introduction 

The objective of the international country reports is to explore the technology and policy landscape of 
selected non-European countries. Country performance in advanced technologies is presented based on 
patent, trade and investment data. This particular report is an update and extension of the China report 
published  in  2020  (available  at  https://ati.ec.europa.eu/reports/international-reports/report-china-
technological-capacities-and-key-policy-measures) and zooms into two technology ecosystems notably 
into Artificial Intelligence/Big Data and Advanced Manufacturing/Robotics. The reason why these fields 
have been selected is that they represent technologies where China has been developing particularly 
fast recently and important lessons can be drawn for the EU. The analysis relies on the data collected 
within the ATI project complemented with expert opinion. 

The  starting  point  of  this  analysis  has  been  sixteen  advanced  technologies  that  are  a  priority  for 
European  industrial  policy  and  that  enable  process,  product  and  service  innovation  throughout  the 
economy and hence foster industrial modernisation.  

Advanced technologies are defined as recent or future technologies that are expected to substantially 
alter  the  business  and  social  environment  and  include  Advanced  Materials,  Advanced  Manufacturing, 
Artificial  Intelligence,  Augmented  and  Virtual  Reality,  Big  Data,  Blockchain,  Cloud  Technologies, 
Connectivity,  Industrial  Biotechnology,  the  Internet  of  Things,  Micro  and  Nanoelectronics,  Mobility, 
Nanotechnology, Photonics, Robotics and Security. The full methodology behind the data calculations is 
available  on  the  ATI  website:  https://ati.ec.europa.eu/reports/eu-reports/advanced-technologies-
industry-methodological-report.  

The report is structured as the following: 

•   The first section outlines the overall performance of China in terms of technology generation (patent 

applications), trade and venture capital data. 

•   The second section dives into the Chinese ecosystem in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Big 

Data. 

•   The third section presents the Chinese Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics ecosystem. 
•   The last section analyses the impact of and economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Section 1 

1  Overall performance in advanced technologies 

Figure  2:  Trends  in  the  share  in  global  transnational 
patent applications in China (2008-2018) 

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MNE

Photonics

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Adv.	Manufact.

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Ind	Biotech

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Adv.	Materials

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Year

Source: Fraunhofer ISI, based on EPO PATSTAT 

The analysis of China's technological specialisation 
(RPA-index2) 
Figure  3 
demonstrates  China's  relative focus  of  activity  in 
all  twelve  advanced  technologies,  compared  to 
that of the EU27.  

visualised 

as 

in 

The  findings  of  the  analysis  confirm  China's 
technological  focus  on  information  technologies 
(see also Figure 1) with outstanding specialisation 
in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence as well as - 
to  a  lesser  extent  -  Micro-  and  nanoelectronics. 
The  EU27, 
in contrast,  displays  a  negative 
specialisation in all four of these fields. 

1.1  Patent applications 

the 

share 

the  past  decade 

technological 
Over 
performance  of  China  has  improved  rapidly.  An 
analysis  of  China's 
in  worldwide 
transnational  patent  applications  helps  to  assess 
and  benchmark  its  technological  performance. 
Figure  1  provides  an  overview  of  the  Chinese 
share 
patent 
applications  in  advanced  technologies  compared 
to that of the EU27's Member States in 20181.  

of  worldwide 

transnational 

Figure  1:  Share 

in  global 

in  advanced 

transnational  patent 
technologies 

applications 
(2018) 

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Source: Fraunhofer ISI, based on EPO PATSTAT 

As seen in Figure 1, the EU27 continues to hold a 
higher  share  of  global  patent  applications  than 
China  in  many  advanced  technologies.  However, 
China  is  not  far  from  catching  up  with  Europe  in 
Photonics,  Security  and  has  done  so  in  the 
advanced 
technology  of  Big  Data  already. 
Moreover,  China's  share  in  global  patenting  now 
clearly  exceeds  that  of  Europe  in  Micro-  and 
nanoelectronics  (MNE),  Robotics,  as  well  as 
Artificial Intelligence. 

Patenting  trends  over  time  show  the  force  of 
Chinese technology and its increasing dominance 
on  the  global  patent  landscape.  Over  the  period 
from  2008  to  2018  patent  applications  filed  by 
Chinese  applicants  increased  most  in  Artificial 
Intelligence (see Figure 2). 

1  The  patent  analysis  reflects  the  owner  (applicant)  of  the 
technology,  since  patents  have  been  localised  based  on  the 
location of their legal owner. 

2 The RPA-Index illustrates the relative specialisation on a scale 
from -100 to +100, putting the share of a specific field in national 
applications in relation to the global average share. 

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ATI international report on China  

Figure 3: Technological specialisation RPA-index of 

China and EU27 (2018) 

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Colour	legend

China
EU27

Source: Fraunhofer ISI, based on EPO PATSTAT 

1.2 

International competitiveness 

as 

they 

Trade measures are a common indicator of global 
competitiveness, 
the 
attractiveness of a country's products beyond the 
home  market.  Total  exports  provide  evidence 
about  a  country's  role  as  a  producer,  and  trade 
balance  captures  its  sovereignty  in  certain  areas 
of production.  

document 

Figure 4: Export share in world total (2018) 

Nanotechnology
Ind	Biotech
AI
IoT
Adv	Materials
Photonics
BigData
Mobility
Security
Robotics
MNE
Adv	Manufact.

Colour	legend
China

EU27

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Source : Fraunhofer ISI, based on UN COMTRADE 
Note:  ‘EU27-extra’  refers  to  exports  to  non-EU  countries,  
i.e.  competitiveness-based  exports  outside  the  single  market  
The view is filtered on China, the export shares of which range 
from 4.3 (AMT) to 25.8% (Nanotechnology) 

Figure 4 displays the share of global technological 
exports  in  2018.  It  clearly  demonstrates  that 

China  exports  more  goods  related  to  advanced 
technologies for industry than the European Union 
in  all  fields  -  except  for  Advanced  Manufacturing 
technologies.  

Figure 5 visualises the trade balance3 in relation to 
the  total  trade  volume  of  China  and  the  EU27 
countries in 2018.  

Figure  5:  Trade  balance  in  relation  to  overall  trade 

volume (exports - imports) (2018) 

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Colour	legend

China
EU27	extra

Source: Fraunhofer ISI, based on UN COMTRADE 
Note:  ‘EU27-extra’  refers  to  exports  to  non-EU  countries,  
i.e. competitiveness-based exports outside the single market 

China  displayed  a  large  relative  trade  surplus  in 
2018 in goods related to Industrial Biotechnology, 
Nanotechnology,  Advanced  Materials  and  the 
Internet of Things. The analysis shows, however, 
a rather notable trade deficit in terms of total trade 
volume in Micro and nanoelectronics (over 60%), 
Advanced  Manufacturing,  Security  and  Robotics. 
The European Union had significant relative trade 
deficits  almost  in  all  fields  related  to  advanced 
technologies  -  with  the  exception  of  Advanced 
Manufacturing technology. 

1.3  Startup and scaleup activity 

Figure 6 analyses private and venture capital (VC) 
investments in advanced technologies in China. It 
illustrates  the  number  of 
investment  deals 
concluded  in  2020  in  advanced  technologies  as 
well as the number of active startups4 in 2020 in 
China based on Crunchbase5 data. 

The analysis suggests that the number of funding 
rounds was the highest in Biotechnology followed 
Advanced 
by 

Intelligence 

Artificial 

and 

3 Exports - Imports 
4 Startups have been defined as companies founded after 2015. 
5  Private  equity,  venture  capital  investment  and  related 
innovative  start-up  creation  have  been  explored  based  on  a 

merged  dataset  available 
in  Crunchbase  and  Dealroom. 
Crunchbase  provides  information  on  venture  capital  backed 
innovative companies. 

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ATI international report on China  

Manufacturing  in  China  in  2020.  Startups  have 
been most active in the area of AI and Advanced 
Manufacturing, although 2020 has not seen many 
newly founded startups except for AI (as captured 
by the LinkedIn database). The data suggest that 
investors 
focused  on  ventures  already  well 
established  and  had  a  relatively  high  average 
investment amount per company. 

Figure  6:  The  number  of  funding  rounds  in  advanced 
technologies and startups, China (2020) 

Biotechnology
AI
Adv	Manufacturing
Robotics
MNE
Big	Data
Cloud	technology
Mobility
IoT
Blockchain
Cybersecurity
Photonics
AR/VR
Nanotechnology
Adv	Materials

0

50

100

0

200

400

600

Number	of	funding	rounds	in
2020

Number	of	startups	active	in
2020

Source: Technopolis Group based on Crunchbase 

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ATI international report on China  

Section 2 

2  Analysis  of  selected  technology  ecosystems:  Artificial 

Intelligence and Big Data 

2.1  Major players 

Table 1: Major government stakeholders in China’s AI and Big Data development 

Scope 

Name and resulting organisations/initiatives, if applicable 

Ministries 

Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) 

-  New Generation AI Strategy Advisory Committee 
-  National New Generation AI Governance Expert Committee 

National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) 
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) 

- 

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) 

Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data (SRIBD) 

Chinese National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) 
Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) 

-  National Artificial Intelligence Standardisation General Working Group 
-  National Artificial Intelligence Standardisation Expert Advisory Group 

China Electronics Standardisation Institute (CESI) 

Other 
institutional 
players 

Authorities 
for 
regulation  and 
Intellectual 
Property Rights 

Source: authors.

Ministries 

In  China,  various  state  organisations  as  well  as 
institutions  are  engaged  in  the  development  of 
strategies  and  initiatives  in  the  field  of  Artificial 
Intelligence  (AI)  and  Big  Data.  Alongside  the 
highest  executive  body  of  the  Chinese  state 
administration,  the  State  Council,  headed  by 
Premier Li Keqiang, subordinate ministries are also 
actively  involved.  The  MOST,  the  NDRC  and  the 
MIIT in particular appear to play leading roles for 
AI and Big Data. For example, the State Council, 
which 
the 
principles and policies of the Communist Party of 
China as well as the regulations and laws passed 
by  the  National  People's  Congress  launched  the 
mega-project  called 
‘New  Generation  of  AI 
Development  Plan’  as  well  as  the  ‘Outline  for 
Actions to Promote Big Data Development’.6  

is  responsible 

implementing 

for 

The  Ministry  of  Science  and  Technology  (MOST) 
was originally established in 1959 as the National 
Science Council but was reorganised and renamed 
is  directly 
in  2014.  The  ministry,  which 
subordinate 
frames 
guidelines  and  policies  in  addition  to  setting  out 
the  vision  and  strategies  for  China's  national 
economic  and  technological  development.  The 
three  main  tasks  of  the  ministry  are  to  promote 

the  State  Council, 

to 

nationwide  science  and  technology  development, 
support  scientific  research,  and  develop  science 
parks.7 The MOST has approved eleven pilot zones 
for  innovative  AI  development,  e.g.  Beijing, 
Shanghai and Shenzhen, to develop local versions 
of  the  governance  principles  and  regulations  for 
AI.8 At least two committees closely related to AI 
have been established within the MOST. 

The  New  Generation  AI  Strategy  Advisory 
Committee  was  founded  in  2017  and  aims  at 
providing input to the Chinese government on AI-
related science and technology development plans 
as well as relevant projects.9 Another committee 
related  to  AI,  the  National  New  Generation  AI 
Governance  Expert  Committee,  was  established 
by  the  MOST  in  2019,  and  announced  eight 
principles  for  the  governance  of  AI  in  2020  to 
‘develop 
responsible  AI’.  These  principles 
emphasise that AI developments should be driven 
by the goal of improving the general well-being of 
humanity. Accordingly, human rights, privacy and 
fairness are emphasised as well as the relevance 
of  transparency,  collaboration  and  agility  in 
dealing with new risks.10 11 

Originally  established  in  1952  as  the  State 
Planning Commission, the agency was reorganised 
the  National 
and  has  been  operating  as 

6 People's Daily Online 2006. 
7 MOST 2020. 
8 Jia 2020. 

9 Murphy 2020a. 
10 Roberts et al. 2020. 
11 chinainnovationfunding.eu 2020. 

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Development  and  Reform  Commission  (NDRC) 
since 2003.12 The NDRC is directly subordinate to 
the  State  Council  and  is  responsible  for  the 
formulation  and  implementation  of  strategies  as 
well as annual and development plans for national 
economic  and  social  development.  It  submits 
these development plans to the National People's 
Congress on behalf of the State Council.13 In the 
field of Big Data and AI, the NDRC published a list 
of  selected  projects  in  2017,  the  'List  of  2018 
Internet+,  AI  and  Digital  Economy  Experiments 
Major Projects Recipients'. It features projects in 
the field of natural language processing and health 
data  exchange,  for  example.  A  study  estimates 
the  role  of  the  companies awarded  by  the  NDRC 
to  be  substantial  for  both  Big  Data  and  AI  in 
China.14  Additionally, 
the 
development  of  China’s  national  Five-Year 
Plans.1516 

the  NDRC 

leads 

it 

top 

considered 

Another  influential  player  for  Big  Data  and  AI  in 
China is the Ministry of Industry and Information 
Technology  (MIIT).  Established  in  2008  as  a 
is 
department  under  the  State  Council, 
responsible  for  managing  the  industrial  sectors 
and information technology industry in China and 
is 
industry 
‘the  nation’s 
regulator’.17  The  State  Council  lists  the  following 
tasks  of  MIIT: 
the  main 
matters  among 
determining  China's  industrial  planning,  policies 
and standards; supervising the daily operation of 
industries;  promoting  the  development  of  large-
scale technological equipment and innovations in 
communications;  leading  the  construction  of 
information  systems;  and  ensuring  China's 
information  security.18  Given  its  responsibilities, 
the MIIT has initiated various plans and strategies 
in the field of AI and Big Data, including the 'Big 
Data Industry Development Plan' and the 'Three-
Year Action Plan for Promoting Development of a 
New Generation AI Industry'. 

Academy 

of 
Founded in 1957, the - China 
Information  and  Communications  Technology 
(CAICT)  is  a  subordinate  institute  to  the  MIIT19, 
and plays an important role in telecommunications 
and  the  internet.  It  acts  as  a  ‘specialised  think-
tank for the government’ as well as an ‘innovation 
and  development  platform  for  the  industry’.20 
Emerging technology issues on the agenda include 
AI,  Big  Data,  4G/5G,  Cloud  Computing,  etc.  The 
CAICT  supports  the  development  of  policies, 
including  industry  plans  (such  as  the  Big  Data 
Industry  Development  Plan),  develops  standards 
and  certification,  and  conducts  a  variety  of 
technology  and  industry  studies.21  A  variety  of 

innovation centres are part of the CAICT, including 
the New Generation AI Institute in Nanjing, the 5G 
and  AI  Research  Centre  in  Hangzhou  and  the 
Central  Big  Data  Research  Innovation  Centre  in 
Zhengzhou.22 The ‘Cloud Computing and Big Data 
Research  Institute’,  which  was  established  in 
2017, is one of the core business departments of 
the  CAICT. 
the  emerging 
technologies,  business  models  and  industries  of 
the internet. The institute conducts research in the 
areas of Big Data and AI, builds various platforms, 
and  tests  and  evaluates  various  products  and 
services. In addition, scientific projects are carried 
out  on  a  national  level  as  well  as  with  industry 
partners.23  

It  deals  with 

Other institutional players 

Although  there  are  certainly  other  institutions 
relevant  to  AI  and  Big  Data  developments  in 
China, the SRIBD stands out in particular. 

In 2016, the government of Shenzhen established 
the  Shenzhen  Research  Institute  of  Big  Data 
(SRIBD).  The  institute  is  designed  to  lead  and 
coordinate  the  research  and  development  of  Big 
Data  innovations  and  focuses  on  basic  theories, 
novel  computing  systems  of  the  future,  and 
intelligent  application  technologies  in  the  field  of 
Big  Data.  Its  vision  is  to  become  a  globally 
recognised  research  institute  in  the  field  of  Big 
Data with its own Intellectual Property rights and 
outstanding core technologies.24 

Authorities for regulation and IPR  

With  a  view  to  intellectual  property  rights  (IPR) 
and standards in China's AI and Big Data agenda, 
key  responsibilities  rest  with  the  CNIPA  and, 
regarding standards, the SAC and the CESI. 

They 

examination. 

The  Chinese  National 
Intellectual  Property 
Administration (CNIPA), which is responsible for 
the organisation and coordination of the protection 
of  IPR  in  China25,  amended  the  guidelines  for 
patent 
include 
examination  rules  for  claims  characterised  by 
algorithmic  features,  with  a  particular  focus  on 
emerging technologies, including Big Data and AI, 
for which new standards are defined. The revised 
rules have been in force since February 2020. For 
AI, only inventions created with the help of AI can 
currently be patented, while inventions developed 
independently  of  AI  are  not  permitted,  as 

now 

12 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and 
the Pacific 2012. 
13 National Development and Reform Commission 2008a. 
14 Grossman et al. 2020. 
15  China’s  Five-Year  Plans  are  the  most  important  guiding 
documents for the economic and social policy direction of China, 
and have been developed since 1953. 
16 Haacke 2014. 
17 Si 2019. 

18 State Council 2014. 
19  The  MIIT  operates  at  the  same  level  as  the  MOST  and  is 
subordinate to the State Council in China. 
20 CAICT 2020. 
21 Jiang 2018. 
22 CAICT 2020. 
23 CAICT 2020. 
24 Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data 2020. 
25 US-China Business Council 2018. 

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standards  for  their  examination  have  yet  to  be 
established.26 27 

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, 
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), a ministerial 
administrative  body  directly  under  the  State 
Council, is responsible for the standards system in 
China. In turn, the AQSIQ heads the Certification 
and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) 
as  well  as  the  Standardisation  Administration  of 
China  (SAC).28  The  latter  represents  China  in 
various  standardisation  organisations  at  national 
and international level, including the International 
Organisation  for  Standardisation  (ISO)  and  the 
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).29 

is 

for 

important 

specifically 

responsible 

responsibility 

Another 
for 
standardisation  in  AI  and  Big  Data  lies  with  the 
China  Electronics  Standardisation 
Institute 
(CESI),  a  think-tank  subordinate  to  the  MIIT, 
which 
the 
standardisation of the IT and electronics industry 
in  China.  CESI  manages  a  number  of  China’s 
counterparts to IEC and ISO Technical Committees 
and  Subcommittees.  The  National  Information 
Technological 
Technology 
Committee  (SAC/TC  28) 
for 
developing AI-standards in China. It is considered 
the counterpart to the ISO/IEC Joint Technological 
Committee  One.  SAC/TC  28  also  includes  a 
working  group  on  Big  Data  standards.30  In  April 

Standardisation 

is  responsible 

2020, the SAC announced the establishment of an 
AI  sub-technical  committee  (SAC/TC  28/SC  42), 
mainly  reponsible  for  the  development  and 
revision of national standards in AI.31 32 

In addition to the technical committees, China has 
established  organisational  mechanisms  aimed  at 
the  overall  coordination  of  measures  for  AI-
standardisation.  For  this  purpose,  the  SAC 
approved  two  groups  in  2018:  The  National  AI 
Standardisation General Working Group, which is 
responsible  for  the  coordination,  planning  and 
layout  of  a  variety  of  AI  standardisation  work  in 
China.  Its  office  is  located  at  CESI.  Additionally, 
the  National  AI  Standardisation  Expert  Advisory 
Group was established, which is an expert group 
of AI-experts and scientists, responsible for advice 
related  to  AI  standards.  The  expert  group  leads 
the  work  of  the  National  AI  Standardisation 
General Working Group.33 

Major business actors 

China is home to a number of globally leading AI 
and  Big  Data  companies.  Next  to  the  ‘big  four’, 
Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent (collectively referred to as 
‘BAT’34 35) and Alibaba, some interesting start-ups 
show  a  strong  track  record.  Table  2  shows  the 
major  companies  in  China’s  AI  and  Big  Data 
landscape.

Table 2: Selected list of major Chinese business actors in AI and Big Data 

Company Name 

Company Information 

Tencent 
Ltd.36 

Holdings 

iFlyTek Co., Ltd.37 

Baidu Co., Ltd.38 

-  Established in 1998 
-  Headquarters: Shenzhen, Guangdong province 
-  Leadership in speech and image recognition due to Big Data developed in its 
social network; expansions also into medical Research & Development (R&D) 
through image recognition and analysis 

-  Focus:  digital  communication  and  social  platforms,  advertising,  financial 

technologies and business services 

-  Established in 1999 
-  Partially state-owned 
-  Headquarters: Hefei, Anhui province  
-  Focus: intelligent speech and AI; including research in speech and languages, 
natural  language  understanding,  machine  learning,  machine  reasoning, 
adaptive learning 
-  Established in 2000 
-  Headquarters: Beijing, Hebei province 
-  Analogous to Google 
-  New Big Data and AI developments: ‘Baidu Cloud’ produces, analyses and tags 
data;  the  algorithm  platform  ‘Baidu  Brain’  is  open  to  internal  use  as  well  as 
third parties 

-  Focus:  platforms  connect  users  to  information  and  services  via  various 

Alibaba Group Holding 
Ltd.39 

-  Established in 2007 
-  Headquarters: Hangzhou, Zhejiang province 

channels; online marketing 

26 Wei 2020. 
27 Quan 2020. 
28 China Electronics Standardization Institute 2020a. 
29 International Organization for Standardization 2020. 
30 China Electronics Standardization Institute 2020a. 
31 China Electronics Standardization Institute 2020b. 
32 China Electronics Standardization Institute 2020a. 

33 China Electronics Standardization Institute 2020a. 
34 Jing and Dai 2017. 
35 Jia et al. 2018. 
36 Tencent 2020. 
37 iFlyTek 2020. 
38 Baidu 2020. 
39 Alibaba Group 2020. 

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Company Name 

Company Information 

-  AI strategy based on research of the Institute of Data Science and Technologies 
(iDST): ‘ET Brain’ platform available to companies to apply AI practically; AI 
labs; AI in order to improve Alibaba’s e-commerce and payment service 

-  Focus:  e-commerce,  cloud  computing,  digital  media  and  entertainment, 

innovation initiatives, payment services and financial services 

Startups 
Megvii 
Ltd.40 

Technology 

-  Established in 2011 
-  Headquarters: Beijing 
-  Large research focus; operator of the world's biggest computer vision research 

institute 

-  Focus:  core  competence  deep  learning  with  a  focus  on  the  integration  of  AI 

and IoT for people, cities and supply chains 

-  Established in 2014 
-  Headquarters: Hong Kong 
-  World’s most valuable AI startup 
-  Various technological breakthroughs, including the development of the first AI 

system to achieve better detection accuracy than the human eye 
-  Focus: development of AI technologies, provider of AI algorithms 
-  Established in 2015 
-  Headquarters: Shenzhen, Guangdong province 
-  Tencent led iCarbonX series A financing 
-  Platform that combines biological measures with experiential data from people 
worldwide  and  mines  it  for  signals  of  disease,  health,  ageing  based  on 
advanced AI 

-  Focus: AI-based healthcare platform 
-  Established in 2015 
-  Headquarters: Guangzhou, Guangdong province 
-  Listed  on  the  US  Entity  List  due  to  US  claims  of  complicity  in  human  rights 

violations and abuses, restricting its access to US technology. 

-  Focus:  Integration  of  multidimensional  recognition  (visuality,  language, 
environment), to create an intelligent decision-making system and realise the 
closed loop of AI technology. 

SenseTime 
Ltd.41 42 

Group 

iCarbonX Co., Ltd.43 

CloudWalk 
Technology Co., Ltd.44 
45 

Source: authors. 

2.2  Underlying conditions 

for  the 
Looking  at  the  general  conditions 
development  of  AI  and  Big  Data  in  China,  three 
aspects  stand  out  as  being  of  special  relevance: 
the availability of data, protection and regulation, 
and regional development areas. 

Availability of data 

Over  time,  a  digital  ecosystem  for  Chinese  tech 
companies has developed in a partially protected 
market  with  a  large  number  of  internet  users.  
China  has  the  largest  number  of  internet  users 
worldwide.  In June 2020, over 939 million citizens 
were  connected  to  the  internet,  while  more  than 
932 million used mobile internet.  As the number 
of internet users increases, those connected make 
extensive  use  of  digital  technologies  and  mobile 
access, using the internet for a variety of reasons 
e.g.  for  payment,  travel  or  communication. 
Consequently,  China  has  huge  amounts  of 

constantly generated data. Access to this available 
data is considered one of the enablers for China's 
future leadership in AI. 

Protection and regulation 

For  a  long  time,  China  did  not  have  any  law 
ensuring  basic  data  processing  principles.  The 
Chinese  data  protection  system  was  mainly 
criticised  for  a  lack  of  definitions,  the  non-
existence of the concept of individual consent, the 
absence of references to the rights of information, 
access  and  rectification,  and  the  lack  of  a 
supervisory authority.46  

The 'Cyber Security Law' has been in force since 
July  2017  to  protect  critical  infrastructures  and 
data  from  unauthorised  access.  It  sets  out  rules 
for  the  protection  of  IT  infrastructures  and 
systems, data management for public services as 
well as compliance by economic and social actors. 
Due to the barriers caused by strict cyber and data 

40 Megvii 2020. 
41 SenseTime 2020. 
42 Marr 2019. 
43 iCarbonX 2020. 
44 CloudWalk 2020. 
45 U.S. Department of Commerce 2020. 
46 Hert and Papakonstantinou 2015. 

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security regulations, foreign companies' access to 
China's  digital  and  telecommunication  markets 
remains  limited.47  Another  step  towards  the 
protection  of  personal  information  by  law  was 
unveiled  in  October  2020,  with  the  draft  of  a 
'Personal  Information  Protection  Law'  (PIPL).  48 
The PIPL is considered to have similarities to the 
European  Union's  data  protection  law  (General 
Data Protection Regulation).49 

A  nationwide  'Social  Credit  System'  (SoCs)  is 
expected  to  become  mandatory,  which  will 
monitor companies, organisations and individuals 
through a big-data-based control mechanism and 
thus enforce compliant and conformist behaviour. 
The SoCs has been in planning since 2014, it was 
piloted  in  many  programmes  and  its  main 
framework  and  mechanisms  were  established  in 
2020.  It  is  seen  as  a  powerful  instrument  of 
control over companies and people with the help 
of digital technologies.50 51 

Pilot zones for innovative development 

Guiyang City (in Guizhou province) has proactively 
promoted  the  integration  of  AI  in  its  economy 
since 2014. In 2017, the city set itself a series of 
goals to be achieved by 2020 in order to become 
China’s  ‘Big  Data  Valley’:  reach  the  capacity  to 
store  one  exabyte  of  data,  attract  more  than 
10 000 Big Data companies and over 100 000 Big 
Data  experts,  and  generate  over  ¥100 bn 
(€12.81 bn52)  through  Big  Data  companies.  The 
first funding round was projected to reach ¥10bn 
(€1.28 bn53).  To  promote  these  ambitious  plans, 
28  scientific  research  organisations  and  23 
incubators  as  well  as  investment  agencies  have 
been set up in the field of Big Data in the Guizhou 
province.54 55 Since then, Guiyang has undergone 
rapid  development  and  is  respected  worldwide, 
which  has 
of 
internationally leading companies such as Alibaba, 
Tencent, Apple and Intel to the city.56 

attracted 

several 

offices 

to  national 

To  drive  the  development  of  AI  in  China,  in 
addition 
level  efforts,  China's 
government  is  also  reaching  out  to  individual 
provinces,  cities  and  municipalities  in  order  to 
promote the AI industry at the local level.57 As of 
March 2020, a total of eleven ‘AI Pilot Zones’ had 
been  publicly  announced  and  established  by  the 
MOST  in  Beijing,  Shanghai,  Hangzhou,  Hefei, 
Shenzhen,  Tianjin,  Deqing  County,  Chengdu, 
Chongqing, Jinan and Xi’an.58 As part of this effort, 
the  provinces  and  municipalities  have  developed 
AI plans, which set their individual, local targets. 
Beijing,  Shanghai  and  Shenzhen,  in  particular, 
stand out as tech hubs and are home to some of 
China's  largest  digital  pioneers  (e.g.  Baidu  and 
Tencent).  By  2020,  Shanghai's  plan  aims  to 
generate  a  core  AI 
industry  of  ¥100 bn 
(€12.81 bn59). To achieve this, AI industrial zones 
and  agreements  between  leading  AI  companies 
have been established in several parts of the city. 
In  Beijing,  the  AI  hub  Zhongguancun  stands  out 
and,  in  response  to  Shanghai's  developments,  a 
new AI industry park was announced in 2018. In 
addition to these prominent AI locations, Hefei is 
also  a  solid  hub  for  AI  development,  with  the  AI 
base  'China  Speech  Valley'  providing  a  strong 
centre  for  speech  recognition  technologies  in 
China.  Beyond  that,  China’s  more  reserved 
provinces, such as Liaoning, also have ambitious 
AI plans to join the regional AI developments.60 

China also places a special focus on attracting AI 
talent and companies. For example, an article by 
the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) 
61  mentions 
research 
rewards  offered 
institutions  and  companies  for  AI  professionals 
settling  in  specific  regions,  or  initiatives  for 
recruiting  AI  professionals  from  abroad.  A  map 
prepared by MERICS illustrates the provincial and 
municipal plans for AI development in China (see 
Figure 7).  

to 

47 Shi-Kupfer and Ohlberg 2019. 
48 Holzmann and Meinhardt 2020. 
49 Zhang and Chen. 
50 Shi-Kupfer and Ohlberg 2019. 
51 Sutherland 2020. 
52 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2017. 
53 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2017. 

54 China Daily 2017. 
55 Guiyang Government 2020. 
56 Shenggao 2019. 
57 Ives and Holzmann 2018. 
58 Center for Security and Emerging Technology 2020. 
59 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2020. 
60 Ives and Holzmann 2018. 
61 Ives and Holzmann 2018. 

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Figure 7: Provincial and municipal plans for AI development in China 

Source: Ives and Holzmann, 2018. 

2.3  Policies, strategies and initiatives 

In  line  with  its  general  industrial  policy,  China  is 
pursuing  a  top-down  approach  to  promote  the 
development of AI and Big Data in the country by 
investing  lots  of  capital  in  the  relevant  areas, 
devoting  a  lot  of  human  resources  to  them  and 
setting  other  incentives.62  A  variety  of  city-level 
funds for AI and Big Data were identified. 

Shanghai AI Investment Fund 

In  2019,  Shanghai  launched  its  AI  Investment 
Fund to support the city’s transformation into an 
innovative  AI  ecosystem  by  2021.  This  city-level 
fund  is  managed  by  a  group  of  government-led 
firms  as  well  as  private  equity  enterprises,  has 
initial  funds  of  ¥10 bn  (€1.28 bn63)  and  plans  to 
increase  this  to  ¥100 bn  (€12.79 bn63).  Four  AI 
institutes  were  introduced  at  the  ceremony, 
including  the  Shanghai  AI  Smart  Algorithm 
Institute.  A  guide  to  Shanghai's  AI  development 
revealed  plans  to  start  10  AI-labs  between 
scientific  institutions  and  firms,  establish  15  Big 
Data  labs  and  turn  Shanghai  into  an  AI  chip 
hotspot. Shanghai also aims to double its AI talent 
pool  within  three  years  to  200 000  workers.  In 
addition  to  loans  guaranteed  by  major  banks  to 
support  capital, 
the  municipality  subsidises 
important AI application solutions. 64 

Governance  Principles 
Generation AI - developing responsible AI 

the  New 

for 

by 

The MIIT published ‘Governance Principles for the 
in  2019,  which  were 
New  Generation  AI’ 
formulated 
the  National  Governance 
Committee  for  the  New  Generation  AI.  This  was 
triggered by global AI developments that have a 
profound  impact  on  daily  life,  possess  new 
capabilities and will bring about major changes in 
the  future.  The  document  lists  eight  principles, 
which  are  addressed  to  all  actors  involved  in  AI 
development:65  

1.  Harmony and human-friendly 
2.  Fairness and justice 
3.  Inclusion and sharing 
4.  Respect for privacy 
5.  Safety and controllability 
6.  Shared responsibility 
7.  Open and collaboration 
8.  Agile governance 

Action  Plan 
Development (2015) 

to  Promote  Big  Data 

To launch the ‘startup-phase’ for the national Big 
Data  strategy  development  in  China,  the  State 
Council issued an ‘Outline for Actions to Promote 
Big Data Development’ in 2015.66 The call aimed 
to  foster  the  development  and  adoption  of  Big 
Data,  both  for  economic  restructuring  and  to 
advance  governance.  This  was  triggered  by  the 
recognition  of  China's  rich  data  resources,  which 

62 Ives and Holzmann 2018. 
63 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2019. 
64 Wei 2019. 

65 China Daily 2019. 
66  China  Academy  of  Information  and  Communications 
Technology 2019. 

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for  competitive 
harbour  potential  benefits 
advantage,  economic  growth  and  governance. 
However,  Big  Data  developments  remained 
hesitant due to a weak industrial foundation, the 
lack of openness and the absence of a long-term 
strategy.  In  this  outline,  the  State  Council  also 
announced  the  development  of  a  new  model  of 
social  governance  and 
formulation  of 
regulations to ensure social access to public data 
via an open platform. Moreover, the government 
is pushing for the integration of Big Data into new 
generation  information  technologies  (e.g.  Cloud 
Computing).67 

the 

Guidance on Developing Industrial Big Data  

In  2019,  the  MIIT  released  a  ‘Guidance  on 
Developing Industrial Big Data’ as a draft to solicit 
opinions.  This  focuses  on  four  areas  of  data: 
resources, analysis, industry and governance, and 
aims to establish high-quality manufacturing and 
a  data-driven  manufacturing  sector  in  China  by 
strengthening the link between manufacturing and 
the  internet,  AI,  Big  Data  and  the  industrial 
two  highly  significant 
internet.  It  conveys 
messages: first, industrial Big Data is considered 
a  factor  of  production  and  thus  an  economic 
resource,  reinforcing  developments  to  determine 
data  ownership,  market  transaction  mechanisms 
as  well  as  valuations  of  data  assets.  Second, 
legislation  on  data  governance  is  anticipated, 
underpinning improvements in legal issues around 
security,  ownership  and  sharing  of  data.  The 
timeline extends until 2025.68 

2.3.1  Major projects 

In  addition  to  the  initiatives,  small  projects  and 
large-scale 
funds  presented  above,  several 
projects exist in China that contribute significantly 
to  the  development  of  AI  and  Big  Data.  Table  3 
lists these projects. 

MIC 2025 

MIC 2025 is a strategic masterplan of the Chinese 
government  with  the  main  goal  of  upgrading 
Chinese  industry  in  a  relatively  short  period  of 
time  and  developing  it  into  a  global  high-tech 
superpower. The plan therefore targets key high-
tech  industries  and  technologies  that  make  a 
significant contribution to economic growth but at 
present  are 
foreign 
companies  in  China.  AI  and  Big  Data  play  a 
significant  role  among  these  technologies.  AI  is 
defined  as  one  of  the  core  technologies  being 
pushed  by  the  government  and  there  is  also  a 
strong  focus  on  Big  Data,  with  many  industrial 
parks being established in China.69 

largely  dominated  by 

Table  3:  Major  projects  for  China’s  AI  and  Big  Data 
development 

Plus 

for 
AI 

Project 
Made  in  China  2025  (MIC 
2025) 
Internet Plus 
Three-Year  Guidance 
Internet 
Development 
Data 
Big 
Development Plan 
Three-Year  Action  Plan  for 
Promoting Development of a 
New Generation AI Industry 
of  AI 
New  Generation 
Development Plan 

Industry 

Year 
2015-ongoing 

2015-ongoing 
2016-2018 

2016-2020 

2018-2020 

2020-ongoing 

Source: authors. 

Internet Plus 

Proposed in 2015, the grand action plan 'Internet 
Plus'  aims  at  the  comprehensive  digitalisation  of 
the economy and society beyond the conventional 
internet,  which  is  to  be  integrated  into  various 
areas  such  as  e-commerce,  education  and 
manufacturing.  Big  Data  is  one  of  the  relevant 
technologies promoted by Internet Plus. As part of 
this  bottom-up  initiative,  internet  companies  are 
the  development  of 
closely 
implementation  guidelines.  On  the  government 
side, the NDRC is responsible for the plan.70 71 

integrated 

in 

Both MIC 2025 and Internet Plus were launched in 
2015  with  the  purpose  of  driving  industrial  and 
digital innovation within China.72 

Three-Year  Guidance  for  Internet  Plus  AI 
Development 

In  2016,  the  Chinese  government  published  the 
‘Three-Year Guidance for the Development of the 
Internet  Plus  AI’.  According  to  this  plan,  China 
aims to develop new AI industries, for example in 
the 
technology  research.  In  addition, 
core 
statement emphasises that projects relevant to AI 
innovations (e.g. smart vehicles or houses) will be 
promoted, and the development and application of 
smart  wearable  devices  as  well  as  robots  will  be 
pushed.73  Led  by  the  MIIT,  the  plan  focuses  on 
four aspects 74: 

-  AI-hardware skills 
- 
-  AI-applications  in  major  socio-economic 

Powerful platform-ecosystems 

fields 

-  Societal impact of AI 

67 State Council 2015b. 
68  Deutsche  Gesellschaft  für  Internationale  Zusammenarbeit 
(GIZ) GmbH 2020. 
69 Zenglein and Holzmann 2019. 
70 Wübbeke et al. 2016, p. 20. 

71 China Daily 2015. 
72 Shi-Kupfer and Ohlberg 2019. 
73 State Council 2016. 
74 OECD 2020b. 

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Big Data Industry Development Plan 

The  Big  Data  Industry  Development  Plan  was 
officially  issued  by  the  MIIT  at  the  end  of  2016, 
marking  an  important  phase  of  China’s  national 
Big Data strategy.75 76 It was introduced as part of 
the  13th  Five-Year  Plan  with  the  overall  goal  of 
developing Big Data into a key strategic resource 
in China. China’s draft of the 13th Five-Year Plan 
describes  this  plan  for  the  development  of  Big 
Data, which is intended to speed up the openness, 
sharing,  development  and  application  of  data 
resources.  Big  Data  will  thus  support  the 
transformation and improvement of industries and 
innovate social governance.77 This comprehensive 
Big  Data  strategy  is  considered  a  major  step 
towards the development of a Big Data industry in 
China.78 

Three-Year  Action  Plan  for  Promoting  the 
Development  of  a  New  Generation  AI 
Industry 

In 2017, the MIIT issued an action plan focused on 
integrating  AI  into  manufacturing.  This  plan 
supports the implementation of MIC 2025 and the 
Next  Generation  AI  Development  Plan.  Four 
initiatives are identified for 202079 80: 

-  Ensure developments and the integration 
of  key  intelligent  AI-products  in  the 
economy  and  society,  e.g.  intelligent 
robots, smart unmanned vehicles or video 
image recognition systems. 

-  Ensure  a  sound  hardware  and  software 
for  AI  development,  such  as 
sensors,  neural  network 

base 
intelligent 
semiconductors and open platforms. 
-  Ensure,  enhance  and  promote 

the 
development of smart manufacturing and 
the  integration  of  AI  in  the  industrial 
sector. 

-  Ensure  the  development  of  a  public  AI 
training 
support 
resources,  cybersecurity  and  network 
infrastructure. 

for,  e.g. 

system 

New Generation of AI Development Plan 

In  2017,  the  State  Council  issued  the  ‘New 
Generation  of  AI  Development  Plan’  with  a  total 
budget  of  ¥870 m  (€111.48 m81).  It  is  part  of 
sixteen ‘2030 Innovation Mega Projects’ listed by 
the State Council, which are intended to address 
important bottlenecks in technology.82 83 The plan 
defines  16  research  tasks  including,  e.g.  new 
generation  neural  network  models  or  game 
information 
decision 

incomplete 

under 

conditions.84 It is set to seize the great strategic 
opportunities of AI developments, further expand 
China's  AI  advantage  as  a  first  mover,  and 
accelerate  the  establishment  of  China  as  an 
innovative  and  globally  advanced  country  in 
science and technology.85  

Four  strategic  goals  are  presented,  aimed  at 
making China a global AI leader by 203086: 

-  China  evolves  as  a  centre  for  basic  AI 
research  and  the  development  of  AI 
theories.  

-  China 

leads  applied 

research  and 
development  of  innovative  AI  products 
and services.  

-  China creates a domestic AI industry and 

leads global AI markets. 

-  China utilises AI to improve the efficiency 
of traditional sectors and to move up the 
global value chain. 

2.4  Lessons for Europe 

Compared  to  the  European  Union  (EU),  the 
analysis  of  China's  AI  and  Big  Data  landscape 
reveals a number of points of lessons the EU can 
learn from.  

to 

Number  one 
is  that  Europe  needs  to 
ascertain a broad availability of data to train 
and  further  develop  AI  applications.  Due  to 
China’s large population and the near absence of 
any privacy related regulation, China is in a unique 
collect,  process  and  analyse 
position 
unprecedented amounts of data. Compared to the 
EU it has thus more options to train AI models and 
accelerate  the  development  of  its  application  to 
numerous contexts, from everyday life to strategic 
considerations. While it cannot be the ambition of 
Europe to remodel the regulatory environment of 
China, the question remains how sufficient access 
to suitable data sources and respositories could be 
ascertained. 

The EU should seek to actively promote and 
enable  the  diffusion  of  AI  and  Big  Data. 
Today,  China  demonstrates  a  much  wider 
commercialisation of AI and Big Data applications. 
Due  to  numerous  government  initiatives,  a  large 
AI  and  Big  Data  ecosystem  has  developed  in 
China,  between  private  companies,  government 
institutions and other relevant actors. As a result, 
the  adoption,  diffusion  and  commercialisation  of 
AI into all areas of daily life as well as the industrial 
economy  has  progressed  further  in  China.  To 
match  these  developments  European  companies 

75  China  Academy  of  Information  and  Communications 
Technology 2019. 
76  China  Academy  of  Information  and  Communications 
Technology 2019. 
77 Central Compilation & Translation Press 2016. 
78  China  Academy  of  Information  and  Communications 
Technology 2019. 
79 Triolo et al. 2018. 

80 United States Information Technology Office. 
81 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2017. 
82 Colvin et al. 2020. 
83 DEVELOPMENT Solutions Europe Ltd. 2018. 
84 Colvin et al. 2020. 
85 Ministry of Science and Technology 2017. 
86 Carter and Crumpler 2019. 

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commercialisation  and 

implementation). 
of 
According to the study, China is considered an AI 
champion alongside the United States while the EU 
is lagging behind. Reasons for China's strong role 
include  the  extensive  use  and  commercialisation 
of AI, the availability of data and readiness of its 
companies.87  

While the EU will - in different areas - hardly want 
to  imitate  Chinese  policies  directly,  the  below 
overview shows that falling further behind is one 
of the real threats of technological development. 
Given the substantial head-start of both the United 
States  and  China  in  various  areas,  Europe  may 
face a double challenge. First, it must leverage its 
remaining strengths in e.g. AI related to industrial 
applications  and  seek  to  connect  and  integrate 
those  with  the  existing  dynamism  in  the  United 
States and China.  

success 

Secondly, it must carefully consider which of the 
abovementioned 
could  be 
replicated  in  a  specific  European  way,  e.g.  how 
large  datasets  can  be  collected  and  rendered 
accessible  without  compromising  existing  data 
protection  regulations  -  that  will  most  likely  not 
fundamentally change in the foreseeable future.  

factors 

In  addition 

Figure  8  visualises  China’s  position  in  the  AI-
the 
competitiveness  map. 
categorised  countries  (champions,  emerging 
leaders, labs and underperformers), the current AI 
competitiveness  of 
is 
visualised by the white circle with dotted lines. The 
volume of the dots refers to the level of domestic 
R&D spending. 

the  European  Union 

to 

ATI international report on China  

have to increase their readiness for the integration 
of these technologies.  

The  EU  should  seek  to  improve  citizens  and 
businesses  openness  for  AI  and  Big  Data. 
Another reason for the commercialisation in China 
is  the  prevalent  positive  image  of  AI  and  Big 
Data.  Compared 
to  China,  where  digital 
technologies  are  often  associated  with  progress, 
technological  advances  and  national  strength, 
Europeans  tend  to  be  more  sceptical.  AI  in 
particular is often associated with job risk, lack of 
privacy  and  fear  in  European  countries.  This 
mistrust hinders a greater diffusion and unbiased 
attitude towards such promising technologies. 

Transnational  clusters  could  strengthen 
European  development  in  AI  and  Big  Data. 
China  shows  excellent  initiatives  in  promoting 
startups, technologies and ideas related to AI and 
Big  Data.  As  a  result,  a  number  of  clusters  and 
regions have emerged that are specifically driving 
these  developments  and  have  succeeded  in 
developing as hotspots for AI and Big Data. Due 
to the sheer size of China's market, such initially 
local initiatives can scale easily and feed into what 
has  become  a  diverse  national  AI  and  Big  Data 
landscape.  The  Chinese  government  provides 
targeted  funding  and  other  incentives  to  AI  and 
Big  Data  companies,  to  enable  them  on  their 
growth trajectory. To develop similar momentum, 
Europe will have to join forces in both the funding 
of 
subsequent  market 
development. 

initiatives 

and 

A study by the Boston Consulting Group estimates 
the AI competitiveness of countries based on their 
capacity to develop AI (in terms of available talent 
and funding), and capacity to deploy AI (in terms 
Figure 8: AI-competitiveness map 

Source: Candelon et al. 2020a, p. 3. 

87 Candelon et al. 2020a. 

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Section 3 

3  Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics 

3.1  Major players 

Table 4: Major government stakeholders in China’s Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics development 

Scope 

Name and resulting organisations/initiatives, if applicable 

Ministries 

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) 

-  National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee (NMSAC) 

National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) 
Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (IAMT) 
Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIACAS) 

Other 
institutional 
players 

Authorities 
for 
regulation  and 
IPR 

Standardisation Administration of China (SAC) 
China Electronics Standardisation Institute (CESI) 
China Robot Industry Alliance (CRIA) 

Source: authors. 

Ministries / central government bodies 

focus  on 

The  analysis  of  Advanced  Manufacturing  and 
Robotics  reveals  that  similar  political  bodies  play 
an  essential  role  in  their  development  in  China. 
Among  other  related  projects,  the  State  Council 
initiated MIC 2025 in 2015 and therefore placed a 
clear 
the  national  promotion  of 
manufacturing.88  Regarding  the  ministries,  the 
MIIT and NDRC seem to be the dominant players 
for  Advanced  Manufacturing  and  Robotics  in 
China.  Although  other  ministries  (such  as  the 
MOST)  certainly  play  an  important  role  as  well, 
insufficient availability of information hindered the 
analysis  of 
corresponding  programmes  or 
initiatives. 

Industry  and 

The  Ministry  of 
Information 
Technology (MIIT) is perhaps the most influential 
player in the field of Advanced Manufacturing and 
Robotics  in  China.  It  has  established  various 
related committees and associations and strongly 
influences current developments at both national 
and  provincial  level.  It  has  launched  a  variety  of 
projects on Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, 
such  as  the  ‘Smart  Manufacturing  Plan’  or  the 
‘Robotics Industry Development Plan’. In addition, 
the  MIIT  is  responsible  for  establishing  many 
related innovation centres and guidelines in China. 
Even  though  the  State  Council  is  responsible  for 
the coordination of MIC 2025, the MIIT is in direct 
charge of this big national strategic plan.89  

The  National  Manufacturing  Strategy  Advisory 
Committee (NMSAC) was founded in August 2015 
under the administration of the MIIT. It acts as a 
for  studies, 
think-tank  and 

responsible 

is 

the 

assessments  and  proposals  on 
future 
prospects of the manufacturing industry as well as 
identifying key issues and measures related to the 
strategy.  The  NMSAC  also  assists  in  setting  up 
additional  think-tanks  (including  private  and 
corporate  think-tanks)  to  provide  knowledge-
based support for the process of China becoming 
a manufacturing power.90 

As outlined above, the National Development and 
Reform  Commission  (NDRC)  is  an  important 
policy  actor  directly  subordinated  to  the  State 
Council,  which  provides  centralised  guidance  to 
most ministries whose remit falls into or is closely 
related to the economic domain. In this capacity, 
it  supported  the  MIIT  in  developing  the  Robotics 
Industry  Development  Plan  and,  earlier  on,  the 
Ministry  of  Science  and  Technology  (MOST)  in 
developing the Made in China 2025 inititiave. More 
generally, it plays a central role in developing the 
economic section of the Five-Year Plan - in which 
Advanced  Manufacturing  plays  an  increasingly 
it  triggers  more 
central  role.  Furthermore, 
concrete  actions,  e.g.  addressing  advanced 
manufacturing  at  regional  level  by  releasing  a 
blueprint  for  the  reform  and  development  of  the 
‘Pearl River Delta’ in 2008.91 Today, the Pearl River 
Delta plays a significant role in China's Advanced 
Manufacturing landscape, which will be discussed 
later.  

Other institutional players 

In  addition  to  the  ministries  presented,  other 
institutions  play  an 
in  the 
development  of  Advanced  Manufacturing  and 

important  role 

88 State Council 2015a. 
89 Frietsch 2020. 

90 Ning 2018. 
91 National Development and Reform Commission 2008b. 

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Robotics  in  China.  In  this  context,  the  IAMT  and 
the SIACAS stand out in particular. 

Based  in  Jiangsu  Province,  Institute  of  Advanced 
Manufacturing Technology (IAMT) is a sub-unit of 
the  Hefei  Institute  of  Physical  Science,  Chinese 
Academy  of  Sciences  (CASHIPS),  conducting 
research  on  Robotics  and  smart  devices. 
Established  in  January  2007,  the  IAMT  has  since 
undergone  several  mergers  and  affiliations  with 
other institutes. It is one of the first members of 
the  Jiangsu  Industrial  Technology  Research 
Institute  (JITRI).  IAMT's  research  focus  includes 
Robotics, 
intelligent 
intelligent  vehicles  and 
equipment,  for  which  three  research  centres 
(Intelligent  Robotics  Centre,  Intelligent  Vehicle 
Centre  and  Intelligent  Equipment  Centre)  have 
been established to provide technical support for 
innovations in the intelligent equipment industry. 
The institute is now emerging as a training hub for 
experts in the field of Advanced Manufacturing in 
China.92 

for 

and 

The  Shenyang  Institute  of  Automation,  Chinese 
Academy  of  Sciences  (SIACAS)  was  established 
in  1958  and  is  regarded  as  the  national  leading 
institute in the development of automation science 
and technology in China. Considered the ‘cradle of 
China's Robotics technology’, the institute is a key 
institution 
high-tech 
industrial 
development  in  China.  It  focuses  on  the  three 
fields  of  Robotics,  intelligent  manufacturing  and 
opto-electronic 
technology.  The 
research  centre  supports  more  than  10  national 
and  provincial  central  laboratories  and  technical 
centres,  as  well  as  an  educational  facility  for 
master's 
doctoral 
programm*es and postdoctoral programs. SIACAS 
operates  various  exchange  and  cooperation 
programmes  with  research  institutions  and  high-
tech  companies,  at  the  international  level  as 
well.93 

programmes, 

information 

degree 

Authorities for regulation and IPR  

Looking  at  the  stakeholders  responsible  for 
regulation  and  IPR  for  Advanced  Manufacturing 
and  Robotics,  the  China  Robot  Industry  Alliance 
(CRIA)  contributes  to  current  developments 
alongside the SAC and CESI in China. 

New  efforts  via  patents  are  designed  to  help 
enhance  China's  role  as  a  globally  successful 
Robotics  manufacturer.  In  2016,  the  Industrial 
Robot Patent Alliance established a patent pool for 
industrial  robot  technologies  to  improve  the 
availability  of  critical,  high-quality  patents  in 
China. In addition, China is pursuing a strategy to 
to 
increase  collaborations  and  acquisitions 

strengthen robotics developments, for example of 
Chinese 
leading 
manufacturing companies outside China.94 

research 

teams 

with 

There  are  several  technical  committees 
for 
standardisation  in  Advanced  Manufacturing  and 
Robotics. The China National Technical Committee 
for  Automation  Systems  and 
Integration 
Standardisation (SAC/TC 159) includes a ‘Robotics 
Devices Technical Subcommittee’, which is mainly 
responsible for the development of standards for 
industrial  robots,  system  interfaces  as  well  as 
parts  and  controls.  In  addition,  the  National 
Information  Security  Standardisation  Technical 
Committee  (SAC/TC  260)  is  responsible  for  the 
development  of  security-related  standardisation, 
for example in the areas of smart manufacturing 
and  biometric  facial  recognition.  The  National 
Technical Committee 268 on Intelligent Transport 
Systems  (SAC/TC  268)  develops  standards 
specifically  for  intelligent  transportation.  These 
three subcommittees were also listed in CESI's AI 
Standardisation White Paper.95 In its ‘Main Points 
of  National  Standardisation  Work  in  2020’,  the 
SAC also draws attention to the need to carry out 
‘pilot  work  on  standard  research,  supply  and 
standardisation  in  the  field  of  integration  of 
Advanced  Manufacturing  and  modern  service 
industries’ with the overall goal of improving the 
standardisation system and the capacity of highly 
skilled development in China.96 

Another  prominent  player  in  China’s  industrial 
policy  landscape  is  the  China  Robot  Industry 
(CRIA),  a  non-profit  organisation 
Alliance 
of 
consisting 
companies,  manufacturers, 
institutions  as  well  as  other 
universities, 
together 
in  China 
organisations 
voluntarily. Established in 2013, the CRIA pursues 
various  tasks,  such  as  the  implementation  of 
national  industrial  policies  and  measures  or 
strengthening the dialogue between members on 
technologies, the market and intellectual property 
rights  regarding  Robotics  standards.  The  CRIA 
represents China in the International Federation of 
Robotics (IFR) as a national association member.97 

that  work 

Major business actors 

In  addition  to  the  stakeholders  presented,  a 
number  of  companies  play  a  significant  role  in 
China's  developments 
in  both  Advanced 
Manufacturing and Robotics.  

Table  5  summarises  the  largest  business  players 
as  well  as  four  promising  start-ups  in  Advanced 
Manufacturing and Robotics in China. 

92 Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 2020. 
93  Shenyang  Institute  of  Automation,  Chinese  Academy  of 
Sciences 2020. 
94 Nan 2016. 

95 China Electronics Standardization Institute 2020a. 
96 Seconded European Standardization Expert for China 2020. 
97 China Robot Industry Alliance 2020. 

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Table 5: Selected list of major Chinese business actors in Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics 

Company name 

Company information 

Midea  Group  Co., 
Ltd.98 

Estun Automation Co., 
Ltd.99 

Robot 

SIASUN 
Automation 
Ltd.100 

& 
Co., 

Da-Jiang  Innovations 
Science 
and 
Technology  Co.,  Ltd. 
(DJI)101 
Startups 
UBTech 
Inc.102 

Robotics 

Intelligent 
Co., Ltd. (ROOBO)103 

Steward 

-  Established in 1968 
-  Headquarters: Beijao, Shunde District, Foshan, Guangdong province 
-  German Robotics company KUKA was acquired by the Midea group in 2016 
-  Focus:  Robotics,  international  automation,  heating,  ventilation  and  air 

conditioning (HVAC) systems, consumer appliances, smart logistics 

-  Established in 1993 
-  Headquarters: Nanjing, Jiangsu province 
-  Major manufacturing company conducting national R&D projects for the MIIT 

and running several technology centres in China 

-  Focus: Leading high-tech enterprise in manufacturing core controlling parts for 

high-end equipment and industrial Robotics in China 

International Headquarters: Shanghai 

-  Established in 2000 
-  Belongs to (owned by) the Chinese Academy of Sciences 
-  Group Headquarters: Shenyang, Liaoning province 
- 
-  Focus: Robot technology, provision of intelligent products and services 
-  Established in 2006 
-  Headquarters: Shenzhen, Guangdong province 
-  Focus: World's leading manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles for private 

and business use. 

-  Established in 2012 
-  Headquarters: Shenzhen, Guangdong province 
-  Robotics company supplying robots to consumers (humanoid robots, education 

robots) and businesses (service robots) 

-  Focus: AI and humanoid Robotics 
-  Established in 2014 
-  Headquarters: Beijing 
-  Variety of products, including an AI platform, a voice chip for processing speech 

and intelligent robots  

-  Focus: AI system solutions for the household, automotive, Robotics and other 

sectors 

CloudMinds 
Technology Inc.104 

Geekplus  Technology 
Co., Ltd.105 

-  Established in 2015 
-  Headquarters: Beijing 
-  Provider of cloud robots and services 
-  Focus: Smart robots for people, e.g. service, patrol, hospitality, vending 
-  Established in 2015 
-  Headquarters: Beijing 
-  Robots  for  picking,  sorting,  moving,  lifting;  software  system;  algorithm 

research & development 

-  Focus: Smart logistics by applying advanced Robotics and AI to new factory or 

warehouse operation solutions 

Source: Following Lin, 2018

3.2  Underlying conditions 

In  order  to  achieve  constant  development  in  the 
fields  of  Advanced  Manufacturing  and  Robotics, 
certain underlying framework conditions as well as 
driving  developments  can  be  identified  in  these 
advanced  technologies  in  China.  As  both  areas 
often  go  hand  in  hand,  they  are  also  discussed 
jointly  here.  In  addition  to  China's  historical 
in  Robotics  and  Advanced 
developments 

Manufacturing,  regional  specification  measures 
are discussed. 

Industry development 

China's  manufacturing  industry  has  made  great 
progress  in  recent  decades.  According  to  Si 
(2019),  industry  in  China  now  consists  of  41 
industrial divisions, 207 groups and 666 classes of 
products  and  services.  Nevertheless,  challenges 
still  exist  in  some  areas  (e.g.  strong  import 
in  semiconductors,  which  are 
dependency 

98 SIASUN 2020. 
99 Estun Automation 2020. 
100 Midea Group 2020. 
101 DJI 2020. 
102 UBTech 2020. 
103 ROOBO 2020. 
104 CloudMinds 2020. 
105 Geek+ 2020. 

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necessary  for  Robotics  and  some  important 
industrial materials). From a Robotics perspective, 
China has developed very positively within the last 
years.  Although  global  robot  installations  fell  by 
12% in 2019 (for the first time after six years of 
growth),  China  has  remained  the  world's  largest 
market  for  industrial  robots  since  2013.  The 
decline  in  global  robot  installations  has  been 
triggered by various factors, such as difficulties in 
(automotive  and 
sectors 
the  main  user 
electronics) as well as the trade conflict between 
China and the US.106 

Historically,  China's  initial  success  story  as  the 
‘factory of the world’ was particularly due to its 
low-cost  production  workers.  Over  the  last  few 
years, however, labour costs in China have been 
rising  combined  with  a  shrinking  working-age 
population. According to Cheng et al. (2019), this 
has  increased  economic  pressure  as  well  as 
political support for the Robotics industry in China. 
The Chinese government has been promoting the 
production  and  use  of  robots  aggressively  in 
recent  years,  especially  by  subsidising  the 
industry.  Compared  to  the  image  of  Robotics  in 
other  countries,  the  Chinese  perception  of  robot 
use  as  well  as  automation  in  general,  has  been 
positive.  Government  documents  rarely  mention 
job losses in this context; instead, the adoption of 
robots  is  described  as  a  tool  for  overcoming 
challenges.  One  reason  this  opinion  is  widely 
shared 
technological 
advances are seen as ways for China to rise as a 
world  power.  Additionally,  the  government's 
initiatives  pursue  the  ambition  of  leading  a  new 
wave of industrial revolution.107 

that  scientific  and 

is 

Reports of a meeting between Chinese Premier Li 
Keqiang  and  members  of  the  International 
Advisory  Committee  on  Advanced  Manufacturing 
in  October  2019  suggest  that  leaders  of  major 
manufacturing companies met with the Premier to 
discuss developments in Advanced Manufacturing 
in China. According to the statement, the Chinese 
government  is  trying  to  create  a  favourable 
environment  for  the  development  of  Advanced 
fees, 
Manufacturing  by  reducing  taxes  and 
facilitating  market  access,  ensuring  fair  and 
equitable  supervision  and  strengthening  the 
protection of intellectual property rights.108 

Regional specialisation 

In  order  to  target  specific  clusters,  China  is 
pursuing  strategies  for  regional  specialisation,  a 

recognised  trend  in  innovation-  and  growth-
related  policymaking.  Using 
this  strategy, 
companies, research and development institutions 
as well as universities are brought together in the 
same  city  or  region  to  specifically  promote  a 
particular  innovation.  Regional  clusters  bring 
greater  employment,  consumption  and  economic 
growth  to  local  industries,  while  on  the  strategic 
side,  they  increase  the  country's  know-how  and 
competitiveness. Of the current 19 city clusters in 
China, three stand out in particular and have also 
been selected to become world-leading clusters by 
2020:  the  Pearl  River  Delta,  Yangtze  River  Delta 
and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (also referred to as Jing-
Jin-Ji)109.  According 
the 
Economist110,  not  all  of  the  19  clusters  have 
published 
their 
development  plans  to  date.  Since  many  of  the 
defined regions are much smaller, accounting for 
less GDP than the three major regional clusters in 
China, they will not be discussed in detail below.111  

to  an  article  by 

information 

detailed 

on 

Also referred to as the ‘factory of the world’, the 
Pearl River Delta is a major regional hub focused 
on Advanced Manufacturing. This region is one of 
China’s  strongest  and  includes  Hong-Kong  as 
China’s  financial  centre  as  well  as  Shenzhen, 
known  as  the  Chinese  ‘silicon  valley’  due  to  its 
start-up-culture and focus on innovation. Another 
relevant city in this region is Guangzhou, famous 
for  its  manufacturing  industry  and  its  role  as  a 
logistics hub.112 

Driven by Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta is 
also dedicated to Advanced Manufacturing as well 
as  modern  services,  technology  and  innovation. 
Additionally, the region serves as the 'gateway to 
the Asia-Pacific market'.113 According to Xiaoming 
(2019),  the  Yangtze  River  Delta  is  the  leading 
region  of  China’s  Advanced  Manufacturing 
industry, home to over 30 percent of the top 500 
companies.  This  region  is  also  home  to  a 
significant  number  of  Robotics  companies,  which 
is why it is considered the strongest foundation for 
the development of Robotics in China.114 

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, also referred 
to  as  Jing-Jin-Ji,  is  empowered  by  Beijing  and 
commonly  known  as  the  centre  for  politics, 
education,  culture  and  R&D  in  China.  It  includes 
Tianjin, China’s northern logistics hub with one of 
the busiest ports worldwide as well as Hebei and 
steel 
its  heavy 
production.115  Figure  9  shows  a  map  of  the  19 
Chinese city clusters.

industrial 

industry 

and 

106 International Federation of Robotics 2020a. 
107 Cheng et al. 2019. 
108 State Council 2019. 
109 clustercollaboration.eu 2018. 
110 The Economist 2018. 

111 clustercollaboration.eu 2018. 
112 clustercollaboration.eu 2018. 
113 clustercollaboration.eu 2018. 
114 Lin 2018. 
115 clustercollaboration.eu 2018. 

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Figure 9: 19 City clusters in China 

Source: The Economist, 2018. 

3.3  Policies, strategies and initiatives 

The development of advanced technologies in the 
fields of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics in 
China is promoted by various funds, strategies and 
initiatives, which are outlined in this chapter.  

National 
Investment Fund 

Advanced 

Manufacturing 

The 
first  phase  of  the  National  Advanced 
Manufacturing  Investment  Fund  was  launched  in 
2016,  valued  at  ¥20 bn  (€2.56 bn116).  This  fund 
was primarily targeted at enterprises focusing on 
railroad equipment, industrial robots, new energy 
vehicles,  etc.  Estimated  at  ¥50 bn  (€6.39 bn117), 
the second phase of the fund was initiated in 2019 
with  the  strategic  aim  of  boosting  industrial 
restructuring  and  helping  to  achieve  growth. 
Leveraging 
to  boost 
technological  advances 
industrial  production,  AI  and  5G  are  set  to 
complement 
the 
modernisation of manufacturing. The fund is likely 
to  be  focused  on  companies  promoting  the 
integration of virtual and real economies, such as 
manufacturers  of  industrial  robots  or  smart 
manufacturing companies.118 

guide 

other 

each 

to 

National  Manufacturing  Transformation  and 
Upgrade Fund 

Another 
industrial 
fund  aimed  at  pushing 
upgrading  was  set  up  in  2019  and  valued  at 
¥147.2 bn  (€18.82 bn119).  It  was  established  by 

approximately  20  Chinese  companies,  with  the 
Ministry of Finance (MOF) holding the largest stake 
of  roughly  15%.  The  purpose  of  this  high-end 
manufacturing fund is to support and upgrade the 
Chinese  manufacturing  industry,  focusing  on 
investments  in  areas  such  as  new  materials, 
electric 
generation 
equipment 
information technology (IT).120 

new 

and 

Guideline 
Platforms 

for 

Shared  Manufacturing 

In  2019,  the  MIIT  issued  a  guideline  aimed  at 
building  20  innovative  shared  manufacturing 
platforms by 2022. By applying the concept of the 
sharing  economy,  the  use  and  coordination  of 
resources from different areas such as production 
or  R&D  will  be  optimised  by  matching  available 
and  desired  resources.  A  small  company,  for 
example,  may  not  be  able  to  afford  expensive 
equipment,  but  with  the  help  of  the  platform,  it 
can  utilise  the  available  resources  of  another 
company.  The  objective  is  to  enable  an  efficient 
use of capacities as well as new sources of revenue 
in manufacturing.121 

Guidelines  for  the  ‘Key  Special  Programme 
on Intelligent Robots’ 

The  MIIT  announced  a  guideline  (for  the  ‘Key 
Special  Programme  on  Intelligent  Robots’)  in 
2019, according to the International Federation of 
Robotics 
¥400 m 
(€51.15 m122).  This  programme  is  aimed  at 

budgeted 

(2020b), 

at 

116 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2017. 
117 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2019. 
118 Si 2019. 

119 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2019. 
120 Jun 2019. 
121 Jun 2019. 
122 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
Euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2019. 

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speeding up the development of intelligent robot 
technologies and industries in China. 

National innovation centres 

Within the framework of the national strategic plan 
MIC 2025, one of the measures for improving the 
development  of  manufacturing  processes  is  the 
establishment  of  40  national  manufacturing 
innovation centres. These centres are expected to 
facilitate  company  partnerships  and  innovations. 
Since the implementation of MIC 2025, numerous 
centres  have  been  established  in  order  to  create 
Table 6: National innovation centres established in China 

core  technologies,  many  of  which  can  also  be 
attributed to the fields of Advanced Manufacturing 
and  Robotics.123  124  As  not  all  information  about 
the currently existing innovation centres is publicly 
available  in  a  structured  way,  we  base  our 
analyses on the research of the National Institute 
of  Standards  and  Technology  (NIST)125,  make 
updates  where  necessary  and  try  to  present  the 
most  comprehensive  coverage  of  12  national 
innovation centres. 

Name 
National  Power  Battery 
Innovation Centre126 

Since  Location 
2016 

Beijing 

National 
Innovation 
Institute  of  Additive 
Manufacturing127 128 
National 
Optoelectronics 
Innovation Centre129 
Robot 
National 
Innovation Centre130 131 

Information 

2016 

Xi'an 

2017  Wuhan 

2017 

Shenyang 

Focus 
Strategic  research  on  power  batteries;  improvement  of 
China’s  competitiveness;  support  the  development  of  a 
new e-automotive industry 
Innovating  and  accelerating  the  development  of  additive 
manufacturing in China 

Promotion  of  the  development  of  Chinese  optoelectronic 
chips  and  devices 
fields,  e.g.  5G 
in  various 
communications, high-end materials 
in 
Creation  of  major 
Robotics;  enhancement  of  China's  global  competence; 
support  China  in  becoming  a  qualitative  power  in 
Advanced Manufacturing  

technological  breakthroughs 

National  Printing  and 
Flexible 
Display 
Innovation Centre132 
National 
Innovation 
Centre  for  Integrated 
Circuit133 
National 
Sensor 
Centre134 

Intelligent 
Innovation 

and 

National  New  Energy 
Vehicle 
Technology 
Innovation Centre135 
Digital  Design 
Manufacturing 
Innovation Centre136 
National  Advanced  Rail 
Transit 
Equipment 
Innovation Centre137 138 
Innovation 
National 
Intelligent 
Centre  of 
and 
Connected 
Vehicles139 
National 
Agriculture 
Machinery  Equipment 
Innovation Centre140 

Source: Copan, 2019. 

2017 

Guangdong  Strengthening  China's 
technology for displays 

industrial  power 

in  printing 

2018 

Shanghai 

2018 

Shanghai 

2018 

Beijing 

Researching and developing integrated circuits sized five 
nanometres or less as well as advanced technologies (such 
as advanced simulation) 
Researching,  developing  and  piloting  key  smart  sensor 
technologies involved in all areas of smart manufacturing; 
focus,  e.g.  on  new  processes,  devices,  IoT  application 
solutions 
Creation of a source of innovation and new developments 
in new energy automotive technology 

2018  Wuhan 

Provision of support (technical and professional) for digital 
and intelligent manufacturing across China 

2019 

Zhuzhou 

2019 

Beijing 

Investigation of trends in high-speed, heavy-duty, green 
and smart rail equipment, as well as new energy storage 
systems and multi-energy systems 
Building  a  strong  R&D  platform;  bringing  intelligent 
connected 
enabling 
companies 
vehicle 
breakthroughs in key technologies  

together; 

2019 

Luoyang 

Basic  research,  technology  development,  transfer  and 
application in the field of agricultural engineering 

123 Si 2019. 
124 Institute for Security & Development Policy 2018. 
125 Copan 2019. 
126 China Automotive Battery Research Institute CABRI 2020. 
127 Linkedin 2020. 
128 People's Daily Online 2016. 
129 Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone 2018b. 
130 HIT Robot Group 2020. 
131 Casanova 2019. 
132 Jie 2020. 

133 China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone 2018. 
134 Lingzhi Technology 2018. 
135 Beijing Motor Corporation 2020. 
136 Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone 2018a. 
137 Hunan Government 2020. 
138 Teller Report 2020. 
139 China Intelligent and Connected Vehicles (Beijing) Research 
Institute 2020. 
140 Li 2019. 

May 2021 

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ATI international report on China  

3.3.1  Major projects 

Four  major  projects  stand  out  as  having  a  big 
impact  on  recent  developments  in  Advanced 
Manufacturing  and  Robotics  in  China.  They  are 
listed in Table 7 and described in detail below.  

Table  7:  Major  projects 
Manufacturing and Robotics development 

for  China’s  Advanced 

This five-year plan was presented by the MIIT and 
the  MOF  in  2016  and  embodies  the  first  general 
national policy on Smart Manufacturing. The plan 
aims  at  encouraging  the  industry  to  adopt 
information and communications technology (ICT) 
and  to  enhance  the  manufacturing  process. 
According  to  Chengjin146,  the  plan  outlines  four 
general tasks: 

Project 
MIC 2025 
Robotics 
Development Plan 
Smart 
Development Plan 
14th Five-Year Plan 

Manufacturing 

Industry 

Year 
2015-ongoing 
2016-2020 

2016-2020 

2021-ongoing 

Source: authors. 

MIC 2025 

The  strategic  industrial  policy  plan  MIC  2025,  as 
already discussed in Heimberger et al. (2020) and 
presented above, was introduced in 2015, seeking 
to boost China’s global manufacturing power. The 
key  industries  addressed  in  this  initiative  include 
various  fields  in  Advanced  Manufacturing  as  well 
as Robotics.141 As we have already discussed this 
programme in detail in the analysis of AI and Big 
Data,  we  will  not  discuss  it  further  here,  but  it 
must  be  mentioned  as  it  represents  a  major 
project for the advanced technologies analysed. 

Robotics Industry Development Plan 

The MIIT, the NDRC and the MOF jointly released 
this  plan  targeting  the  development  of  China’s 
Robotics industry in April 2016. In order to achieve 
advances in industrial and service robots, the plan 
strategies  and 
includes  both  government 
ambitious goals for 2020 142 143 144:  

-  Production  of  100 000  industrial  robots  as 
well as 50 000 robots with six or more axes 
per year by Chinese brands 

-  Sales  of  service  robots  to  exceed  ¥30bn 

(€3.84 bn145) per year 

-  At  least  three  globally  competitive  Robotics 
companies and at least 5 AI-related industry 
clusters in China 

-  Mean  Time  Before  Failure  (MTBF)  in  the 
production  of  industrial  robots  by  Chinese 
companies to reach 80 000 hours 

-  Quality  of  Chinese  service  robots  and  core 
components  for  robots  produced  by  Chinese 
companies to reach comparable quality levels 
to players in the world market  

-  Robot  density 

industries  with  high 
automation  to  reach  150  per  100 000 
employees 

for 

Smart Manufacturing Development Plan 

141 Sutter 2020. 
142 He and Bowser 2017. 
143 Ray et al. 2016. 
144 Estolatan et al. 2018. 

May 2021 

23 

smart 

1.  Development  and  technology  know-how: 
the  industry  must  be  able  to  develop  the 
necessary technologies and have a general 
understanding  plus  know-how 
for  the 
essential 
manufacturing 
technologies. 
2.  Capabilities: 

for 
cybersecurity,  crosscutting  standards,  and 
the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). 
3.  Adoption:  Develop  an  ecosystem  that 
provides  system  solutions  and  encourages 
smart 
companies 
manufacturing 
and 
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)). 

to  willingly  adopt 

(especially 

relevance 

small 

High 

4.  Workforce: Invest in education and training 
to prepare the workforce with the necessary 
knowledge 
smart 
manufacturing. 

skills 

and 

for 

14th Five-Year Plan 

Advanced  Manufacturing 
is  specifically  and 
prominently listed in the outline for the 14th Five-
Year Plan, which is to be approved in spring 2021. 
In  this  outline,  a  transformation  of  the  industrial 
supply  chain  is  recognised  as  necessary  to 
increase  domestic  demand  and  develop  China's 
innovation  capacity.  In  addition,  the  outline 
mentions  new  developments  in  the  direction  of 
high quality, intelligent and green technologies in 
a  post-COVID-19  era  for  the  manufacturing 
industry. Policy measures for these developments 
include, for instance, integrating 5G, Big Data as 
well as AI in Advanced Manufacturing; improving 
the quality of the national infrastructure as well as 
the  digital  development  of 
industrialisation. 
Although  enhancing  the  manufacturing  industry 
also  featured  in  the  13th  Five-Year  Plan  (2016-
2020), new measures for Advanced Manufacturing 
are expected in the 14th plan.147 

3.4  Lessons for Europe 

field  of 
The  developments  outlined 
Advanced  Manufacturing  and  Robotics  in  China 
also offer some lessons for Europe.  

in  the 

The  EU  needs  to  work  further  towards  a 
the 
unified,  overarching  strategy 
development of Advanced Manufacturing and 
Robotics  on  an  international  level.  Although 
individual countries (e.g. Germany with the High-

for 

145 The amount in euro was calculated based on the ECB’s official 
Euro foreign exchange reference rates for 2017. 
146 Chengjin 2020. 
147 Wong 2020b. 

 
ATI international report on China  

Tech  Initiative  Industry  4.0)  have  been  pursuing 
similar  initiatives  to  China  (e.g.  with  MIC  2025), 
various  Member  States  still  need  to  better 
integrate their efforts geared at the development 
and uptake of advanced technologies for industry. 
Against  this  background,  Europe  should  seek  to 
add to these efforts, work towards improving their 
coordination 
an 
integrated strategy for industrial modernisation. 

consistently 

pursue 

and 

technological 

European  clusters  should  facilitate  and 
coordinate 
development 
across national borders to gain international 
visibility  and  relevance.  Lessons  similar  to 
those on AI and Big Data can also be identified in 
terms  of  regional  specialisation.  The  Chinese 
government  has  specifically  promoted  regional 
hubs for the further development of technological 
innovations such as advanced manufacturing and 
robotics,  and  thus  it  has  been  possible  to  create 
globally  recognised  and  leading  regions  in  these 
areas. Similar clusters certainly exist in individual 
European  countries,  but  these  can  still  be 
strengthened  at  the  European  level,  across 
countries.  

The digital maturity of European firms has to 
be increased on a broad basis. Both China and 
Europe  are  facing  the  continued  challenges  that 
many,  in  particular  smaller,  companies  have  not 
yet  achieved  sufficient  digital  maturity  for  the 
increased  use  of  Robotics  and  Advanced 

Manufacturing. With the anchoring of robotics and 
automatisation 
in  MIC  2025  and,  more 
importantly, the high priority assigned to it in the 
upcoming 14th-Five Year Plan, China will continue 
in  upgrading  digital 
to 
readiness  in  the  business  sector  on  an  as  broad 
basis as possible. At this critical moment, Europe 
has to avoid being left behind. 

invest  substantially 

The  EU  needs  to  work  on  improving  the 
image  and  openness  for  automation  and 
robotics.  Although  the  difference  may  not  be 
quite  as  pronounced  as  in  the  field  of  AI,  the 
attitude towards automation and robotics remains 
more open and positive in China than in the EU. 
While many Chinese decision makers are acutely 
aware of potential job market implications as well, 
this  will  not  hinder  the  advancement  of  centrally 
directed,  high  priority  government  initiatives  in 
the field of robotics. 

Figure  10  reinforces  this  argument.  The  chart 
visualises  the  digital  maturity  of  Advanced 
Robotics in the United States, China and Europe in 
different  revenue  categories  of  companies.  The 
chart  confirms  the  restrained  digital  maturity  of 
European  companies.  While  the  EU  has  a  higher 
level of digital maturity than the US in the mid-tier 
revenue class, China still outperforms the EU in all 
revenue classes. 

Figure 10: Digital Maturity of countries ordered by company revenue 

Source: Klicken oder tippen Sie hier, um Text einzugeben.Candelon et al. 2020b, p. 2. 

May 2021 

24 

 
 
ATI international report on China  

Section 4 

4  COVID-19 in China: Impact, response and recovery 

4.1 

Impact of COVID-19 in China 

4.1.1  COVID-19 in China 

The novel coronavirus was first detected in a wet 
market  in  Hubei  province  in  China  in  December 
2019.  China  became  the  first  country  to  be 
severely  affected  by  the  COVID-19  pandemic. 
Although COVID-19 rapidly spread to most other 
provinces  in  the  months  since  it  was  first 
identified,  Hubei  remained  the  worst  affected 
province.  

The government implemented a 76-day lockdown 
in Wuhan city from the 23rd of January 2020 and 
initiated  the  first-level  public  health  emergency 
mechanism in another 30 provinces on the 26th of 
January to control and prevent the spread of the 
virus.148  The  virus  was  largely  contained  by  the 
end of February 2020. China passed the peak of 
the  pandemic  on  the  12th  of  March  2020.149 
Although China is overall regarded as a 'successful 
case'  of  managing  the  pandemic,  some  analysts 
criticised  the  authorities  for  not  reacting  quickly 

Figure 11 COVID-19 infection rates in China in 2020  

enough.  A  more  rapid  response  could  have 
significantly reduced the scale of the outbreak.150  

Later  in  the  year,  China  managed  to  avoid  a 
nationwide 'second wave' spike of infections. After 
the major first wave was put under control, China 
only implemented localised restrictions to control 
outbreaks  in  new  hotspots  in  Jilin,  Heilongjiang, 
Beijing,  Shanghai  and  Hebei.  These  subsequent 
outbreaks  were  probably  caused  mostly  by 
imported  cases.151  The  spread  of  the  virus  was 
prevented  largely  thanks  to  the  coordinated 
strategy  and  wide-scale  testing  and  contact 
tracing.152  

In total 96 000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were 
reported  in  China  by  January  2021,  with  4 782 
confirmed  deaths.153  Hubei  remains  the  worst 
affected  province  with  over  68,000  confirmed 
cases,  around  76%  of  all  confirmed  cases  and 
97% of all reported deaths.  

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

12/31/2019

1/31/2020

2/29/2020

3/31/2020

4/30/2020

5/31/2020

6/30/2020

7/31/2020

8/31/2020

9/30/2020

10/31/2020

11/30/2020

4,5
4
3,5
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0

Reported cases

14-day case average per 100 000 population

Source: authors based on the data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and control, 2020. 

As China emerged as one of the most successful 
cases  among  the  global  pandemic  response,  far 
surpassed in both case load and mortality rate by 
the US and Europe, the Chinese government called 
this  success  a  proof  the  government  handles 

important  matters  effectively,  supported  by 
traditional  Chinese  values.154  It  is  likely  that  in 
China,  the  handling  of  the  pandemic  will  remain 
the  source  of  national  pride,  despite  the  initial 

148 Zhang et al. 2020. 
149 Xinhua.net 2020a. 
150 Global Times 2020. 
151 Yang and Li 2021. 

May 2021 

152 Burki 2020. 
153 Statista.com. 
154 economist.com 2020. 

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ATI international report on China  

misgivings,  especially  because  the  economy 
managed to bounce back (see section 4.2).  

China's successful recovery from the pandemic will 
likely  have  lasting  geopolitical  consequences. 
China  has  championed  the  global  pandemic 
response, both in terms of international relief aid, 
international cooperation and vaccine geopolitics. 
Table 8 shows the list of Chinese vaccines in the 
advanced clinical trial phase at the time of writing. 
SinoVac  and  SinoPharm  vaccines  have  been 
approved  for  innoculation  of  high  risk  groups  in 
China. By the end of January 2021 over 24 million 
people  were  vaccinated.  These  vaccines  show 
promising results and offer attractive alternatives 
to Pfizer and AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccines. Some 
experts  suggest 
if  China  successfully 
participates in vaccine geopolitics, it will be able to 
boost its influence in Asia and beyond.155  

that 

Table  8  Chinese  COVID-19  vaccines  in  phase  3  clinical 
trials, January 2021 

Company 

Sinovac Research and 
Development Co., Ltd 
Sinopharm + China National 
Biotec Group Co + Wuhan 
Institute of Biological Products  

CanSino Biological Inc./Beijing 
Institute of Biotechnology 

Anhui Zhifei Longcom 
Biopharmaceutical + Institute of 

Method 

Inactivated 
virus 

Inactivated 
virus 

Viral vector 
(Non-
replicating) 
Protein sub-
unit 

Table 9 China's selected economic indicators, 2018-2022 

Company 

Method 

Microbiology, Chinese Academy 
of Sciences 
Institute of Medical Biology + 
Chinese Academy of Medical 
Sciences 
Inovio Pharmaceuticals + 
International Vaccine Institute + 
Advaccine (Suzhou) 
Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd  

Inactivated 
virus 

DNA based 
vaccine 

Source: WHO, 2021. 

4.1.2  Overall economic impact 

The  closure  of  all  but  essential  businesses  and 
international  borders  in  the  effort  to  contain  the 
spread of COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented 
worldwide  economic  crisis.  Like  many  other 
countries, China was significantly affected by the 
shock  in  the  first  two  quarters  of  2020:  the 
economy  contracted  by  16%  in  the  1st  quarter 
alone. In contrast to many other countries, China 
recovered fairly quickly,  reaching 6.5% growth by 
the 4th quarter.156 Overall, China's GDP is expected 
to grow by around 2% in 2020.157 The World Bank 
expects China's GDP to grow up to 7.9% in 2021, 
compared to 6.1% in 2019, under the assumption 
that the spread of COVID-19 is properly contained. 
CEBR  expects  that  China  will  be  able  to  further 
improve its economic performance relative to the 
leading EU countries such as Germany or France 
thanks to its management of the pandemic.158  

Source: The World Bank, 2020a. 

155 wsj.com. 
156 Zenglein et al. 2021. 

157 The World Bank 2020a. 
158 Cebr 2020. 

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ATI international report on China  

The  significant  short-term  decline  in  economic 
activity  was  caused  by  the  demand  and  supply 
suppression due to restrictions. China succeded in 
controlling  the  infection  and  many  businesses 
stayed open for a large part of 2020. The industrial 
production  and  investment  led  the  recovery.159 
China  also  benefited  from  continued  lockdowns 
around the world that drove its exports growth in 
the  second  half  of  the  year,  especially  by  strong 
demand  for  medical  goods  and  electronics.160 
Various  other  factors  contributed  to  the  supply-
led recovery, for example, weak energy prices.  

Industrial 

value-added 

than  state-owned  enterprises 

The  industrial  production  growth  rate  started  to 
rise  in  the  second  quarter  of  2020  and  reached 
6.9%  by  September,  however,  there  were 
differences  in  terms  of  the  scale  of  impact  for 
various  sectors.161  The  secondary 
industry 
benefited the most from public support during the 
growth 
pandemic. 
expanded  across  the  manufacturing  sectors, 
especially 
in  auto,  machinery  equipment, 
computer and electronics.162 In terms of the type 
of  firm,  private  companies  may  have  suffered 
more 
the 
pandemic,  with  small  businesses  facing  biggest 
negative  effects.163  Services  sector  was  hit 
hardest by the pandemic and has been one of the 
slowest  to  recover,  held  back  by  the  remaining 
contact restrictions. One exception here is the e-
commerce and e-payments sector, which boomed 
in  China  during  the  pandemic  with  the  adoption 
driven by the implementation of social distancing 
and exit restrictions. According to the OECD, the 
number of e-commerce users in China is projected 
to  increase  by  71  million  over  2020,  driving  e-
commerce  market  penetration  by  5  percentage 
points to 64%.164 

in 

The  biggest  consequence  of  the  pandemic  is  in 
exacerbating existing economic imbalances. 
Although the supply side of the economy was able 
to  bounce  back  thanks  to  the  extensive  public 
support, concerns remain about domestic demand 
and especially private consumption.165 Retail sales 
growth was at -7.2% in the first three quarters of 
2020.166  Private  consumption  improved  in  the 
second  half  of  the  year,  demonstrated  by  retail 
sales growth, the rebound of automobile and real 
estate  sales.167  However,  concerns  remain  that 
pandemic  conditions  may  lead  to  long-term 
behavioral  effects  in  Chinese  society,  such  as 
increased saving and reduced consumption. These 
may reflect on future economic growth.  

There  are  also  regional  and  social  imbalances: 
eastern coastal regions recovered faster because 
of  the  strong  presence  of  the  manufacturing 

sector,  while  labour  market  conditions  in  the 
western  and  rural  areas  are  lagging.  Therefore, 
although  on  the  national  level  it  is  unlikely  that 
unemployment  will  significantly  increase  in 
2020168, there will likely be regional variation. An 
analysis  by  the  European  Central  Bank  suggests 
that 
in 
unemployment in 2020 may not reflect the actual 
situation, because businesses were urged to keep 
their employees on payroll.169  

relatively  minor 

increase 

the 

Social protection to mitigate job and income losses 
has been limited. The World Bank estimates that 
the  three  major  social  assistance  programmes, 
Dibao, Tekun and temporary assistance, covered 
around  4.1%  of  the  population  registered  as 
beneficiaries.170  The  losses  of  income  and  the 
unstable  labour  market  conditions  may  halt 
poverty  reduction,  or  even  lead  to  the  rise  of 
poverty among certain social groups, e.g. among 
migrant workers and in urban areas.  

An important consequence of the pandemic is the 
further  buildup  of  debt,  which  contributes  to 
financial  sector  vulnerabilities.  Total  deblt 
increased from 262% of GDP in the first quarter of 
2020 to 288% in the third quarter, driven mainly 
by the accelerated credit growth.171 The increase 
has  largely  been  in  household  and  government 
debt.  

Finally,  China  will  likely  be  affected  by  the 
economic uncertainty as the rest of the world is 
still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Foggy 
prospects of global recovery create challenges for 
foreign direct investment and international policy 
coordination.  Disruptions  may  arise  from  new 
outbreaks  and  restrictions  that  will  follow.  The 
extent  of  the  global  economic  crisis  and  its 
consequences  remain  uncertain,  which  creates 
risks for China. These are further exacerbated by 
increasingly  more  confrontational  geopolitical 
stand-offs with the US and Europe. This will likely 
bring  about  challenges  for  trade  and  exports, 
especially 
in  high  tech  sectors,  and  affect 
investors' confidence.  

4.2 
government restrictions 

China's 

COVID-19 

related 

The  initial  set  of  government  restrictions  on 
domestic  and  international  travel,  the  closure  of 
businesses  and  schools  was  in  place  in  January 
and February 2020. During the 76-day quarantine 
in Wuhan, all businesses were closed with only a 
few  exceptions,  people  were  ordered  to  stay  at 
home and all public transport was shut down. The 
measures  were  strictly  enforced.  The  Lunar  New 

159 Al-Haschimi et al. 2020; The World Bank 2020a; OECD 2020a. 
160 Cebr 2020; The World Bank 2020a; Zenglein et al. 2021. 
161 OECD 2020a. 
162 OECD 2020a; The World Bank 2020a. 
163 Gu et al. 2020, based on the analysis of electricity usage in 
Suzhou 
164 OECD 2020a. 

165 The World Bank 2020a. 
166 OECD 2020a. 
167 Al-Haschimi et al. 2020. 
168 OECD 2020a. 
169 Al-Haschimi et al. 2020. 
170 The World Bank 2020b. 
171 The World Bank 2020a. 

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ATI international report on China  

Year  holidays  were  extended  to  prevent  workers 
from travelling.172  

After the case load was significantly reduced, the 
government  gradually  lifted  the  restrictions  and 
re-opened  the  economy  from  mid-Februrary 
onwards,  prioritising  the  essential  sectors.  Since 
March,  a  tiered  response  system  has  been 
implemented.  If  a  new  hotspot  was  identified, 
restrictions were put into place in that area locally. 
Health checks and social distancing rules remained 
in  place  nationwide  throughout  2020.  Foreign 
entry also continues to be restricted.173   

According  to  the  Oxford  COVID-19  government 
the  Chinese  government 
response 
focused 
a 
sophisticated  system  of  health-related  measures 
relative to other types of response. Public 

tracker, 
its 

on  developing 

resources 

 information campaign was a lage part of this: the 
government  was  issuing  daily  announcements 
about current cases and was informing the citizens 
about  why  it  is  important  to  stay  indoors  and 
comply with the sanitary norms, like disinfecting, 
social  distancing,  wearing  masks  and  washing 
hands.  Public  health  requirements  were  strictly 
enforced.  A  special  package  of  policies  helped 
increase the production of medical essentials, like 
face  masks,  to  satisfy  the  increasing  demand.174 
Three temporary Fangcang hospitals with 13 000 
beds operated in February 2020 to accommodate 
COVID-19  patients.175  Around  426  000  doctors 
and nurses were moved to Hubei province by the 
beginning  of  March,  including  19  000  Intensive 
Care Unit (ICU)-related staff.176 

Figure 12: COVID-19 related government responses in China in 2020 

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

01-Jan-20

01-Feb-20

01-Mar-20

01-Apr-20

01-May-20

01-Jun-20

01-Jul-20

01-Aug-20

01-Sep-20

01-Oct-20

01-Nov-20

01-Dec-20

Government Response Index

Containment Health Index

Economic Support Index

Source: authors based on  the data from Oxford Government Response Tracker. The overall government response 
includes  closure,  health  and  economic  measures.  Health  and  containment  indicator  traces,  in  particular,  public 
information  campaigns,  the  scale  of  COVID-19  testing  and  contact  tracing.  The  economic  support  index  includes 
measures on income support and debt relief. 

4.3  Economic measures 

China's  economic  response  to  the  pandemic  was 
delayed.  For  example,  by  May  2020  Germany 
spent  around  34%  of  its  GDP  on  COVID-19 
support measures while China spent only around 
2.5%.177 However, China ramped up its economic 
support  later  in  the  year.  According  to  the  Asian 
Development  Bank's  Policy  Database178,  by  the 
end of 2020 China spent over €1.9 bn, in excess 
of 17% of its GDP, to support its economy during 
the COVID-19 crisis. However, it is still lower than 
the US with 37% of GDP spent and Germany with 
54%.  

Table  10  lists  China's  key  economic  support  and 
recovery  measures.  A  substantial  amount  of  the 
recovery  package  was  spent  on  fiscal  measures, 
estimated  at  around  5.4%  of  GDP.  These 
measures  supported  mainly  firms  and  banks.179 
Direct financial support tools were made available 
to  businesses  from  various  sources,  e.g.  the 
reduction  of  interest  rates,  increasing  renewal 
loans and providing more credit.180 Firms involved 
in  essential  activities,  in  healthcare  and  medical 
fields received substantial assistance. Micro, small 
and  medium  enterprises  (SMEs)  also  received 
direct  support  via  low  or  zero-interest  lending, 
Value Added Tax (VAT) and Corporate Income Tax 
(CIT)  exemptions,  delay  of  payments  and  other 

172 Al-Haschimi et al. 2020. 
173 ADB 2021. 
174 Huang et al. 2020. 
175 Burki 2020. 
176 Huang et al. 2020. 

May 2021 

177 weforum.com 2020. 
178 ADB 2021. 
179 The World Bank 2020a. 
180 Huang et al. 2020. 

28 

 
 
 
ATI international report on China  

is 
credit  support  measures.  SME  recovery 
expected  to  further  benefit  from  new  public 
digitalisation  programmes,  the  adoption  of  e-
commerce and fintech tools.181 By August tax and 
fee  cuts  totalled  ¥1.5tn  (€191 bn).182  Local 
governments spent around ¥509.7 bn (€64.9 bn) 
by  September.  People's  Bank  of  China  (PBOC) 
focused  on  injecting  liquidity  into  the  banking 
system.183  Other  measures  aimed  to  stabilise 
international trade and foreign direct investment.  

The biggest headline policy is the fiscal stimulus 
package  of  around  ¥3.6tn  (€331.1 bn) 
announced by premier Li Keqiang at the National 
People's Congress in May. The package identified 

Table 10 Economic support measures 

Type of Measure  Description 

six  priority  areas  that  would  drive  China's  post-
pandemic recovery: employment, basic livelihood, 
companies,  food  and  energy  security,  stable 
supply  chains  and  the  smooth  operation  of 
government.184  ¥1tn 
the 
announced  package  were 
issued  as  special 
government  treasury  bonds.  The  other  ¥1.6 tn 
(€203.8 bn)  were  put  to  increase  the  local 
government  special  bond  quota  in  order  to 
stimulate infrastructure funding. 

(€127.3 bn) 

of 

The  majority  of  measures  that  were  announced 
over  the  course  of  the  year  were  extended  until 
2021. 

Monetary  

(i)  liquidity  injection  into  the  banking  system  via  open  market  operations  (reverse 
repos and medium-term lending facilities) totaling RMB 1 tn 

(ii)  expansion  of  re-lending  and  re-discounting  facilities  by  RMB  1.8  tn  to  support 
manufacturers  of  medical  supplies  and  daily  necessities,  SMEs  and  the  agricultural 
sector; reduction of their interest rates 

(iii) reduction of the 7-day and 14-day reverse repo rates by 30 bps, as well as the 
1-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate and targeted MLF rate by 30 and 20 
bps, respectively 

(iv) targeted RRR cuts by 50-100 bps for large- and medium-sized banks that meet 
inclusive financing criteria which benefit SMEs, an additional 100 bps for eligible joint-
stock banks, and 100 bps for small- and medium-sized banks to support SMEs 

(v) reduction of the interest on excess reserves from 72 to 35 bps 

Fiscal 

(i) VAT exemption on a wide range of customer services (medical services, catering, 
accommodation, public transport, delivery services, some personal services) for an 
unlimited period 

(ii) CIT and VAT incentives for companies producing medical supplies, used in relation 
with COVID-19; CIT deferral for SMEs to the first filing period in 2021 

(iii)  longer  tax  loss  carry-forward  period  (from  five  to  eight  years)  for  severely 
affected companies 

(iv) enterprises may make catch-up employer social security contributions within a 
period  of  three  months  following  containment  of  COVID-19  outbreak  without 
adversely affecting employee rights to social security benefits 

(v) some local authorities have introduced policies to support local enterprises during 
the  outbreak,  including  deferring  adjustments  to  social  security  contribution  base, 
adjusting employer contribution rate for social security plans, extending payment of 
employer  social  security  contributions  and  relaxing  the  restrictions  on  applying  for 
refunds of unemployment insurance 

(vi) an individual income tax exemption on receipt of the following types of income: 
(1) temporary subsidy and bonus received by medical and epidemic prevention staff 
engaged  in  prevention  and  control  activities,  (2)  medicines,  medical  supplies, 
protective  equipment  and  other  benefit-in-kind  provided  by  employers  to  their 
employees for prevention of COVID-19 

(vii)  full  tax  deductibility  of  (1)  donations  made  by  individuals  through  non-profit 
social organisations or governmental authorities; (2) donations in kind, made directly 
by  individuals  to  designated  hospitals  undertaking  the  tasks  of  the  prevention  and 
treatment of COVID-19 

181 Huang et al. 2020. 
182 Xinhua.net 2020b. 

183 Haasbroek 2020. 
184 weforum.com 2020. 

May 2021 

29 

 
ATI international report on China  

Type of Measure  Description 

Subsidies  

(i)  consumer  vouchers  (government-subsidised  coupons  or  discounts)  that  can  be 
spent at designated venues, over RMB 6.5 bn by May 

(ii)  ’temporary  assistance  allowance’:  lump  sum  to  jobless  rural  workers,  migrant 
workers and other unemployed groups not covered by unemployment insurance who 
apply to local authorities 

Lending 

(i) expansion of policy banks’ credit line to private firms and SMEs; bond issuance by 
financial institutions to support SME lending 

(ii)  introduction  of  new  instruments  to  support  lending  to  SMEs,  including  a  zero-
interest ‘funding-for-lending’ scheme by RMB 400 billion to finance 40 percent of local 
banks’  new  unsecured  loans  and  incentivising  them  to  further  extend  payment 
holidays for eligible loans by subsidising 1 percent of loan principles 

(iii) delay of loan payments, with the deadline extended to the end of March 2021 or 
later,  and  easing  loan  size  restrictions  for  online  loans  for  eligible  SMEs  and 
households 

(iv)  tolerance  for  higher  Non  Performing  Loans  (NPL)  and  reduced  NPL  provision 
coverage requirements 

(v)  additional  financing  support  for  corporates  via  increased  bond  issuance  by 
corporates, including relaxing rules on insurers for bond investments 

(vi) increased fiscal support for credit guarantees 

(vii) flexibility in the implementation of the asset management reform 

(i) the stock market reopened on the 2nd of February 2020  

(ii) the exchange rate has been allowed to adjust flexibly. A ceiling on cross-border 
financing under the macroprudential assessment framework for financial institutions 
and enterprises was raised by 25 percent in March, but lowered to the original level 
for financial institutions in December and for enterprises in January 2021 

(iii) The counter-cyclical adjustment factor in the daily trading band’s central parity 
formation was phased out. The reserve requirement on FX forward was reduced to 
zero 

(iv) Restrictions on the investment quota of foreign institutional investors (QFII and 
RQFII)  were  removed  and  new  quota  for  domestic  institutional  investors  were 
granted.  The  macroprudential  adjustment  coefficient  for  overseas  lending  by 
domestic enterprises was increased by two-thirds in January 2021 

Stock market, 
exchange rate and 
balance of 
payments 

Employment  

(i) social insurance payments were cut by RMB 1 tn to incentivise companies to retain 
employees. Daily stipends for infected medical workers 

(ii)  companies  in  major  cities  that  are  in  temporary  difficulties  owing  to  the 
coronavirus outbreak and do not lay off employees or minimise the layoffs can get a 
refund of unemployment insurance premiums 

Industrial 

(i) inftrastructure investment projects financed by special local government bonds 

Sources: ADB, 2021; IMF, 2021; KPMG International, 2021; Lu et al., 2020; Cheng et al., 2020. 

(ii) commitment to provid more credit to core companies in key industries 

4.4  Pandemic Technology Policy  

1.  to 

fully  support  scientific  epidemic 

China's government used the challenge of COVID-
19  to  exensively  integrate  new  technologies  in 
various  areas  and  sectors.  These  efforts  were 
supported by several key policies.  

On the 18th of February 2020, the MIIT announced 
the strategy ‘Applying information technology 
services to tackle COVID-19’ with three stated 
objectives:  

prevention and control  

2.  to accelerate the resumption of work and 

production 

3.  to strengthen service guarantees.185  

The strategy itself was a declaration to support the 
use  of  new  technologies  (big  data,  cloud 
computing,  5G,  artificial  intelligence)  to  address 
various  aspects  of  the  pandemic  where  possible. 
Concrete  measures  included,  among  others,  the 
commitment  to  promote  cooperation  between 

185 OECD STIP Compass 2020. 

May 2021 

30 

 
ATI international report on China  

manufacturing  and  IT  companies  to  deepen 
applications  of  industrial  internet  and  industrial 
software,  AI,  augmented  reality,  unmanned 
production, remote operation, online services, and 
other new models and new formats. The strategy 
declared support for enterprises, especially SMEs, 
to adopt digital tools. Support was also announced 
for  the  overall  improvement  of  online  services, 
financing  methods  such  as  online  rapid  lending, 
to  strengthen  digital 
and 
infrastructure and data integration.  

for  all  efforts 

A  separate  Action  plan  to  digitalise  micro, 
small  and  medium  enterprises186  focuses  on 
promoting digital management and operation, on 
exploring  new  business  models  such  as  service-
oriented manufacturing, on using digital platforms 
to guarantee supply chains, and on strengthening 
data sharing and development. 

and 

Control’187, 

The  role  of  technological  innovation  received 
attention  as  a  part  of  the  government's  policy 
package  towards  the  resumption  of  work  and 
restarting of the economic activity in February and 
March  2020.  On  the  6th  of  February  the  MOST 
issued  a 
‘Notice  on  Further  Providing 
Facilitation  Services  for  Various  Technology 
Enterprises  during  the  Period  of  Epidemic 
which 
Prevention 
acknowledged  the 
importance  of  technology 
companies  in  responding  to  the  pandemic  and 
offered  several  measures  to  reduce  red  tape  by 
implementing  digital  technologies.  Companies 
with  technology  contracts  were  offered  the 
opportunity  to  register  them  online  on  a  special 
platform  and  conduct  related  operations  in  a 
paperless  form  thereafter.  Local  authorities  were 
to identify high technology companies and assist 
them in handling their operations online as much 
as possible. Rent for companies in incubators and 
science parks was reduced or removed. Provinces 
were obliged to provide assistance, including tax 
to 
other 
reduction 
pharmaceutical  companies,  manufacturers  of 
medical  and  protective  equipment,  and 
to 
companies located in National High Tech Economic 
Zones.  

concessions, 

and 

and 

Scientific 

On  the  21st  of  March,  Several  Measures  on 
Supporting  Resumption  of  Work  and 
Production  and  Stable  Economic  Operation 
through 
Technological 
Innovation188  by  the  MOST  outlined  specific 
support for S&T actors in returning to normal life. 
’Technology  Boosts  Economy  2020’  initiative 
would  fund  several  technological  R&D  projects. 
The  directive  also  instructed  the  local  authorities 
to  support  the  return  to  work  of  high  tech 
innovative  SMEs  and  companies  working  in 
National  High  Tech  Zones  via  various  means  of 
support,  including  advice,  implementation  of 

Achievement 

online  tools  and  health  monitoring.  The  policy 
increased the funding of the National Science and 
Technology 
Transformation 
Guidance  Fund  for  high  tech  SMEs.  Special 
commitments  were  made  to  support  key  core 
technology  areas,  including  AI,  5G,  quantum 
computing,  industrial  internet,  major  new  drugs, 
high  end  medical  equipment  and  new  energy. 
Support  of  Science  and  Technology  (S&T)  talent 
was also announced, including the creation of new 
types  of  positions  in  companies  and  research 
organisations, and new internship opportunities in 
National High Tech Economic Zones.  

4.5 
Technologies in China 

The impact of COVID-19 on Advanced 

4.5.1  Overall 
Technologies 

impact 

on 

Advanced 

Advanced  Technology  (AT)  sectors  did  not  suffer 
as much as they could have during the pandemic 
due  to  two  key  factors:  first,  the  government 
made  significant  effort  to  keep  high  tech 
enterprises  and  high  priority  sectors  afloat;  and 
second, some of the advanced technologies were 
put  at  the  heart  of  the  response  and  recovery 
measures, giving them an impetus for growth. As 
the  result  high  tech  manufacturing  became  the 
fastest growing industrial production sector of the 
economy,  with  the  growth  of  7.1%  in  2020.189 
High tech industries were also outliers in terms of 
investment received in the first three quarters of 
the  year,  which  grew  by  9.1%  while  overall 
investment  in  manufacturing  industry  decreased 
by 6.5%.190  

Figure  13:  Growth  of  industrial  production  sectors  in 
China in 2020 

8,0%
7,0%
6,0%
5,0%
4,0%
3,0%
2,0%
1,0%
0,0%

high-tech manufacturing
Energy  production
equipment manufacturing
manufacturing
mining

Source: NBSC, 2021  

186 OECD 2020a. 
187 MOST 2020. 
188 MOST 2020. 

May 2021 

189 NBSC 2021. 
190 Grieger 2020. 

31 

 
 
 
ATI international report on China  

4.5.2  Use  of  Advanced  Technologies  to 
combat the pandemic 

quality  of  life  and  to  re-ignite  productivity.192 
These are summarised in Table 11.  

technologies 

authorities  worked 

Digital 
spearheaded  China's 
response to the pandemic. According to MERICS, 
closely  with 
Chinese 
technology  companies  to  develop  the  pandemic 
response  and  prioritised  the  rebuilding  of  the 
first’.191 
economy  by 
According  to  Accenture,  this  was  done  in  four 
distinctive  ways:  to  contain  the  spread  of  the 
virus,  to  keep  people  informed,  to  ensure  the 

‘putting  digitalisation 

Figure  14  (next  page)  depicts  the  distribution  of 
the  applications  of  the  various  digital  tools.  The 
rapid  and  widespread  use  of  digital  technologies 
was enabled in part by the prioritisation of security 
concerns over citizen privacy. 

Table 11: China's use of Advanced Technologies to manage the COVID-19 pandemic 

Strategy 

Tools 

Containing 
the 
spread of the virus 

(i) use of location-based services and big data analytics to identify new cases 

(ii) ‘Close contact detector’ mini-app for WeChat developed by the Chinese Electronics 
Technology Corporation to self-check risk levels 

(iii) QR code health passports to monitor contacts and limit movements, compulsory 
to show at checkpoints when entering public areas 

(iv) use of robotics to perform 'human-touch' tasks - including patrolling robots to test 
body temperature, community drones to disperse gatherings, and others 

(v) use of 5G-enabled cloud systems developed by a startup CloudMinds Technology 
in  Wuhan  hospitals  to  perform  jobs  like  nursing,  body  temperature  taking,  vitals 
measurement, medication delivery, disinfection and cleaning 

Keeping 
informed 

people 

(i)  setting  up  sites  to  aggregate  and  share  information,  e.g.  WeChat  mini-app 
developed by DXY that provides real-time updates for China and globally; information 
on restrictions and points of interest by e.g. dianping.com and mafengwo.cn 

(ii) use of mobile channels and apps to alert users about potential cases nearby such 
as AIA Connect 

Ensure the quality 
of life 

(i)  wide  adoption  of  online-to-offline  business  models  that  range  from  grocery 
shopping to online medical consultations by a wide range of enterprises. E-commerce 
and e-medicine expanded especially significantly 

(ii)  Adoption  of  augmented  and  virtual  reality  tools  to  enhance  quality  of  life,  e.g. 
virtual gyms, virtual exhibitions, virtual cinemas with social experience 

Re-ignite 
productivity 

(i)  wide  range  of  experimentation  with  online  platforms  by  traditionally  offline 
businesses 

(ii) use of 5G and IoT and robotics technologies to enable intelligent manufacturing in 
order to resume production with limited workforce 

(iii) wide adoption of remote work tools by businesses, e.g. DingTalk 

(iv)  mobilisation  of  digital  tools  by  local  authorities,  including  fintech  platforms, 
especially to ease paperwork load and reduce operational volatility of SMEs 

Sources: Accenture, 2020; cnet.com, 2020; OECD, 2020a; Huang et al., 2020. 

191 Huotari et al. 2020. 

192 Accenture 2020. 

May 2021 

32 

 
 
 
 
ATI international report on China  

Figure 14: AI and Big Data Technologies versus COVID-19 in China, January-May 2020 

Source: Carnap et al., 2020. 

As the result of the widespread mobilisation of new 
and  digital 
technologies,  AT  sectors  grew 
significantly  in  2020.  The  IT  and  software 
sector  grew  by  16.9%  in  2020.193  China  was 
already  the  global  leader  in  the  installation  of 
industrial  robots  in  2019.194  In  2020,  the 
production  of  robots  expanded  by  19.1%, 
reflecting  the  increase  in  demand  boosted  by 
policy  incentives,  capacity  additions  during  the 
crisis and the tendency of firms to upgrade their 
manufacturing.195  Online  giants  such  as  Alibaba 
and Tencent also greatly benefited from the boost 
in e-commerce during the pandemic and from the 
digitalisation policies.  

One  area  where  China's  adoption  of  digital  tools 
has not been so high is online edication, because 
the  school  closure  was  not  as  prolonged  as  in 
many  other  countries.  Therefore,  Chinese 

education  providers  made  less  use  of  online 
platforms and tools.196 

Certain  ATs  that  were  not  in  the  focus  of  the 
dedicated COVID-19 recovery policies experienced 
shocks  and  had  to  face  the  consequences  of  the 
halted  manufacturing  in  the  first  two  quarters  of 
2020.  Among  them  is,  for  example,  certain 
advanced manufacturing industries, where not 
only  the  production  but  also  the  international 
supply  chains  were  significantly  negatively 
affected  by  the  pandemic,  creating  cascading 
effects.197  

It  is  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  digital 
transformation  will  remain  China's  major  policy 
focus.  Pandemic  conditions  eased  one  of  the 
biggest  hurdles  in  technology  diffusion  -  the 
adoption  of  new  technologies  by  traditional 

193 NBSC 2021. 
194 OECD 2020a. 
195 Zenglein et al. 2021. 

May 2021 

196 OECD 2020a. 
197 Zhao and Liu 2020. 

33 

 
 
intelligent 

consequences for some of the related industries, 
including 
manufacturing. 
Semiconductors  is  one  of  the  biggest  examples: 
only  8%  are  produced  in  China  by  Chinese 
companies, and the country is completely reliant 
on foreign suppliers for the advanced chips.204 

ATI international report on China  

in  certain 
industries.  Although  digitisation 
traditional industries is still lagging, the adoption 
trend is expected to continue beyond 2020.198 

4.5.3  New  Infrastructure,  Supply  Chains 
and Tech Transfer 

The  Chinese  government  used  pandemic 
conditions to accelerate the development of self-
reliant  infrastructure  for  new  technologies.  The 
MOST identified seven key areas for infrastructure 
development:  5G  networks,  industrial  internet, 
inter-city  transportation  and  rail  system,  data 
centers, AI, ultra-high voltage power transmission 
and new-energy vehicle charging stations. Around 
¥1.4tn  (€178.3 bn)  will  be  spent  on  these  ’new 
infrastucture’  projects,  increasing  to  ¥16.2 tn 
(€2.06 tn)  by  2025.199  Besides  providing 
employment and stimulating the economy, these 
projects work in concert with other initiatives that 
aim  to  propel  China  in  the  leaderboards  of  the 
most  innovative  nations.  The  target  for  5G 
infrastructure, for example, is to build 600 000 
base  stations  by  the  end  of  2020  and  around  5 
million by 2025. The AI chip market is expected 
to  particularly  benefit  from  the  infrastructure 
investment.  Experts  estimate  rapid  development 
of  related  technologies  and  the  growth  of  new 
investment up to €11.9 bn by 2025.  

Technologies in the focus of the new infrastructure 
projects  are  expected  to  attract  significant  extra 
investment, as illustrated by the sharp rise of the 
stocks related to 5G, industrial internet, inter-city 
transit systems, vehicle charging stations and data 
centres  shortly  after  the  announcement  of  the 
support.  The  leading  telecom  operator,  China 
Unicom,  announced  plans  to  accelerate  5G  base 
stations construction to 250 000 units by the end 
of  the  third  quarter  of  2020.200  Plans  are  also 
underway  for  the  government  to  provide  more 
credit to core companies involved in the seven key 
areas and to strengthen international cooperation, 
including  by  attracting  foreign  investment.201 
However, 
foreign 
participation  in  strategic  priority  projects,  e.g. 
internet data centres and industrial internet.  

the  government 

limited 

the  growing 

concerns  about 

The  new  infrastructure  projects  were  announced 
among 
the 
consequences  of  China's  geopolitical  conflicts  for 
its  high  tech  industries.  As  Chinese  national 
political agendas re-iterate the new slogans about 
technological  self-reliance202, 
the  COVID-19 
pandemic  may  have  significantly  accelerated  the 
process  of  disengaging  China  from  global  supply 
chains.  China's  access  to  foreign  technologies  in 
the areas where it still has gaps is also expected 
increasingly  stricter 
to  become  subject 
to 
controls.203 
adverse 
lead 
This  may 

to 

198 Huotari et al. 2020. 
199 Wong 2020a. 
200 china.org.cn 2020. 
201 Chipman Koty 2020. 

May 2021 

202 Blanchette and Polk 2020. 
203 Capri 2020; Grieger 2020. 
204 Lewis 2019. 

34 

 
 
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About the ‘Advanced Technologies for Industry’ Project 

The EU’s industrial policy strategy promotes the creation of a competitive European industry. In order 
to  properly  support  the  implementation  of  policies  and  initiatives,  a  systematic  monitoring  of 
technological trends and reliable, up-to-date data on advanced technologies are needed. To this end, 
the  Advanced  Technologies  for  Industry  (ATI)  project  has  been  set  up.  The  project  provides 
policymakers, industry representatives and academia with: 

•

•
•
•
•

Statistical  data  on  the  production  and  use  of  advanced  technologies,  including  enabling
conditions such as skills, investment and entrepreneurship
Analytical reports, such as on technology trends, sector-based insights and products
Analyses of policy measures and policy tools related to the uptake of advanced technologies
Analysis of technology trends in competing economies, such as in the US, China and Japan
Access to technology centres and innovation hubs across EU countries

You may find more information about the 16 technologies here: https://ati.ec.europa.eu. 

The project has been undertaken on behalf of the European Commission – the Directorate General for 
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs and the European Innovation Council and Small 
and Medium-Sized Enterprises Executive Agency (EISMEA) – by IDC, Technopolis Group, Capgemini, 
Fraunhofer, IDEA Consult and NESTA. 

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