China’s ‘low-altitude economy’ on the rise as southern city named focal point

China has designated the capital city of Guangdong province, its economic powerhouse in the south, as the nexus of its unmanned equipment industry – a part of broader efforts to spearhead technological advancement and advance its plans to be a global player in drones, autonomous vehicles and civil aviation.

Nansha, a district in Guangzhou, has been selected to develop a citywide management system for unmanned vehicles as well as industry standards for what has been deemed the “low-altitude economy”, according to a document recently released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner.

The district has also been encouraged to “take bold moves” in research and transform the resultant discoveries into marketable products.

China’s EHang sells autonomous passenger drone for US$332,000 on Taobao

“We strive to give full play to Nansha’s unique advantages and make Nansha a carrier for bold exploration and early breakthroughs,” said Xiao Weiming, deputy secretary general of the NDRC, at a press conference last week.

“We expect to generate pioneering experiences that can usher in new developments in key reform areas nationwide.”

The NDRC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration for Market Regulation, issued a 15-point guideline in January to broaden market entry in the district. The area is an emerging hub for hi-tech in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), a regional economic integration plan for Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau designed to drive innovation and technological advancement.

The guideline, which explicitly states its goal as better leveraging Nansha’s “leading role in the construction of the GBA,” dedicated significant space to the need for technical standards covering maritime, land, and air applications of unmanned technologies as a unified system.

Such a system, empowered by big data and artificial intelligence, could theoretically complete tasks without human intervention. Products under this umbrella would include autonomous vehicles and manufacturing robots.

The guideline also encouraged the use of unmanned devices in fields like industrial production, logistics and emergency rescue.

01:38

Autonomous drones fly through Chinese bamboo forest

Autonomous drones fly through Chinese bamboo forest

Sun Zhiyang, mayor of Guangzhou, said the city plans to set up a platform to manage and control a citywide unmanned system, with Nansha granted privileged access to the platform as the pilot region and playing host to an incubation centre which the city hopes will attract leading enterprises.

A suite of supportive policies has driven the rapid growth of China’s “low-altitude economy”, which Beijing listed as a strategic emerging industry at the tone-setting central economic work conference in December. The term refers to a wide range of industries centred around manned and unmanned vehicles usually operating below an altitude of 1,000 metres.

Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed the sector’s value exceeded 500 billion yuan (US$69.1 billion) last year and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan by 2030.

Guangdong’s tech hub of Shenzhen is home to leading drone makers like DJI, and the provincial capital is also a leader of research and development in the field.

In addition to this expanding sector, the government will also promote deep-sea exploration and the seed industry in the Nansha district, establishing funds and incentive mechanisms for the application of advanced technologies in those areas, Sun said, adding the district will also create international standard certification organisations in these domains.

Other measures for the district, such as boosting innovation in marine science and technology, developing speciality finance, and easing market access restrictions for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, were also included in the guideline.

FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! Chronicles Live is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials, please contact us by email – chronicleslive.com. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.

Leave a Comment