Chengdu Hi-tech Zone Adds Four Provincial Technology Innovation Centers

Recently, the Department of Science and Technology of Sichuan Province issued a public notice on the proposed establishment of eight provincial technology innovation centers, including the Robot Brain Innovation Center. All eight proposed provincial technology innovation centers were approved, including four in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone: the Sichuan Robot Brain Innovation Center, Sichuan Modern Integrated Logistics Technology Innovation Center, Sichuan Hydrogen Energy Production, Storage and Refueling Equipment Technology Innovation Center, and Sichuan Digital Cultural and Creative Technology Innovation Center. To date, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has been home to seven recognized provincial technology innovation centers, accounting for approximately one-third of the province’s total.

Provincial technology innovation centers are positioned to translate science into technology and promote the industrialization of major basic research achievements. With the research and development of key technologies at their core, they use collaboration among industry, universities and research institutes to advance the transfer, commercialization and industrialization of technological achievements. They build a reserve of strength for the creation of national technology innovation centers, provide source technologies for the development of Sichuan’s industries, offer innovation services for incubating, cultivating and developing technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, and play a strategic leading role in supporting industries as they move toward the medium- and high-end segments and achieve high-quality development.

The four newly approved provincial technology innovation centers in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone cover key industrial chains such as artificial intelligence, new energy, culture and tourism, and modern logistics. They respond actively to Sichuan’s “17+N” key industrial chains and Chengdu Hi-tech Zone’s “3+6+6” modern industrial system, injecting strong impetus from the Hi-tech Zone into the cultivation of new quality productive forces and the development of a modern industrial system across Sichuan.

Sichuan Robot Brain Technology Innovation Center

The Sichuan Robot Brain Innovation Center is led and developed by Dingqiao Technology Co., Ltd., an enterprise in the Zone. With more than 20 years of experience in transportation, public security, manufacturing, telecommunications and other industries, TD Technology is building an intelligent hub around “intelligence plus connectivity,” enabling intelligence to understand industries while extending the network’s nerves to terminals and connecting intelligence across systems.

The center has built a “4+1+1” system focused on artificial intelligence and robotics. It conducts key technology research and validation, technology commercialization and industrial services in systems and platforms, perception and interaction, cognition and decision-making, and learning and evolution. It aims to create a leading domestic hub for robot-brain technology innovation and a collaborative platform integrating industry, universities, research institutes and application, serving scenarios such as public security emergencies, smart public services and intelligent manufacturing.

Sichuan Modern Integrated Logistics Technology Innovation Center

The Sichuan Modern Integrated Logistics Technology Innovation Center is led and developed by Sichuan Port and Shipping Investment Group Co., Ltd. The group’s core businesses include investment, construction and operation in ports and shipping, and the development of modern integrated logistics systems. Its four major business segments cover investment, construction and operation in ports and waterways; modern integrated logistics and related industries; supply chain management services; and the development of supporting resources along ports and rivers. It is a leading modern integrated logistics and trading enterprise in western China, with substantial assets, a complete logistics industrial chain and strong cross-border supply chain service capabilities.

The center focuses on three directions: intelligent and digital logistics organization, higher infrastructure efficiency, and independent equipment technologies. It conducts research into key and core technologies, develops landmark products, addresses industry challenges and builds technology systems in areas such as logistics AI foundation models, green efficiency improvements for inland waterways and automated systems for smart ports. It aims to build a secure and controllable hub for modern logistics technology innovation and a collaborative innovation platform deeply integrating industry, universities, research institutes and application.

Sichuan Hydrogen Energy Production, Storage and Refueling Equipment Technology Innovation Center

The Sichuan Hydrogen Energy Production, Storage and Refueling Equipment Technology Innovation Center is led by Houpu Clean Energy (Group) Co., Ltd. and jointly developed with leading universities and research institutes. Houpu has built an industrial group covering natural gas and hydrogen energy engineering EPC; natural gas purification, liquefaction and refueling equipment; hydrogen production, storage, refueling and application equipment; clean-energy power and fuel supply systems and refueling equipment for ships; smart instruments and fluid products; high-end aerospace components and equipment; and intelligent operation and maintenance and round-the-clock technical services for energy projects. It is a leading domestic provider of integrated solutions for clean-energy equipment.

The center is China’s first provincial platform focused on equipment for the entire hydrogen energy industrial chain. It directly addresses four major technology bottlenecks — intelligence, lightweight design, safety and reliability — and focuses on core technologies such as flexible hydrogen production, high-density hydrogen storage, rapid refueling and reliability evaluation under extreme conditions. It will build a leading domestic testing and standards-validation platform.

Sichuan Digital Cultural and Creative Technology Innovation Center

The Sichuan Digital Cultural and Creative Technology Innovation Center is led by Chengdu Sobey Digital Technology Co., Ltd. and jointly developed with 12 universities and enterprises, including the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Sichuan Chuantou Zhisheng Digital Technology Co., Ltd. It will build an innovation consortium that deeply integrates industry, universities, research institutes and application. Sobey Digital focuses on the research and application of ultra-high-definition audiovisual technologies. It has led or participated in the development of multiple industry standards and is a national demonstration base for the integration of culture and technology, a national enterprise technology center, a national intellectual property demonstration enterprise, a key national cultural export enterprise and an outstanding leading enterprise in the culture and tourism industry.

The center is rooted in Sichuan’s “world-class wealth of cultural IP” and its RMB 100-billion digital cultural and creative industry foundation. Guided by the core principles of “enterprise leadership, university collaboration and market orientation,” it will develop a three-in-one innovation ecosystem focused on breakthroughs in key and core technologies, technology commercialization and high-level scenario-based applications. It will concentrate on seven directions: multi-agent reinforcement learning; AIGC tool development and scenario building; digital film and television production; large-scale production of film-quality digital characters; intelligent digital humans and the metaverse for digital culture and creativity; ultra-high-definition video; and industrial ecosystem organization and technology commercialization. It aims to solve bottlenecks holding back the cultural industry.

Photo credit: Tuchong

Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has consistently positioned itself as a primary hub for scientific and technological innovation. Closely aligned with major national strategic deployments and the region’s priority industrial tracks, it continues to integrate high-quality innovation resources from universities, research institutes and leading enterprises and systematically develop a large number of high-level innovation platforms. To date, the Zone has built 10 strategic platforms, including Tianfu Jiangxi Laboratory, Tianfu Jincheng Laboratory, Peking University Chengdu Institute for Frontier Interdisciplinary Biological Technology and the National Ultra-High-Definition Video Innovation Center. It has attracted 72 national-level innovation platforms and cultivated a number of landmark technological achievements at an internationally advanced level, including gallium nitride quantum light-source chips.

Going forward, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone will continue to promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, cultivate and develop new quality productive forces, optimize the planning, development and operational guidance of high-level innovation platforms, accelerate the development of an industrial science and technology innovation system, and build a globally influential center for industrial science and technology innovation.