08-19-2021

According to one recent study, the worldwide market for robotics is expected to grow at an incredible compound annual growth rate of 26% for the foreseeable future – bringing it to a value of roughly $210 billion by as soon as 2025.

A big part of how the industry has been able to get to this point has to do with both academic and commercial research and development. Having said that, one might be surprised to know that a lot of the global spending to that end is still being supported by national governments in places like North America and Asia. These governments are interested in important areas like economic competitiveness and are fully aware that robotics are a major contributing factor that will help get them there.

Government Support for Robotics: An Overview

One major supporter of the robotics industry takes the form of the Chinese government. Over the last few years, they developed a “Robot Industry Development Plan” that aims to help the country not only develop between three and five local robot manufacturers that are globally competitive, but also to achieve at least a 45% market share for their own high-end robots, too. Likewise, they want to increase their robot deployment to roughly 100 robots per 10,000 human employees.

To get to this point, they’ve invested no less than $577 million in an effort to accomplish these goals to date.

Similar things are going on in the United States, which launched the National Robotics Initiative a few years ago. This is a research and development program supported by the US government that had a budget of $35 million in 2019. The primary focus of the NRI is to innovate in terms of the technologies and integrated systems necessary to create truly collaborative robots – ones that can assist humans in nearly every part of their daily lives.

The NRI is a collaboration between not only the government but also academic experts, non-profit organizations and more.

Last but not least we have the New Robot Strategy in Japan – a government program that aims to support robotics in not only manufacturing but also in areas like healthcare, agriculture and infrastructure as well. Their own robotics budget topped an enormous $351 million in 2019, as the country seeks to become a hub for robot innovation across the globe. Indeed, this is a big part of the reason why Japan was able to rise up to become the largest industrial robotics manufacturer in the world.

In the end, success for the robotics industry will come from many places – and government support will be chief among them. But as the above statistics show, we’re certainly headed in the right direction together.

If you’re interested in finding out more about how the government and various other entities are supporting the robotics industry, or if you just want to talk to someone about your own situation in a bit more detail, please don’t delay – contact Pioneer Industrial Systems today.