China to deepen innovative integration from robots to AI in home service sector

Five Chinese authorities including the top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, on Wednesday released an opinion on deepening the integration of industry and education of the home service industry, with a major focus on promoting industrial upgrading and innovative advancements.

The opinion encourages cooperation between schools and enterprises in the smart manufacturing and home service sectors. It also vows to strengthen research and development as well as technological upgrading for products such as smart homes and home service robots, while deepening the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field.

As for talent training, the opinion suggested carrying out education and training in intelligent home service, cultivating new types of talent, and promoting digitalized training methods.

Localities and relevant associations can develop unified standard interfaces for online training, and promote data interconnection and open sharing of training resources. The opinion called for support to be given to leading enterprises with home service operation and digitalization capabilities to construct platforms that integrate online and on-site community services.

Integrating AI can improve service efficiency and achieve accuracy and personalization for the home service sector, meeting the diverse consumption demand, said Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. He told the Global Times that China has made progress in the technological upgrading of smart homes and home service robots, with some products equipped with voice assistance and smart cleaning functions, suggesting broader prospects for the intelligent development of the sector amid continuous advancements.

The opinion also includes other measures aiming to enhance the sector's high-quality development and strengthen talent cultivation, such as supporting industrial players to set up mechanisms with education institutions and vocational schools and actively absorbing college graduates.

Wang noted that the measures targeting deeper integration will help promote the innovative transformation and upgrading of the home service sector, which will enhance industrial competitiveness and create more employment opportunities.

As of October, China's home service sector had more than 30 million professionals and more than 1 million enterprises, with an industrial scale exceeding 1.1 trillion yuan ($152.3 billion), domestic news portal ce.cn reported.