The China Development Forum (CDF) 2021 was held online and onsite in Beijing from March 20 to 22. The theme of this year’s forum is ‘China on a New Journey of Modernization’. More than 160 overseas delegates have participated in the event, the largest number ever seen at this annual gathering.
ABB CEO Björn Rosengren attended the conference on March 21 and joined the group meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on March 22, both virtually. He also talked about his experiences and discoveries in the past year and his views on the future of global and China’s development in a video titled ‘My 2020’. Dr. Chunyuan Gu, Chairman of ABB China, was also invited to attend the event as observer.
Since 2013, ABB has been actively involved with CDF events in China, with ABB group top executives participating in forums and contributing advices on China’s sustainable growth, industry upgrading, innovation, urbanization as well as Belt and Road initiatives, based on ABB’s pioneering technologies, domain expertise and strong customer relationship.
2021 marks the starting year of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan. Against this backdrop, CDF 2021 featured the new concept of high-quality development and the new development pattern represented by the ‘dual circulation’, with major topics centered around China’s economic and social development in the 14th Five-year Plan, high-level opening-up, and China’s green transformation.
In the extraordinary year of 2020, China’s economy has not only recovered well, but also made a big contribution to world economic development. China was one of ABB’s best performing operations in 2020. As a global company with 15,000 employees across nearly 130 cities in China, ABB has delivered a robust performance, while keeping its employees safe, supporting customers and partners to keep critical services running safely, and staying connected with them through advanced digital solutions.
China has shown great foresight in accelerating the construction of new infrastructure, like 5G networks, data centers and e-mobility, and in developing its capabilities in artificial intelligence. China’s efforts to promote new technologies align perfectly with ABB’s business, which focus on integrating AI and digital technology into machines, robots, power grids, transport systems and other infrastructure. ABB’s new robotics factory in Shanghai, which is now under construction, will become the most advanced, automated and flexible factory of ABB worldwide, and will further strengthen ABB’s leadership in China, the world’s largest robotics market.
China is an also an important R&D market for ABB. We see new growth opportunities emerging in the digital transformation of industries, and especially in smart manufacturing, in electric mobility on the road, on rail and at sea. ABB has continuously improved its local R&D capabilities, developing innovative solutions for both the local and global market in China. In 2020, the local R&D team in China filed 11% more patent applications than in the previous year. At the end of last year, ABB launched its Common Technology Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, to further develop its leading digital technologies and process automation systems, helping industries to optimize operations to boost profitability and sustainability.
As the world’s largest energy producer and consumer, China is adopting more vigorous policies and measures, striving to bring carbon dioxide emissions to a peak before 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. ABB is helping to energize the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive and sustainable future, pushing the boundaries of technology and supporting China’s pursuit of green development and its ambitious carbon-neutral pledge to address the world’s energy challenges.
While helping customers to make their operations more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, ABB also embeds sustainability in its own operations throughout the value chain. In 2020, both ABB drive systems company and ABB LV installation materials company in Beijing were listed as national ‘Green Factory’ by China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Last week, ABB Beijing LV Installation materials factory unveiled a new solar power generation and renewable energy integration system. The site will strengthen the company wide objective to achieve carbon neutrality across its own operations by 2030 and meet China’s vision for carbon neutrality.