The Guangdong Provincial People's Government recently released several policy measures to promote innovation in the artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics industries. These measures aim to boost technological advancements and business growth in the sector. The 12 specific measures cover technological breakthroughs, business cultivation, application scenarios, and industrial clusters.
The policies explicitly support breakthroughs in key core technologies, encouraging collaborative innovation among businesses, universities, and research institutions. An innovation alliance will be established around the AI and robotics industry chain. The provincial government will provide financial support for eligible major projects, with provincial matching funds exceeding 100 million yuan for individual projects.
Guangdong Province will also cultivate high-quality enterprises, encouraging resource integration and enhanced collaborative innovation capabilities along the industry chain. Provincial funding of up to 3 million yuan will be provided to enterprises that achieve national-level single-item champion status, incentivizing local government participation.
Details are as follows:
I. Supporting Key Core Technological Breakthroughs. Support for joint research and development by various innovative entities, including businesses, universities, and research institutions. An industry innovation alliance will be formed along the upstream and downstream of the AI and robotics industry chain to accelerate the construction of a full-process innovation chain. Provincial key research and development plans will be implemented, focusing on flagship projects and major projects in "Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence" and "Intelligent Robotics," deploying a series of breakthrough tasks in the AI and robotics fields. Provincial financial support will be provided for national major scientific and technological projects that meet provincial matching conditions in the AI and robotics fields. For individual projects with provincial matching funds exceeding 100 million yuan, support will be provided on a case-by-case basis. The establishment of manufacturing innovation centers in the AI and robotics field will be supported, with provincial financial support of up to 50 million yuan and 10 million yuan for national-level and provincial-level manufacturing innovation centers, respectively.
II. Cultivating High-Quality Enterprises. Support for enterprises to integrate resources across the AI and robotics industry and innovation chains, promoting cluster development and improving the collaborative innovation capabilities of the entire industry chain. A tiered cultivation system for AI and robotics enterprises will be built, with single-item champion enterprises and specialized and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises as the backbone. For enterprises in this field that are awarded national-level single-item champion status or are recognized as specialized and innovative "small giant" enterprises, provincial and municipal governments will collaborate to provide incentives, with the provincial government providing matching funds equal to the municipal government's rewards. The maximum reward for national-level single-item champion enterprises is 3 million yuan, and the maximum reward for national-level specialized and innovative "small giant" enterprises is 2 million yuan.
III. Creating Application Scenarios. Establishment of a cross-departmental coordination mechanism at the provincial level, implementing the "AI+" action in education, healthcare, transportation, civil affairs, finance, and security. The "Robotics+" action will be implemented in industrial, agricultural, urban management, medical, elderly care, and special operations fields. Local governments will be encouraged to develop and open various application scenarios, attracting enterprises to create a number of typical cases.
IV. Promoting Clustered Industrial Development. AI-powered new industrialization pilot projects will be carried out based on key industrial clusters. Support will be provided for the research and development of industrial-grade large models and application solutions, with up to 10 benchmark cases supported annually, each receiving a maximum reward of 8 million yuan. This will promote the intelligent transformation of manufacturing enterprises. Industry organizations, such as AI and robotics innovation alliances and associations, will be leveraged to accelerate industry chain integration. Universities and research institutions will be utilized to promote the industrialization of innovative achievements.
V. Supporting Key Project Construction. Provincial and municipal resources will be coordinated to establish a "green channel" for key AI and robotics projects throughout the province, accelerating project land acquisition, environmental impact assessments, energy conservation, and forestry approvals. Provincial and municipal governments will work together to support advanced manufacturing projects with fixed asset investments exceeding 50 million yuan.
VI. Enriching Data Element Supply. High-quality AI datasets and corpora will be built, resulting in high-quality data products and services. The development of data trading markets will be supported, promoting Guangzhou and Shenzhen data exchanges to become national-level data trading venues. The "Data Element ×" action will be supported, deepening the application and empowerment of data elements. Support for the cultivation of data enterprises and the creation of a Guangdong data element aggregation development zone will be provided.
VII. Improving the Open-Source Innovation Ecosystem for AI and Robotics. Support for businesses, universities, research institutions, and industry associations to jointly build open-source communities, open-source ecosystem centers, and related public service platforms for AI and robotics through technical collaboration. These platforms will provide services such as technical exchange and sharing, ecosystem promotion and cultivation, computing power scheduling, open industry big data training libraries, standard test datasets, large model evaluation open services, and testing and verification. Up to 5 eligible open-source communities and open-source ecosystem centers will be supported annually, receiving a subsidy of up to 30% of their audited operating expenses from the previous year, with a maximum subsidy of 8 million yuan.
VIII. Cultivating High-Level Leading Talents. Support for enterprises to attract and cultivate innovative leading talents and outstanding young talents with outstanding technological innovation capabilities and expertise in solving complex engineering and technical problems. Support for universities to conduct high-level discipline construction in the field of AI and robotics, strengthening talent cultivation and accelerating the development of a talent pool for the AI and robotics industry. Local governments will be encouraged to introduce specialized policies for AI and robotics industry talent.
IX. Strengthening Industrial Investment and Financing. Establishment of an AI and robotics industry fund within the provincial industrial development investment fund cluster, guiding social capital to invest early, invest small, invest long-term, and invest in hard technology in key core areas of the AI and robotics industry chain. Innovative fund management mechanisms will be implemented, strengthening a fault-tolerant mechanism centered on exemption from due diligence and compliance responsibilities. Banks and other financial institutions will be guided to provide full-lifecycle financial services to AI and robotics enterprises, enriching the supply of financial products and increasing policy support for loan interest subsidies and risk compensation for AI and robotics.
X. Promoting Standard System Construction. Support for enterprises and research institutions that lead in developing international, national, and industry standards in the AI and robotics industry, with maximum subsidies of 500,000 yuan, 300,000 yuan, and 150,000 yuan, respectively. Support will also be provided for those undertaking technical committees of international standardization organizations, national, and Guangdong provincial professional standardization technical committees, with maximum subsidies of 1 million yuan, 300,000 yuan, and 100,000 yuan, respectively.
XI. Creating High-End Exchange Platforms. Holding the "Zhongchuang Cup" AI and Robotics Professional Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and establishing special competitions for AI and robotics in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Doctoral and Postdoctoral Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the "Maker China" SME Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and "Maker Guangdong" Competition, and the "Yue Lai Yue Hao" International Design Competition. Support for local governments to create internationally influential academic conferences, exchange activities, and innovation and entrepreneurship competitions related to the high-quality development of AI and robotics.
XII. Establishing an Inclusive and Prudent Regulatory Mechanism. Exploration of innovative "regulatory sandboxes" and other inclusive and prudent regulatory models for AI and robotics, creating an institutional environment that encourages innovation and bold experimentation. Increased financial support for research on relevant soft topics in the field of AI and robotics. Improvement of the development and management mechanism for generative AI, and acceleration of the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Joint Laboratory for the Safe Development of Generative AI. Support for the construction of AI and robotics safety-related testing and certification platforms, providing assessment and certification services for safety risks and ethical issues. Acceleration of legislative work in the field of AI and robotics to provide institutional guarantees for the development of the AI and robotics industry.
These policy measures are valid until December 31, 2027.