Economies around the world are investing in robotics to support industry and society. But government research and development (R&D) programmes are following different strategies.
World Robotics R&D Programs 2025, published by the
International Federation of Robotics (IFR), analyses official funding strategies in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Professor Dr Jong-Oh Park, vice chairman of the IFR Research Committee and member of the executive board, said: “The fourth edition of the
World Robotics R&D Programs covers the latest funding developments, including updates in 2024. A total of 13 countries are in the list, with Singapore and Canada being presented for the first time in this publication.”
In China, the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ for the development of the robotics industry runs until 2025. The programme, published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in Beijing in December 2021 focuses on promoting innovation. The aim is to make China a world leader in robotics technology and industrial development. The ‘Key Special Program on Intelligent Robots’ has been updated in July 2024.
The budget of about $45.2 million (USD) promotes the development of independent key sectors of the national economy. Key targets include Fundamental Frontier Technologies, e.g. training of generative AI models. The recent statistical yearbook
‘World Robotics’ by IFR shows that China reached a robot density of 470 units per 10,000 workers in the manufacturing industry: the country ranked third worldwide in 2023 and only entered the top 10 as late as 2019 and has managed to double its robot density within just four years.
‘New Robot Strategy’Meanwile, in Japan, its ‘New Robot Strategy’ aims to make the country the world´s number one robot innovation hub. Key sectors remain unchanged including manufacturing, nursing and medical, and agriculture. The ‘Moonshot Research and Development Programme’, launched in 2020, will run until 2050 with a budget of $440 million. A total of 10 Moonshot goals have been set in the areas of society, environment and economy to achieve ‘human well-being’.
These include issues facing society in the future, such as an ageing population and global warming. The programme promotes the realisation of artificial intelligence (AI) robots that learn autonomously, adapt to their environment, evolve in intelligence and act alongside humans. According to the statistical yearbook
‘World Robotics’ by IFR, Japan is the world’s number one industrial robot manufacturer. The country globally ranks in fifth place with 419 units per 10,000 workers installed.
In Korea, the government announced the ‘4th Basic Plan on Intelligent Robots’ in January 2024 which will run until 2028. An investment of $128 million supports the development of the robotics industry as a core industry for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as innovation in manufacturing and services. Key targets are to improve technology, manpower and corporate competitiveness which constitute the foundation of the Korean robotics industry. The country aims to strengthen strategic inter-company, international, and inter-regional cooperation for the robotics industry. The statistical yearbook
‘World Robotics’ by IFR lists Korea as the world´s number one adopter of industrial robots with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees. Robot density has increased by 5% on average each year since 2018.
Horizon EuropeHorizon Europe is the European Union’s (EU) key research and innovation framework programme. The budget is set of $100 billion and runs until 2027. Top targets are: strengthening the EU’s scientific and technological bases; boosting Europe’s innovation capacity; and competitiveness.
The European Commission provides total funding of $183.5 million for the robotics-related work programme 2023-2025 that was partly updated in April 2024. The focus is on industrial leadership in AI, data and robotics, clean energy transition and innovative health initiatives, to name but a few.
‘Robotics research action plan’According to IFR’s
‘World Robotics’ statistics, the European Union (EU) has a robot density of 219 units per 10,000 workers, with Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Slovenia in the world’s top 10. Germany´s R&D and innovation programme ‘High-Tech Strategy 2025 (HTS)’ runs until 2026 with a total budget set at $369.2 million. The ‘Robotics research action plan’ will support the cross-connection of research centres as ‘Robotics Institute Germany’, support skilled labour and bring robotics research results into application. According to the report
‘World Robotics’ by IFR, Germany is the largest robot market in Europe — the robot density ranks fourth worldwide with 429 robots per 10,000 employees.
Robotics R&D programmes managed by the USA include basic research on Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Systems by the National Science Foundation (NSF), ‘Space Robotics’ by the NASA and ‘Military Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles’ by the Department of Defense (DoD). Following the Mars exploration programme, NASA has launched the Artemis project to send astronauts to the surface of the Moon and to develop promising capabilities for Mars missions after 2024. The total budget for Artemis is $53 billion for fiscal years 2021-2025.
The NSF’s research programmes support the development and use of robotics in workplaces, hospitals, communities, and homes. The budget requested for 2024 is around $70 million. The DoD‘s 2023 budget includes $10.3 billion for autonomy and robotics technologies. The statistical yearbook
‘World Robotics’ by IFR shows that robot density in the USA hit 295 units in 2024 and the country ranks 10th in the world. Regarding annual installations of industrial robots, the USA takes third position.