Weichai Group, the Weifang-based automobile manufacturing company, established its science and technology innovation center in Tokyo, Japan on June 20.

It is the third technology innovation center set up overseas by Weicai Group after the establishment of innovation centers in Chicago, the United States, and Aschaffenburg, Germany.

Weichai Group, one of the largest automobile and equipment manufacturing providers in the world, aims to build a global frontier innovation system.

Weichai launched its development strategy in 2017 and hopes that by 2020, its business operations will be considered as being amongst the world's best, and that by 2030, the new energy business will be at the forefront of the global industry and have total annual revenue of $100 billion.

To reach its goal, the company group is committed to opening up and seeking international cooperation.

To date, it has signed strategic cooperation agreements with many world-renowned new energy companies and research institutions, such as Bosch in Germany, AVL in Austria, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

Weichai built the innovation center in Japan because the auto industry in the country is pioneering and incorporates world-leading hybrid power and fuel cell industries.

The Tokyo innovation center will focus on technical innovation and new energy resources development,lure highly-skilled workers from across the world, and expand collaboration with leading high-tech companies.

It is hoped that the Tokyo innovation center will work together with the centers in Chicago and Aschaffenburg to develop into an important supporting arm for Weichai’s technology innovation operations.

Tan Xuguang, the director of Weichai Group delivers a keynote speech at the inaugurated ceremony for its science and technology innovation center in Tokyo, Japan on June 20. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]