By Kate Yuan

(JW Insights) Apr 3 -- Chinese autonomous mobile robot provider Iplusmobot Technology (迦智科技), a “little giant” company, has provided global tech company Lenovo with its cutting-edge products in a win-win approach, China Daily reported on March 31.

Iplusmobot, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, was declared a "little giant" by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology(MIIT) last year for its self-developed logistics automatic technology and digital and intelligent products. This "little giant" program is MIIT's efforts to incubate more small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in niche industries with cutting-edge technologies.

Targeting high-tech niche sectors has been a major road taken by many SMEs in China. Last year, the country cultivated more than 70,000 small and medium-sized companies specializing in niche industries with cutting-edge technologies, including 8,997 "little giant" enterprises.

In February, the MIIT kicked off the selection of the fifth batch of little giants. This year, the country aims to push the number higher to reach 80,000 such SMEs on the basis of 70,000 such SMEs last year, with about 100 relevant industrial clusters to be formed through continuous support and guidance from authorities.

In the case of Iplusmobot, the company benefited from Lenovo's Solutions and Services Group and Lenovo Capital, who have utilized their global sales networks to broaden Iplusmobot's sales channels, shared overseas development wisdom and offered after-sales operational and maintenance support to the robot company to promote growth. In return, the cooperation has also enabled Lenovo to integrate Iplusmobot's products and technologies into its own industry solutions and provide innovative and more complete robot solutions for its clients worldwide.

Allowing efficient involvement of large companies' relevant complete supply chains, sales channels, service systems, talent and other advantages can help empower their small and medium-sized counterparts to develop their business faster and establish a recognizable brand image. At the same time, SMEs can also serve as a complement to technological innovation, corporate culture, strategic development and industry ecology, Lenovo said.