【By Observer Net, Yuan Jiaqi】

According to the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, Peng Zhibo, a top industrial chip and robot expert from ABB Group, has bid farewell to Sweden and returned to China. He has joined Peking University's School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics as a tenure-track professor, with his new position taking effect this month.

As a globally renowned leader in robotics, motors, energy, and automation technology, ABB is also one of the world's largest industrial engineering companies. According to the introduction, Peng Zhibo served as a senior principal scientist at ABB, second only to the company's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He once jointly led the formulation and promotion of the group's global distributed R&D strategy, responsible for managing over 800 R&D personnel and more than 80 technical products across all business areas globally.

According to the Peking University website, Peng Zhibo mainly focuses on interdisciplinary theoretical and applied research in intelligent robots and autonomous systems, including physics-informed neural networks, multimodal embodied intelligence models, high-performance cloud-based controllers, information-physical security of autonomous systems, integrated network-computation-control design, and high-dynamic dexterous robot hardware.

According to Hong Kong media, these technologies have been applied in several key business segments of ABB, covering smart manufacturing, robotics, industrial drives, smart buildings, and automation.

Peng Zhibo's current research interests also include tactile perception and fine control of robotic dexterous hands, multimodal embodied intelligence foundational models and hierarchical reasoning, generalized physics-informed neural network (PINN) foundational models and applications, and information and physical security in networked embodied intelligent systems.

Peng Zhibo Peking University Website

According to the report, Peng Zhibo received his bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2002. After graduation, he first entered the industry, working as a chip design engineer at Hangzhou Guoxin Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (formerly Hangzhou Guoxin Technology Co., Ltd.), later being promoted to project manager and department manager.

During this time, he led an R&D team of over 80 people, focusing on front-end chip design and system solutions. This team was one of the few in China at that time capable of independently completing large-scale system-on-chip (SoC) designs.

In 2009, Peng Zhibo went to the University of Turku in Finland to pursue a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on innovation and growth. The following year, he enrolled at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden to study for a Ph.D. in Electronics and Computer Systems, earning his MBA master's degree and Ph.D. in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

After obtaining his doctorate, he joined ABB's R&D center in Västerås, Sweden, gradually advancing from a regular scientist to a senior scientist, then to a chief scientist, and finally, in October 2019, he was appointed as a senior principal scientist by ABB's Chief Technology Officer, Bazmi Husain.

Since 2021, Peng Zhibo has held professorial positions at multiple international universities, including the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, focusing on intelligent robotics and autonomous systems, with a focus on embodied intelligence, cloud-edge automation, and 6G secure communication technology.

The new paradigm for industrial control system design he proposed, "Cloud-Fog Automation" (CFA), and the integrated design method, have attracted widespread attention in both the industry and academia. This framework, as a reference architecture for digital industrial automation, through the integrated collaborative design of communication, computing, and control, helps achieve autonomous industrial cyber-physical systems.

The related achievements have been applied in ABB's mobile Yumi collaborative robot and industrial power systems, leading products in the industry, with millions of units installed worldwide, generating hundreds of millions of euros in revenue for the company.

Peng Zhibo's outstanding performance in the field of scientific research has earned him numerous honors: he won the ABB Group's "Inventor of the Year" award three times in 2016, 2018, and 2021. This award is given to researchers worldwide, and his repeated awards are particularly impressive.

He has also led more than 20 research projects funded by the European Union, Sweden, and the ABB Group, with a total funding of over 10 million euros. He holds 25 U.S. and European patents, has published more than 20 international journal and conference papers, and has delivered over 50 keynote or invited speeches at international conferences.

As stated in his personal resume at the end of 2024: "I am a passionate innovator and research leader committed to the digital transformation of industry, with over 20 years of experience working across universities, large enterprises, and startups, covering the entire innovation cycle."

The report points out that Peng Zhibo's return coincides with the clear positioning of intelligent robots as a "disruptive technology leading industrial transformation" under China's national innovation-driven development strategy.

Peking University's School of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics is also a key department that has rapidly developed within the context of China's push for technological innovation.

Last year, the school was upgraded from a department under the School of Engineering to an independent college. On March 24 this year, the Peking University School of Information and Engineering Science was split into three new schools, and the college was officially transferred to the School of Engineering in this adjustment, marking its status as a core platform for research and innovation in engineering at Peking University.

This series of adjustments resonates with China's strategic priorities: the latest "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly emphasizes achieving decisive breakthroughs in key core technologies such as integrated circuits, industrial machinery, advanced materials, and biomanufacturing.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing from October 20 to 23, 2025. The session proposed the main goals for economic and social development during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, which included "a significant improvement in the level of self-reliance and strength in science and technology."

Keywords such as "self-reliance and strength in science and technology," "technology-driven growth," and "self-reliance" quickly appeared in the headlines of major foreign media. These media noted that in the context of increasing geopolitical tensions and uncertainties, China's emphasis on scientific and technological innovation and self-reliance has remained consistent, with policy directions maintaining continuity. Technological upgrades and economic security remain top priorities. Looking back at previous plans, it is not difficult to see that sectors previously prioritized by China, such as electric vehicles and biotechnology, have now significantly enhanced their global competitiveness.

Foreign media pointed out that in the current situation where the United States continues to impose restrictions and pressure in the technology sector, and Sino-U.S. relations are increasingly tense, China has clearly stated its intention to continue implementing industrial policies supporting high-tech manufacturing and vows to accelerate the independent innovation of cutting-edge technologies.

"The overall direction of the new five-year plan is not unexpected, but it clearly highlights China's goal of becoming a highly self-reliant technological power," said Allan von Mehren, Chief Analyst and China Economist at Danske Bank.

Zhu Keli, founder and president of the China New Economy Research Institute, added that by setting these priorities, China aims to achieve a deeper value chain upgrade than just surface-level changes, "This is not simply about industrial substitution, but rather a vertical leap in the industrial chain through technological penetration."

This article is an exclusive contribution from Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7567321842660000290/

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