Tong'an Deploys 'Scenario Lists' to Attract Robotics Firms at Investment Fair
Tong'an District held its investment promotion conference on September 7, 2026, as part of the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade. Unlike previous sessions, the conference did not focus on promoting land or factory space. Instead, it released two lists: 15 scenario opportunities and 16 scenario capabilities.
These include concrete demands such as an embodied intelligence robot training center, smart construction sites, and AI-guided night tours of the ancient city. The district is inviting global companies to propose solutions. By adopting this 'scenario-based investment attraction' model, Tong'an aims to address the most critical pain points of hard-tech companies.
The 15 scenario opportunities cover areas including artificial intelligence, smart construction, clean energy, and smart water conservancy. Among them, the embodied intelligence robot training center and incubation platform seek core technologies such as complete machines, algorithms, simulation platforms, and sensors; the residential projects in the West Lake area need intelligent construction solutions like BIM design, smart site management platforms, and construction robots; and the night tour along the East-West Stream in the ancient city requests AI guides, holographic projection, and IoT perception technologies.
A source from the district's investment center explained that, unlike the traditional method of promoting land and factories, this new approach attracts companies to land precisely with their solutions by showcasing real market demands. Scenario-based investment opens up new space for industrial cooperation and has already brought eight industrial consultants from AI, new materials, and new energy into the fold, injecting fresh momentum into the entire process of resource introduction, project attraction, landing services, and industrial cultivation.
A typical case is Tuoyuan Intelligence, a leading company in embodied intelligence. It landed in Tong'an in December 2025 and built a 2,000-square-meter heterogeneous robot training ground in just six months. The facility started trial operations in June 2026, becoming Xiamen's first embodied intelligence robot training site. It contains ten real scenarios for home, retail, and industrial use, equipped with over 50 sets of robots including humanoid, quadruped, wheeled-arm, and industrial collaborative arms. The training ground integrates data collection, model training, project practice, and innovation incubation.
Designed to address the industry pain point where simulation environments are effective but real-world complex operations often fail, the site can conduct high-intensity real-machine stress tests such as millimeter-level precise operations, dynamic anti-interference, and long-range continuous action chains. Wu Dong, a person in charge at Tuoyuan, said that what companies doing embodied intelligence and robotics need most are specific, long-term scenarios close to manufacturing. He noted that Tong'an's focus on manufacturing gives it clear advantages. Tuoyuan has already cooperated with traditional logistics giants like STO, YTO, ZTO, Yunda, J&T, and China Post, and is in deep contact with robot makers such as Unitree, UBTech, and Tianji.
Behind the 'scenario investment' approach lies a comprehensive support system. Tong'an has set up the 'Five Tong' fund matrix (Tongyan, Tongxin, Tonglian, Tongbao, and Tongchuang) with a total scale of about 9 billion yuan, leveraging over 6 billion yuan in credit funds and serving more than 1,300 companies. The Xiamen Science City Fund Bay, settled in Tong'an Binhai New City since 2022, has seen its fund scale grow by billions of yuan annually, with over 60 registered fund projects and a scale exceeding 55 billion yuan.
Tuoyuan Intelligence is a direct beneficiary. Through the Detao Home Furnishing Industry Investment M&A sub-fund under the district's industrial guidance fund, multiple rounds of additional investment have been made in Tuoyuan, forming a closed loop of 'investment, attraction, reinvestment, and development.' Wu Dong noted that the 'Tongchuang' fund enabled Tuoyuan to receive long-term companion and relay investments from both the district and Xiamen state-owned capital over three consecutive rounds. At the conference, Zhou Guiliang, secretary of the Tong'an District Party Committee, invited global investors to become 'urban development partners' in building a prosperous and beautiful new Tong'an. When real scenarios become the scarcest resource, local governments are replacing 'giving land' with 'giving opportunities' to attract companies—an approach that may be closer to the true needs of hard-tech firms than direct cash.