At the 2020 Science and Technology Innovation Conference in Foshan, Midea was honored with the Benchmark Enterprise of Science and Technology Innovation award, along with an award of 5 million RMB (about $ 730,000), as a technology group with a global development trend. level.
Fang Hongbo, Chairman of Midea Group, mentioned in his speech that Midea's development in recent decades has been based on the practice of scientific and technological innovation. Currently, Midea has established a global innovation network "2 + 4 + N", namely: two global innovation centers in Shunde and Shanghai in China; four global research and development (R&D) centers for all product categories in Louisville (USA), Stuttgart (Germany), Osaka (Japan) and Milan (Italy); as well as 22 R&D centers around the world with more than 15,000 employees.
In 2019, Midea invested RMB 10.5 billion (about US $ 1.5 billion) in R&D, and its total R&D investment has exceeded RMB 40 billion (about US $ 5.8 billion) over the past five years. Thanks to this investment, Midea leads the world in the number of patents for inventions in the home electronics industry. In recent years, with its new business model, Midea has created an “incubator” for many innovative businesses that are in the process of development.
Fan Hongbo stated that Midea has embarked on a massive digital and smart journey this year, with Midea focusing on three innovative platforms in the future, namely the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud sales business and the weather-independent Industrial Internet, striving to create a user-centric and data-driven global technology group.
Midea currently has five core business areas:
- Consumer electronics;
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and building management systems;
- Electrical and mechanized services;
- Robotization and automation;
- Digital innovation.
In the future, Midea will continue to increase its investment in innovation and R&D.