Who will win the innovation race? “If we do not cooperate with China, we will be wiped out in Europe.”
June 1, 2025 | Veerle De Vos | 8:40
In recent years, China has been focusing all its efforts on innovation. The country aims to transform itself from the world’s factory into a leader in new technology and is investing heavily in AI, robotics, and electric cars. The province of West Flanders, led by Governor Carl Decaluwé, traveled to the city of Hangzhou in eastern China, the new ‘Silicon Valley,’ to witness this transformation firsthand. The latest episode of the VRT NWS podcast ‘China Beyond the Wall’ explores whether Europe is losing the innovation race against China.
Day 1: the “dark factory”
“What was your first memory of China?” one of the participants asks me on the first day. I think back to my arrival at Wuhan airport in the first half of the 1990s, a sort of hangar where suitcases were roughly thrown on the ground because the only baggage belt was broken.
Hangzhou Airport, where the participants from West Flanders arrive, has four terminals and is connected to the city center via an elevated highway and a metro line.
The first stop on this “exclusive innovation trip” is a so-called ‘dark factory’. Robam is a company that manufactures modern kitchen appliances without the need for a single worker. In the dark factory, dozens of robots are at work while robotic carts speed back and forth between the various conveyor belts.
260 people used to work here, now only 10. By no longer turning on the lights, the factory also saves on electricity.
More: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/05/31/wie-wint-de-innovatierace-als-we-niet-samenwerken-met-china-wo/