Operating decision relevance
Beijing wants a robot that can treat a tree in two minutes, equipment that can locate a landfill leak at least 20 meters underground, and software that can help emergency teams assess earthquake damage while offline.
These are among five technology challenges published by the city's science commission on September 17. The attached specifications set out performance targets, project durations and demonstration requirements, with funding ceilings totaling RMB 23 million. Applications close at 17:00 Beijing time on October 13, 2026.
For a company evaluating the Chinese market, the detail is useful. It shows what a public-sector user wants a product to do, how its performance will be tested and the scale at which it is expected to operate.
The five challenges
- Long-lasting poplar and willow fluff suppression, with intelligent treatment equipment
- Funding ceiling: RMB 8 million. Maximum project duration: 2.5 years.
- Municipal pipeline corrosion protection and structural reinforcement under rising groundwater conditions
- Funding ceiling: RMB 4 million. Maximum project duration: 2 years.
- Rapid detection of deep leaks at municipal solid-waste landfills
- Funding ceiling: RMB 3 million. Maximum project duration: 1.5 years.
- Identification and assessment of underused urban land, with decision-support software
- Funding ceiling: RMB 4 million. Maximum project duration: 2 years.
- Earthquake damage assessment and emergency-response equipment
- Funding ceiling: RMB 4 million. Maximum project duration: 2 years.
Robotics with a cost target per tree
The first challenge combines a long-lasting treatment for poplar and willow fluff with equipment to inject it into trees.
The final targets include five engineering prototypes capable of measuring trunk diameter, calculating the required holes and completing treatment in no more than two minutes per tree. Dose error must stay within 5%, and each machine must operate without failure for at least ten hours a day.
The demonstration target reaches at least 30,000 trees across districts including Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Tongzhou and Shunyi. The annual average treatment cost must be no more than RMB 15 per tree.
That combination gives a robotics or precision-dosing team a concrete engineering brief. It needs to explain how its machine performs outdoors, what an operator can achieve in a working day and how the equipment cost translates into treatment cost.
The overall project also includes the treatment formulation and its environmental and tree-health evaluation. A robotics specialist's contribution would sit alongside those capabilities in the team.
Materials and sensing for underground infrastructure
The second challenge covers gas, drainage and heating infrastructure affected by rising groundwater. It calls for adaptive corrosion protection, repair materials that work in wet conditions, and equipment for trenchless structural rehabilitation.
For materials and maintenance-equipment companies, the operating conditions are the useful part of the specification. The city needs products that can be applied to difficult existing infrastructure, with measurable performance after installation.
The landfill challenge is similarly specific. A portable groundwater test must deliver a result within 15 minutes, achieve at least 85% agreement with results from an accredited laboratory and cost no more than RMB 40,000 per unit. A separate detection system must locate deep leaks with horizontal error of no more than three meters, reach at least 20 meters underground and cost no more than RMB 500,000 per unit.
The project requires demonstrations at two or more designated landfills, including different terrain types. Teams working on environmental sensors, subsurface detection or field diagnostics can use these requirements to assess the adaptation their equipment would need.
Two software projects with defined users and deliverables
The land-use challenge calls for a platform that combines multiple sources of urban data to identify underused land and support redevelopment decisions. Deliverables include an assessment-report agent, a policy simulation model and demonstrations in at least three representative areas.
The earthquake project combines rapid assessment, visualization and equipment for offline operation. Deployment is specified at the Beijing Earthquake Agency and at least five district earthquake offices, with at least six integrated hardware-and-software units to be delivered.
These two projects require delivery of source code and supporting technical documentation. The earthquake assessment system also has an explicit requirement for a fully domestic technology stack. Those specifications belong in the initial technical discussion: they determine the deployment architecture and the technology each partner would contribute.
Start with the capability you can contribute
The call requires enterprise-led teams, normally with no more than four registered independent legal entities, working with universities or research institutes. Matching funds must be at least twice the municipal contribution. Each challenge will support one project, with acceptance in real deployment settings and at least two years of subsequent maintenance.
For an overseas specialist, a useful first approach to a prospective Beijing lead is a short technical comparison: the target in the challenge, the product's current performance and the work needed to close the gap.
The application form explicitly asks for comparisons with advanced international products, a division of responsibilities and an agreement on intellectual property. It gives a specialist supplier a clear way to present its contribution within a wider proposal. The proposed entity and participation arrangement can be taken to the relevant challenge contact alongside that technical case.
Applications use the municipal project management system. The published consultation numbers are +86 10 8882 7188 for the tree-treatment challenge, +86 10 8882 7190 for pipeline repair, landfill detection and land-use software, and +86 10 8882 7191 for earthquake response.