Qingdao-based home appliance maker, Haier Group, has opened China's first research institute for smart home appliances in the port city on Feb 25.

The Haier Industrial Intelligent Industry Research Institute, jointly built by Haier and Qingdao Sino-German Eco-Park, aims to become a smart manufacturing platform featuring technological innovation, public service and industrial incubation.

The research institute will take advantage of Haier's seven Internet factories throughout China to form a new industrial chain and transform mass production into more tailor-made products.

The home appliance giant also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tsinghua University’s High-end Appliance Institute and Fraunhofer, Europe’s largest research institute, at the opening ceremony to deepen cooperation in smart manufacturing and promote the transformation and upgrading of the Chinese manufacturing industry.

The research institute aims to become a smart manufacturing platform featuring technological innovation, public service and industrial incubation.