BEIJING, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) Title: Artificial Intelligence Boosts China's Pet Economy
Xinhua reporter Luo Xin
Pilot pet-friendly parks, plans to provide exclusive lawns, splash pads, play slides, swings and other facilities for pets; hold pet fashion week, bringing together domestic and foreign pet fashion brands; release the vision of characteristic towns, focusing on the pet economy as one of the key development directions, and creating a full industry chain of the pet economy... Beijing continues to increase the investment in the development of the pet industry, and accelerate the layout of pet-related facilities.
Recently, the 2025 Pet Industry Science and Technology Innovation and Investment Financing Forum was held in Pangjiazhong Town, Daxing District, Beijing, where participants discussed the development of the "it economy" in the context of the accelerated development of artificial intelligence technology.
Experts at the meeting believe that with the changes of the times and technological breakthroughs, China is undergoing a series of changes in terms of social structure, family structure, and the consumption concept and lifestyle of the common people. This provides new opportunities for the pet economy, which is centered on companionship and can provide emotional and other values.
On October 22nd, in a pet-friendly park in Wangxinzhuang Town, Pinggu District, Beijing, a pet dog drinks water from a water fountain. Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Chao captured the scene.
"The company has witnessed the booming development of China's pet medical market and has also participated in the development of China's pet medical industry," said Lin Yongwei, general manager of the Greater China Division of the French Vialon Group. The rapid development of technologies such as artificial intelligence in China will bring new opportunities to the pet industry's development, he said.
Xie Danyue, an associate professor at Tsinghua University's School of Social Sciences, said pets can bring happiness to their owners and improve their quality of life. With the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence, the pet industry has been innovating and upgrading towards intelligentization and refinement, and the industry's added value has been continuously improving.
"Technologies such as artificial intelligence are changing the way people take care of their pets. Products such as smart pet feeders, smart litter boxes, and pet interaction devices are finding their way into more and more homes," said Guo Weipeng, deputy general manager of Star Pet Kingdom (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. Technology is changing the digital management of pets, such as the pet identity authentication system based on deep learning analysis models, which extracts and identifies pet features to facilitate the search for lost pets.
Data shows that in 2024, the market size of urban dog and cat consumption in China has exceeded 300 billion yuan, and the proportion of service consumption continues to increase. The Chinese pet industry has huge consumer potential.
"More and more businesses such as pet theme parks and cat coffee shops are emerging in urban commercial spaces, which has activated new forms of consumption," said Wang Jian-song, executive president of the Environmental Art Professional Committee of the China Construction and Culture Association. Some places are accelerating the construction of pet-friendly facilities, and we are also using technologies such as artificial intelligence to observe the living traces and various behaviors of pets, striving to create an ideal home for "human-pet coexistence".
March 30, visitors view the photography exhibition of "Garfield" at the Beijing Times Art Museum. Xinhua News Agency reporter Ren Chao took the photo.
The booming "it economy" has also presented opportunities for some Chinese colleges related to it, prompting them to strengthen the integration of industry, education, and research. Vice President Shan Zhengfeng of Nanjing Agricultural University said that in the face of the rapidly growing "blue ocean" of pet consumption market, the school has taken the lead in setting up a companion animal science and innovation class in recent years, offering core courses in companion animal care and management, guiding students to integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence, image recognition, and intelligent diagnosis algorithms, and carrying out innovative designs such as intelligent pet-keeping equipment to proactively connect with industrial needs.
Zhang Shigong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that in the next five years, Beijing will focus on developing the pet economy as an important sector. The city will optimize the innovation and technology ecosystem, accelerate the construction of high-level platforms such as pet industry parks, guide social capital to invest in key areas such as pet breeding innovation, intelligent diagnosis and treatment, and new drug development, and inject vitality into the pet industry.