The country's first batch of certificates for the profession of intelligent manufacturing and engineering was issued in early July in Tianjin municipality.

A total of 27 local engineers were honored.

The professional certificate is part of the city's efforts to promote intelligent manufacturing industries and attract more talented professionals to the sector, said Zheng Bayin, deputy director of the Tianjin Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

The city has enhanced training and education in the fields of intelligent and digital industries, he said.

"Tianjin has set an ambitious target to cultivate up to 10,000 personnel in the digital and intelligent manufacturing sectors, 5,000 engineers in the digital economy, and 1,000 outstanding digital engineers by the end of 2030."

To date, over 1,000 staff members from 20 big data and intelligent manufacturing companies in Tianjin have participated in the training.

"They have successfully completed the training and national-level technical examinations," he added.

Zhao Dayu, 22, a new employee at Rockcheck Group, a private steel maker, was one of the 27 who joined the training and was the first to earn the certificate.

He said that while studying at Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences, he joined the 90-hour training jointly offered by the bureau, the university and Rockcheck.

"After the training, I was employed by Rockcheck, and I believe artificial intelligence will drive industrial growth," Zhao said.

"I will continue to tackle more challenges and encourage more university students to join the training and conduct in-depth studies."

During the certificate-honoring ceremony on July 6, Zhao and some of his colleagues who graduated from the university were honored with the title of assistant engineer, the basic level of professional engineers in China.

YANG CHENG in Tianjin

yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn