The robot that played badminton with Premier Li Keqiang during his inspection in Sichuan province last April has been upgraded to the second generation, with optimized computing that enables more precise prediction and swifter movement.

Now it can easily beat anyone without professional training in the field, according to Chengdu Champion Robot Technology Co which manufactures the Robomintoner.

And the third generation is under way, said the company, one of Jingrong makers town’s startup teams in Chengdu, the capital city of the southwestern province.

The Premier’s visit gained huge popularity and recognition for the robot, as well as for the company, said its chief executive, Huang Shan. Her team has now expanded to more than 30 members, tripling the number a few months ago.

Besides the application of robots in athletics, the company also started to focus on the R & D of humanoid robots that can work in other fields, such as robot bank tellers, according to the young entrepreneur.

Huang said the Premier’s inspection in Sichuan encouraged many young makers like her, while further boosting mass entrepreneurship and innovation in the area.

The maker space in Jingrong makers town is one of them.

“Premier Li told me the maker space, a business model that connects sci-tech incubators with colleges and universities, should be promoted nationwide,” said Pan Xihong, CEO of a maker space at Jingrong makers town in Chengdu.

Such maker spaces not only provide office facilities free-of-charge to startups, but offer services such as management training, which greatly helps these companies to grow.

Since the Premier’s visit last April, the maker space has gained great momentum with an increase of 81 projects and over 200 makers settled there by December, according to Pan.

The next step will be to cooperate with financial intuitions, including Huaxi Securities and Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank, in an effort to provide financial support for makers, he added.

Jingrong makers town has housed 1,289 projects involved in a variety of newly emerged industries, such as big data, new material, biomedicine, new energy and internet plus, while introducing 38 incubators and gathering 12,000 makers.

With the spirit of mass entrepreneurship and innovation, the Jingrong makers town has achieved great success to pursue innovative growth by using the idled infrastructure and college resources.

The Premier likened the changes－converting vacant buildings into enterprise bases－to the way new-economy companies go public via reverse mergers with companies in traditional industries.