Global Technology Innovation Turns to Be More Vigorous

By Wang Lili

Under the background of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and vigorous industrial transformation， integrating into the global innovation network and strengthening scientific and technological innovation cooperation among countries have become important theme of the times.

The 2022 Global Future Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Conference was held in Beijing on July 29. Themed “Technology Empowers the Future， Innovation Leads Development，” this conference was co-hosted by the CCPIT， the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce， China Association for Science and Technology， Peoples Government of Beijing Municipality， the World Intellectual Property Organization， and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. Representatives from Chinese and foreign government departments， global science and technology and industrial circles attended the meeting online and offline. The representatives had extensive and in-depth exchanges and discussions on topics about how to promote world scientific and technological cooperation and solve important global issues through scientific and technological innovation.

Respond to global challenges through scientific and technological innovation

On the day of the conference， Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter to Global Future Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Conference. In his congratulatory letter， Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that scientific and technological innovation is a powerful driving force for the develop- ment and progress of human society. At present， the global and regional situations are undergoing profound and complex changes， and the world economic growth has slowed down significantly. At the same time， a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are advancing by leaps and bounds， scientific research paradigms are undergoing profound changes， and interdisciplinary integration is constantly developing. All countries need to strengthen scientific and technological openness and cooperation， jointly address global challenges through scientific and technological innovation， and promote world peace and development.

Li Keqiang said that Chinas scientific and technological development benefits from openness and cooperation， and the worlds scientific and technological progress would be impossible without China. China has established scientific and technological cooperation relations with more than 160 countries and regions. In the next step， we will implement a more open， inclusive and mutually beneficial international scientific and technological cooperation strategy， promote global scientific and technological innovation with a more open attitude， actively integrate into the global innovation network， enhance cooperation in basic research， technological innovation and achievement transformation， promote exchanges and mutual visits of scientific researchers， and work with other countries to create an open， fair and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development. China will continue to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights， create a first-class innovation environment， provide a broad platform for global innovation and entrepreneurship， and let scientific and technological achievements benefit both China and the world.

In the opening speech of the conference， Gao Yunlong， Deputy Chairman of the CPPCC and Chairman of All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce， said that the world is facing a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation， the scientific research is undergoing deep changes and interdisciplinary integration keeps developing， and the science and technology are intermingled with social and economic development. Innovation-driven development and cooperation for win-win results have become the trend of the time.

“China has always been an advocate of global openness and cooperation， a participant in scientific and technological governance， and a contributor to innovation and development. We have deeply implemented the scientific and technological cooperation partnership program， and worked with more than 160 countries and regions in science and technology development. We have regularly held joint committees on scientific and technological cooperation with 90 countries and regions， and signed 115 inter-governmental scientific and technological cooperation agreements.” Gao Yunlong said that in the future， China will implement a more open， inclusive and mutually beneficial international science and technology cooperation strategy， and the door of Chinas science and technology will be opened much wider.

Regarding the promotion of international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation， Gao Yunlong proposed that “we should stimulate the potential of scientific and technological innovation with the improvement of mechanism， enhance the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation through cooperation and exchange，improve governance to empower scientific and technological innovation， and strengthen the cultivation and encour agement of scientific and technological innovation. We are willing to work with counterparts from more countries， learn more about from the advanced international experiences， share more Chinese scientific and technological achievements with the world， and strive to make more contributions to the worlds scientific and technological progress.”

Ban Ki-moon， former secretarygeneral of the United Nations， said that the science and technology have been making amazing progress in the world. The development of artificial intelligence， unmanned driving and digital robots has brought great influence to the whole society. These new technologies have played a positive role in promoting the development of economy， society， culture， sports， health and many other fields. Chinas continuous development in science and technology has made great contributions to the realization of the sustainable development goals in the world. “We hope that Chinas scientific and technological development and other international cooperation will help create a better future for the world.” Ban Ki-moon believes that there will be broader space for cooperation between China and other countries in the fields of renewable energy development， carbon capture and storage technology， hydrogen power generation， batteries and other high-end industries， to promote world sustainable development and cope with the climate crisis.

Promote sustainable development

The current international situation is undergoing profound and complex evolution， and world economic growth is slowing down. At the same time， a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation have advanced by leaps and bounds， scientific research paradigms have undergone profound changes， and interdisciplinary integration has continued to develop. How to promote global economic recovery and achieve sustainable development in the post pandemic era， the participants to the conference shared the view that scientific and technological innovation will play an important role in this process.

Gerd Mueller， Director-General of United Nations Industrial Development Organization， said that the digital transformation has once again changed the way people live， work and communicate. People need to better apply advanced technologies to food security， energy， smart cities and climate change. As long as we work hard to create new forms of cooperation， more countries and people will benefit from scientific and technological innovation activities.

Bai Chunli， Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences， said that when the world is heading towards the sustainable development， there are still some issues such as unbalanced development， correlation but conflicts between different goals， and lack of data， which hinder the sustainable development. The global spread of COVID-19 pandemic has intensified such challenges.“At present， the economic development mode that consumes a lot of resources and destroys the ecological environment is difficult to sustain. We need the science and technology to develop new sources of energy， make reasonable use of the natural resources and form a new production model with less input and more output， and consumption model with less emissions and low energy consumption. The purpose is to achieve green， low-carbon and scientific development.”

Daniel Kammen， senior adviser of energy innovation of USAID， said in his video speech that the cost of renewable energy and energy storage has dropped rapidly in the past 10 years. The prices of solar energy and batteries have dropped by 90%， and the price of wind energy has decreased by 60%. “This is a real innovation， but we need to do much more than just reduce costs. We need to enhance work deployment. Now， it is cheaper to build renewable energy systems around the world than simply operating fossil fuel plants. This undoubtedly provides a great opportunity to develop the new energy in the longer term.”

Enhance international cooperation in science and technology

In todays world， innovation and development are increasingly generated through the cooperation of innovators from different countries， regions and enterprises. Dr. Edmund Phelps， winner of the Nobel Prize in economics， pointed out that in order to absorb more peoples innovative ideas， countries need to formulate and implement more inclusive rules to improve the market productivity of patent licensing and transfer. “This process of exploration will bring changes to the trade system and promote the economic prosperity of the world.”

“International cooperation in scientific and technological innovation is not only a successful way to resolve the common crisis of mankind， but also the common responsibility of the world science and technology circles to meet future challenges.” Zhang Guihua， Secretary of the Secretariat of the China Association for Science and Technology， said that at present， a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has seen historical opportunities. Technological breakthroughs in basic research have become the focus of the global science and technology circles， and the global science and technology innovation has become increasingly active. Also， the rapid upgrading of artificial intelligence， life science and other has brought new opportunities and challenges to all countries. International cooperation in science and technology has entered a deep and complex evolution period. Under such a great change， science and technology organizations of all countries should strengthen cooperation in business practice and academic research， cultivate forward-looking basic research， produce more disruptive innovation achievements， build more organizational carriers and platforms in strategic sources， community development， journal construction， science and technology awards， and expand new space for cooperative development.

At present， a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are undergoing rapid development， and the development of intelligent manufacturing requires the in-depth implementation of the innovation driven strategy and the strengthening of open cooperation in science and technology innovation. It also requires an integrated planning of basic research， application development and technology innovation， and also the industrial technological reform and upgrading that focus on intelligent manufacturing. As a representative from the business community， Yu Feng， President of Honeywell （China） Co.， Ltd.， shared his understanding of intelligent manufacturing： first， enterprises must lay a good foundation for intensive production to practice intelligent manufacturing； second， practice is the only standard to test the effectiveness of intelligent manufacturing solutions； third， intelligent manufacturing is not unmanned manufacturing. The ultimate goal is to seamlessly integrate human and machine to realize the maximum utility. “Intelligent manufacturing cannot be separated from scientific and technological innovation， as it is a type of innovation itself. Also， the scientific and technological innovation provides unlimited imagination， application and growing space for intelligent manufacturing.” Yu Feng said.

Tom Simpson， Chief Representative China-Britain Business Council in China， said， “we believe that the areas with the greatest growth potential include digital transformation， autonomous driving， new energy vehicles， medical technology and education technology. British enterprises have advantages in these fields， and many of them are seeking more trade and investment opportunities in China.”

Promote cooperation between business practice and academic research

Chinas private enterprises are important entities to make scientific and technological innovations， and also engage into international cooperation in science and technology. The data shows that private enterprises account for 80% of Chinas “specialized， fined， peculiar and new” and small giant enterprises， 90% of high-tech enterprises， and 98% of small and medium-sized science and technology enterprises.

Lenovo is one of the leading private enterprises of China. Ning Min， Chairman of Lenovo Holdings Co.， Ltd.， said that Lenovo holdings has been actively promoting the integration between digital transformation between real practices， and empowering more industries and enterprises with its own experiences.

For example， Lenovo Group， a subsidiary of Lenovo holdings， has independently developed an intelligent manufacturing management system， which raised the efficiency of processing orders by 24%， reduced the number of backlog orders by 20%， shortened the production scheduling time by 67%， and improved the production efficiency by 18%. Also， Lenovo Group has applied its computing technology and industrial operation experiences to more than 300 enterprises and institutions such as Sany Heavy Industry， China Minmetals Corporation， Great Wall Motor， Longping High-tech， Peking University and Shanghai Jiaotong University.

In addition to practical innovation， Lenovo holdings has also made arrangements in industrial operation and incubation. For example， Lenovo Group established Dingdao Smart Chip Company； Lenovo Capital & Incubator Group made investments in Cambricon Technologies， Beijing Ned Ltd.， SmartSens Technology and Taifang Technology； Levima Advanced Materials made new progress in new material sector. Also， the fund firms under the Lenovo holdings keep focusing on semiconductors， integrated circuit and other areas.

Zhang Jianqiu， senior executive president of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group， introduced that Yili Group has implemented an ecological agriculture mode of “integrating planting and breeding” in the upper reaches of the industrial chain； it has been improving the utilization efficiency of new energy and resource through digital technologies in the middle reaches of the industrial chain； it has achieved whole-life-cycle carbon neutralization in its “zero carbon”products in the downstream of the industrial chain， which has effectively reduced carbon emissions.

During the conference， Jiang Lei， academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Head of the School of Future Technology of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences， issued the Strategic Development Layout of Bionic Interface Science and future Technology on behalf of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. In addition， the atlas of Chinas scientific and technological innovation was also released at the conference. Zhao Zhiyun， director of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Research Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology， introduced that the China Science and technology innovation atlas is a decisionsupport platform launched by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China. It is based on the institutes own science and technology big data resources and focused on science and technology innovation governance of the new era.

It is reported that Chinas science and technology innovation atlas has gathered the detailed， high-precision and multi-dimensional data about science and technology innovation chains collected by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China in the past 70 years. At the same time， it combines the underlying technology of artificial intelligence and science and technology policy research to build a targeted tool set and enable the transformation of data into decision-making evidence with diverse dimensions and clear chain of thoughts.