(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-30 17:03

NINGBO -- China's national science academy kicked off here Friday a new research institute on materials research and development, bolstering one of the strongest economic powerhouses of the country.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) mandates its new research entity, Zhejiang Institute of Material Technology and Engineering (ZIMTE), to integrate cutting-edge material technologies to help regional economy sharpen its competitiveness.

The new institute is the first of six research bodies that the CAS has prepared to build in the most prosperous cities along the east coast. All of those newly-built research capabilities are aimed at bringing more high technologies to industry and studying issues of sustained development, such as clean energy and urban planning.

Zhejiang, which saw the fastest-growing economy in the latest decades, lacks innovation capability with no national research bodies being deployed in the past. Cheap labor and wise use of investment in the southeast coastal province helped shape a vigorous private economy featuring manufacturing.

Lu Yongxiang, the CAS president, said at an inaugural ceremony for the new institute, the ZIMTE should not only work on the most advanced material technologies, but also supply regional companies with an easily-accessible platform for technological upgrades and innovation.

The ZIMTE is also expected, as defined by Lu, to integrate and commercialize material technologies developed by other CAS labs nationwide for tailored use of local companies.

The CAS, which groups nearly 100 research institutes with billions of yuan of research and development funds annually, is now trying to suit itself to more missions which bear strategic importance for national economic and social advancement, in addition to basic research out of scientists' sheer curiosity.

The CAS, together with the Zhejiang Provincial government, prepared to build the mostly mission-oriented institute three and half years ago.

In the preparatory period, the institute, which has employed five leading material scientists from global labs and 17 outstanding principal investigators, forged technological and industrial alliances with the most competitive companies in the region. The institute also helps those companies to build highly innovative engineering centers.

Ningbo Mayor Mao Guanglie said the CAS institute is becoming an innovative engine for his city, citing the joint research and development programs between the ZIMTE and competitive local companies.