ABT invents things - 'without innovations, we'd die'

"Well, actually, we're not just a glass maker," explained Zhao Qin, the general manager of a Beijing company that produces a special, patented switchable, transparent glass (STG), also known as smart glass.

What Zhao actually meant by "glass" was the stuff you see every day, the stuff you look through, ordinary glass.

What his company, the Beijing All Brilliant Technology Co Ltd (ABT) makes is a type of glass that can alter light transmission with the flick of an electrical switch. This allows the glass to function as a curtain, that is, a person can control the amount of light and heat that passing through a room.