JILIN CHARTS A COURSE TOWARD GREENER FUTURE

Northeast China province pioneers tackling environmental issues and fostering quality innovation

Tech breakthroughs give region edge in competitive domestic, global market

Sticking to an innovation-driven strategy, Northeast China's Jilin province has made breakthroughs in manufacturing of rail transit equipment, commercial remote sensing satellites and precise instruments, in an effort to put itself among the top performers in China and in the world.

The province has also set up laboratories and innovation centers to nurture a group of companies in the fields of big data, cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, bio-medicine and modern agriculture to fuel growth and generate new economic engines.

Chang Guang Satellite, founded in 2014 in Changchun, the capital city of Jilin, independently developed the Jilin 1 satellite. Jilin 1 is the country's first commercial high-definition remote-sensing satellite, and was launched into the space in October 2015.

On June 5, 2019, the Jilin 1 03A satellite was sent into space. The newly launched commercial satellite, with a ground resolution of more than 1.1 meters, sent back high-definition images by the next day, demonstrating a stable working status. Thirteen satellites in the Jilin 1 family are now in orbit.

"We have made three big leaps in satellite development technologies," said Jia Hongguang, deputy general manager of the company.

The resolution of the satellites has been improved from the first batch's 0.72 m to the second batch's 1 m and to the latest more than 1.1 m, Jia said. Meanwhile, the weight of the satellite continues to drop. The first batch weighed 420 kilograms each, the second batch was 208 kg each and the latest weighs only 40 kg, one of the lightest in the world with equivalent technical indicators.

Jilin 1 family satellites have been used for remote sensing more than 20,000 times by governments, research institutes, universities and industrial users since 2015, according to the Jilin government.

More importantly, the company has nurtured more than 100 suppliers, propping up the industries of optical manufacturing, precise processing, electronic information and new materials in Jilin, said Zhang Xiaoxu, director of equipment and industry office at Jilin Industry and Information Technology Department.

"The core components of the satellites, including the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor image sensor, flywheel and carbon fiber structural parts, can be supplied by companies in Jilin," Zhang said.

Chang Guang is working on a commercial small carrier rocket and is expected to test-launch it by the end of this year.

When the launch happens, it will make Jilin the only province in China to develop a full chain of commercial satellites from the remote sensing satellites to the research, launch and operation of the small carrier rocket, Zhang said.

Innovation leaders

CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, a State-owned railway equipment manufacturer, is a world leader in the sector. It developed the Fuxing bullet train which can travel at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour. It can also make maglev vehicles, a technology grasped by just a few countries.

The railway equipment manufacturer has also carried out research on train materials and components. It produced the nation's first mass transit vehicle fully made of aluminum alloy and upgraded the carbon-steel body of mass transit vehicles to stainless steel. The company also made an attempt at using carbon fiber in subway vehicles.

"The company has received great support from the provincial government in terms of basic R&D and design, so it can solve problems and make progress in the core technologies such as in the engine drawing, braking and network control," Zhang said.

The company is working on a cross-border high-speed train capable of traveling 400 km/h. The project is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

This year, a new high-speed train developed by CRRC Changchun is being tested. The train will serve the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway, a route linking the two host cities of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Changchun-based GeneScience Pharmaceuticals, established in 1996, has grown into one of the top biopharmaceutical companies in China.

About 80 percent of its new medicines in gene engineering are the first of their kind in the domestic or global markets, according to the company.

Their products so far have been sold to 17 countries and regions, with sales revenue growing at a rate of 30 to 50 percent annually for the past 16 years.

"Our innovation heavily relies on our R&D team and continuous input," said Li Chunmei, assistant to the general manager of GeneScience.

The company has built a 500-member R&D team centered around 15 doctorate degree holders. The company said 10 percent of its annual sales will be invested in new product development. In 2018 alone, nearly 300 million yuan ($43.5 million) was invested in R&D.

Jilin Chemical Fiber Group has been a national leader in large-tow carbon fiber production. It set up a joint venture with Jinggong Group to build a large-tow carbon fiber production plant which will have a production capacity of 8,000 metric tons a year. Total investment in the project will reach 1.8 billion yuan, according to the company.

Government efforts

The Jilin government has firmly implemented an innovation-driven strategy and highlighted the role of technologies in supply-side reform and industrial upgrading since late 2012.

Jilin has set up nine provincial-level key laboratories to lead research in the fields of big data, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing and precise medicine. It also set up 12 provincial technological innovation centers to boost development in the sectors of equipment production, bio-medicine and modern agriculture.

The province also built 27 work stations for academicians to attract top-notch talent and professionals, an amount five times higher than five years ago, according to government figures.

The provincial government has attached great importance to making sure that its efforts in piloting test results, R&D and achievements, as well as fostering startups, can be viable commercially.

A total of 426 companies, including Chang Guang, and innovation platforms, including high-tech parks, technology transfer centers and technological innovation bases, are settled in an integrated innovation compound encouraged by the local government, which together can generate nearly 3.3 billion yuan industrial output a year.

The government is also putting its weight behind big data and e-commerce, in order to make them new areas of growth for the local economy.

Changchun New Area signed an agreement with a local company last June to build a big data industrial park to promote regional smart governance and digital economy.

In July last year, the Northeast China ecology big data center was launched in Changchun, aiming to use new generation information technology, including cloud computing, internet of things, mobile internet and big data analysis, to create a new management mode for the forestry industry.

hanjunhong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/05/2019 page6)