Opportunities and challenges coexist in China's sc

China's scientific instrument industry has both opportunities and challenges. Academician Wang Daheng, a famous scientist, once pointed out that instruments are tools for understanding the world, machines are tools for transforming the world, and transforming the world often starts from understanding the world. Scientific instruments have expanded the ability of human beings to understand the world. They are known as the "leader" and "cornerstone" of national innovation driven development, the "multiplier" and "booster" of economic development and industrial transformation and upgrading, and also an effective "political chip" in the game of big countries

Nian Fushun, chief researcher of the 41st Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Corporation, said in an exclusive interview with China United Business Daily that the country has given multi-level and multi-directional support to the development of scientific instrument industry, the independent innovation ability of high-end instruments has been strengthened, and the instrument industry has made considerable progress. However, it is worth noting that 90% of China's instrument market is monopolized by foreign companies. It is hoped that with the support of relevant national scientific research plans, the scientific instrument industry can rise rapidly, make major breakthroughs, and change the current passive situation controlled by others

challenges and problems

the world scientific instrument market is monopolized by large foreign instrument companies. The development of scientific instruments in the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries is in the forefront of the world, leading the development of scientific instruments and monopolizing the world instrument market. 90% of China's instrument market is monopolized by foreign companies. In the face of huge market pressure, embargoes and blockades in developed countries and strong competition from large foreign instrument companies, Chinese scientific instruments can only survive in the cracks

first of all, from the development of China's scientific instrument industry, Nian Fushun pointed out that the first is the market share. 90% of China's instrument market is monopolized by foreign companies, and there is no retreat for domestic scientific instruments. It is hoped that with the support of relevant national scientific research plans, the medium and long-term energy science and technology development strategy and development plan to 2020 will be formulated, so that the scientific instrument industry can rise rapidly, make major breakthroughs, and change the current passive situation controlled by others

second, independent innovation. The development of scientific instruments in China is still in the tracking development stage. The scientific instrument market is led by foreign instrument companies, and the market response speed is always half a beat. The scientific and technological innovation ability of scientific instruments is still relatively weak. It is dominated by following, and there are few parallel and leading

third, quality reliability. At present, the reliability, stability, repeatability, producibility and other quality problems of scientific instruments are prominent issues of common concern to users. Many users still have the impression of domestic instruments 10 or even 20 years ago. In recent years, the reliability design of scientific instruments in China has been comprehensively strengthened, and the reliability of products has been significantly improved. The average annual product failure rate has been reduced from more than 10% to a few%, but users generally reflect that the stability and repeatability of instruments need to be further improved

fourth, the problem of autonomy and controllability. The problem of self-control of instruments needs to be solved urgently, and there is still the problem of "hollowing out". With the support of relevant national scientific research plans, important progress has been made in key materials, key components, core components, embedded computers, operating systems, etc. for scientific instruments, but some key core components of instruments still rely on foreign imports

fifth, the problem of leading enterprises. There are few large leading instrument enterprises in China, lack of international famous brands, low overall credibility, small industrial scale, weak market operation ability, low market share, few small enterprises with distinctive professional characteristics, and fewer large enterprises with annual sales of more than 1billion yuan

sixth, the problem of high-end instrument talents. China's scientific instrument industry is short of high-level innovative talents. The number of employees in the whole industry is less than that of a foreign company, and the quality and innovation ability of talents cannot be compared with foreign large instrument companies

secondly, from the external constraints of the development of scientific instruments, Nian Fushun believes that the first is the weak industrial foundation. There are still some problems in China, such as weak basic conditions of key materials, devices, components and processes, and backward design methods. The key components, core components and operating system software used in high-end instruments have the problem of "hollowing out", and the high-end instruments still rely on foreign imports for digital circuit, analog circuit and microwave circuit design simulation software, structural design and simulation software, precision processing equipment, etc

second, the intensity of scientific research investment is low. The scientific and technological innovation of China's scientific instrument enterprises fully depends on national investment, and the "hematopoietic" ability of scientific instruments is weak. The investment intensity of instrument scientific research is low, and the five-year scientific and technological investment of national scientific instrument projects is less than that of a large foreign instrument company

third, scientific research investment is extremely scattered. After the reform of the national scientific research system, a fair and open competition mechanism has been introduced, which has effectively mobilized the enthusiasm of the majority of scientific research workers. There are more units to apply for, and a wide range of choices. There are limited scattered investment and repeated investment of scientific research funds. In addition, domestic scientific instrument enterprises have few alliances, and they fight their own battles. It is difficult to form a joint force, and it is difficult to form the ability and strength to compete with large international companies

fourth, the application and transformation of achievements. The main body of scientific and technological innovation of scientific instruments is scientific research institutions and colleges and universities. Instrument enterprises, especially private instrument enterprises, have weak competitiveness in scientific research projects and few opportunities to get support from national scientific and technological projects. At present, the application and transformation mechanism of combining production, study, research and application of scientific instruments has not been fully established, and the application and transformation of scientific and technological achievements and market development need to be strengthened

fifth, market promotion. In the bidding process for the procurement of supporting instruments and equipment for technological transformation projects and key engineering scientific research projects of scientific research and production units, many units do not start from the actual needs, but unilaterally "catch up with the new", "catch up with the high" and "catch up with the whole", and use various reasons to restrict the shortlist of domestic instruments while ensuring that additives have a suitable performance price ratio, directly or indirectly putting domestic instruments in a disadvantageous competitive position

measures and suggestions

China's scientific instruments market has great potential, and the demand for instruments is very strong, which has become a strong driving force for the growth of world instruments. According to incomplete statistics, the purchase cost of instruments and equipment in China's scientific research accounts for about 60%, and the purchase cost of instruments in the investment of scientific research funds accounts for about 25%. According to the relevant statistics of the customs, the cost of importing instruments from abroad is about 80billion yuan every year, and is increasing year by year. Facing the huge market demand and development space, Nian Fushun put forward the following suggestions:

cultivate the world's influential cutting-edge instrument enterprises. It is suggested that the relevant national scientific research plans should be used intensively, limited funds should be concentrated, scientific research investment should be concentrated, the construction of basic guarantee conditions should be strengthened, national instrument R & D centers and national instrument large-scale mass production bases should be established, and the world-famous large-scale integrated instrument enterprises and distinctive small and medium-sized instrument enterprises should be cultivated in accordance with the national development strategy of "cultivating a number of cutting-edge scientific instrument manufacturing enterprises", Build a world-famous instrument brand

establish industrial alliances to achieve independent development. It is suggested to establish the alliance of production, study, research and application of domestic instruments, jointly plan the development of domestic scientific instruments, strengthen the exchange and cooperation between scientific instrument development units and units such as materials, components, key core components and computer software and hardware, jointly study the independent development strategy of scientific instruments, formulate the road map of independent and controllable development of scientific instruments, support each other, complement each other's advantages, and jointly explore the road of independent development of scientific instruments

strengthen the construction of independent innovation capacity and shorten the gap with foreign countries. Strengthen the research on common basic technologies of scientific instruments, strengthen the research and development of innovative technologies, realize the transformation from independent research and development to independent innovation, and rank among the world's advanced instruments. Talent is the key to innovative development. We should strengthen the construction of talent team in application basic research, technology research, product development, engineering design, production and manufacturing, market development, product sales and services, and coordinate the development of all kinds of talents

practice internal skills and create excellent instruments. Guided by the market demand, select a large number of instrument products, create high-quality products, improve the performance index, improve the quality reliability, enhance the user experience link, and create high-quality instruments that are solid, durable, easy to use, and users are willing to use

introduce relevant policies to support the development of high-end instruments. It is suggested to strengthen the support for high-end scientific instruments, increase the investment intensity of scientific research funds for high-end instruments, and create high-end instruments. Increase the investment intensity of technological transformation of instrument enterprises, improve the design and simulation ability of high-end instruments, and improve the process manufacturing level. Reduce and exempt taxes for high-end scientific instrument enterprises, give autonomy to high-end instrument enterprises and institutions, and reduce the burden on high-end instrument enterprises

encourage the use of domestic instruments and promote the development of national instruments. It is suggested to select excellent domestic instruments and issue a list of domestic instruments. All instruments listed in the list, such as recycled equipment in factories, should be purchased first. For instruments that must be imported from abroad, a strict review system should be established to turn off the main motor source. For the procurement of scientific instruments supporting national technological transformation, major and vertical scientific research projects, the minimum localization proportion should be set, and the localization proportion should be gradually increased according to the development of domestic scientific instruments and equipment, so as to effectively protect the development of domestic instruments

(source: China United Business Daily)