Chapter 717: The Road to Independent Innovation

Chapter 715 The Road to Independent Innovation

In the enterprise forum, Li Weidong also reminded relevant departments and many entrepreneurs not to believe too much in the global supply chain. As for whether they are willing to believe and respond, it depends on their own fortune.

After the enterprise forum, Li Weidong came to Tsinghua University non-stop.

In the office, Professor Zhuang held a technical catalog and marked it.

After a while, Professor Zhuang returned the technical catalog to Li Weidong, and said at the same time: Chairman Li, we can help you solve these checked projects; these circled projects can help you through research and development. fixed;

Those with question marks are likely to be solved for you after research and development. This is not 100%; only those with cross marks are really powerless on my side, at least in recent years, technological breakthroughs have not been achieved.

Li Weidong took the technical catalog, looked at the large cross marks and question marks on it, and smiled bitterly.

The sensor company invested by Li Weidong in the special zone has been in operation for a period of time, but so far it can only produce low-end products, which is still far from mid-range products, and even less close to high-end products.

The demand for sensors in the market is also mainly in the mid-range. As for high-end sensors, although the demand is not large, the profit is very considerable.

In the low-end sensor market, the competition is very fierce, and the profit is still thin.

Li Weidong has invested more than one billion yuan. Although it is only a drop in the bucket for the entire sensor industry, Li Weidong must not be reconciled to spending more than one billion yuan just to make low-end sensors.

So Li Weidong contacted a professor at Tsinghua University who was engaged in this research, hoping to get technical support.

Colleges and universities are naturally very welcome to well-known domestic entrepreneurs like Li Weidong, God of Wealth, who doesn't like it.

So Li Weidong quickly connected with this Professor Zhuang. Professor Zhuang is a professor of the Department of Precision Instruments of Tsinghua University, and he can be regarded as a relatively authoritative person in the field of sensor research in China.

However, the results did not satisfy Li Weidong. Domestic research on sensors still lags behind developed countries. Many technical difficulties Li Weidong faces cannot be solved by domestic scientific research teams.

The sensor was developed, originally for industrial production. In the industrial production process, it is necessary to control the parameters on the production node.

Therefore, the development of sensors was born. Therefore, industrial sensors are mainly aimed at the four industrial parameters of flow, level, temperature and pressure.

After entering the field of daily use, the detection information of the sensor has been subdivided, mainly including sound sensitivity, light sensitivity, heat sensitivity, force sensitivity, magnetic sensitivity, gas sensitivity, humidity sensitivity, pressure sensitivity, ion sensitivity and radiation sensitivity.

The first-generation sensor is a structural sensor, which mainly uses changes in structural parameters to sense and transform signals. There is no technical difficulty in this thing, and anyone who studies applied physics can make a lot of it.

The second-generation sensor is a solid-state sensor, which uses solid components such as semiconductors, dielectrics, and magnetic materials. Later, with the development of integrated circuits, integrated sensors also appeared.

Integrated sensors are also the most demanded type in the market. China can only produce low-end products, and 80% of high-end products need to rely on imports.

The third-generation sensor is the so-called smart sensor, which has self-diagnosis function, memory function, multi-parameter measurement function, network communication function and so on.

The technology content of smart sensors is relatively high, and the cost is also high. Basically, they will not be used in the household field, and basically only some high-tech commercial or military equipment will use smart sensors.

China's sensors started relatively late, and only began to develop after the reform and opening up. During the Sixth Five-Year Plan, the Chinese Academy of Sciences began to study force-sensitive sensors made of silicon materials. At that time, only silicon wafers of 10 mm by 10 mm were made.

It was not until the Seventh Five-Year Plan that 2-inch silicon chips were solved, and only during the Ninth Five-Year Plan were 4-inch chips realized. At the same time, developed countries in the West have begun small-scale mass production of MEMS chips.

So at that time, China's sensors were indeed lagging behind those of developed countries, and the degree of backwardness was probably no less than that of the chip industry. Therefore, even if he went to Tsinghua University, the most high-end institution in China, he could not solve the problems Li Weidong encountered.

Looking at the circles and crosses on the technical list, Li Weidong estimated in his heart that even if Professor Zhuang is given tens of millions of scientific research funds, the problems that can be solved are very limited.

So Li Weidong asked, Professor Zhuang, I took a quick look. There are far more cross marks and question marks than check marks, which means that many technical problems cannot be solved. I don't know if you have any questions. There is no other suggestion, help me with these problems.

Professor Zhuang thought for a while and said: Technology research and development is always a process of accumulation, but many times, spending money and time on research and development may not necessarily get the desired results.

So isn’t there a saying that has been circulating that ‘it’s better to buy it than to make it’, since we can’t make it ourselves, we just spend money to buy it! If possible, purchasing mature technology directly from abroad is the most convenient and possibly the cheapest way.

I have also considered introducing foreign advanced technology, but many core technologies in sensors are in the United States. Even if we want to buy them, American companies are not willing to sell the technology to us. More importantly, there is the Wassenaar Agreement .”

Li Weidong said with a long sigh, and continued: The Wassenaar Agreement defines sensors as a key technology, and it is listed as a separate item. The content about sensors is more than 40 pages. There is Wassenaar Agreement In China, it is very difficult for our Chinese companies to obtain high-end sensor technology.

...

During the Cold War, in order to impose embargoes and trade restrictions on socialist countries, Western countries set up a Paris Coordinating Committee, also known as Batumi. This organization established a separate China Committee in 1952, which is said to be a body that specifically targets China's embargo.

China is not uncommonly stuck by Batumi. In addition to weapons, cutting-edge technology products and rare materials are also on the embargo list, with a total of tens of thousands of products. Back then, China relied on abacus to calculate the parameters of the atomic bomb because Batumi banned the sale of computers to China.

Batumi is a product of the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and all member states of the Soviet Union, including Russia, also tried to fall to the West. Batumi has lost the value of existence, so Western countries have engaged in this The Wassenaar Agreement.

As far as the terms of the Wassenaar Agreement are concerned, there is actually no formal list of countries under control, and the Wassenaar Agreement also has a so-called each country handles itself principle, that is, member states can refer to the common control The principles and checklists decide on their own the measures and methods of implementing export control, and approve their own export licenses by themselves.

But in the actual operation process, this each country handles it by itself is nonsense, and the United States must have the final say. So even if the member states of the Wassenaar Agreement decide to sell a certain technology to China on their own, the United States will intervene.

In the field of science and technology and military affairs, the Wassenaar Agreement has not stopped China's neck, seriously hindering China's development, just like the chip industry, which is the industry most affected by the Wassenaar Agreement.

But this Wassenaar Agreement also forced China to carry out independent innovation, and finally achieved complete autonomy in many fields. When China's technology matured, it robbed the Western market instead.

From this perspective, the Wassenaar Agreement is not completely negative for China. Without the Wassenaar Agreement, perhaps in many areas, China would still be unable to rely on itself.

Although the Wassenaar Agreement is aimed at China, it also stimulates China's technological innovation and development. In the long run, the Wassenaar Agreement forces China to be self-reliant, which can be regarded as helping China.

However, there is one country that is a pure victim of the Wassenaar Agreement, and that is Japan.

In the 20th century, Japan was not inferior to the United States in terms of technology, and even surpassed the United States in scientific research in many fields. Even after the lost thirty years, Japan can still rely on its laurels and stand at the forefront of the world in many high-tech fields. This also shows from the side how powerful Japan's technology was back then.

However, the development of science and technology must ultimately serve the economy. If the results of scientific and technological research cannot bring economic benefits, the significance of scientific research will be greatly reduced.

Although Japan's technology is powerful, Japan's domestic market is too small. Even if more than 100 million people are high-income groups, it still cannot bring enough economic benefits to scientific research.

It is also doomed that Japan's scientific research results need to be released to other markets in order to generate enough benefits to maintain the sustainable development of scientific research.

Therefore, Japan is keen to invest in the world. While investing overseas, they also bring a lot of technology abroad, making use of the huge foreign market and Japan's own technological advantages to obtain high profits.

There is a folk saying that besides Japan itself, there is another Japan overseas. This refers to the huge profits Japan has made overseas.

But no matter how rich Japan is, it can't stand the United States cutting leeks every three days. The Plaza Accord in the 1980s harvested Japanese leeks, and the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s also harvested Japanese overseas leeks.

After these two crops of leeks are harvested, Japan's vitality will be severely damaged, and new growth points are needed to maintain the original development trend. And China was clearly the best place to invest at that time.

China's economic growth in those two decades was unprecedented in human history. If Japan can put their world-leading technology into the Chinese market and take advantage of the rapid development of the Chinese market, it will definitely get rich returns, and then feed back the development of Japan's domestic technology.

Moreover, if Japanese technology goes to the United States or Europe, it will inevitably encounter fierce competition. After all, the technology of the United States and Europe is not inferior to that of Japan.

But in China, Japanese technology is not only the leader, but also has opened up several levels in China, and it will inevitably seize the market quickly.

It is also possible that China has slowed down the pace of independent innovation in scientific research because of Japan's advanced technology, and it is likely to eventually become a situation where all technology depends on Japan.

This is not alarmist talk. China has been engaged in independent innovation for so many years, but many equipment or materials in high-tech fields still rely on Japan.

If Japan really put their technology into the Chinese market without any scruples, relying on one step ahead, step by step, and Chinese companies can't catch up by themselves, and are used to Japan providing technology, then China's current technology field, really will be fully controlled by Japan.

Fortunately, there is a Wassenaar Agreement. Japan cannot bring their high technology to China. Without a large enough external market, Japan's technology cannot maintain sustainable development, and in the end it can only be slowly reduced to relying on its old capital.

As an island country lacking in resources, its economy will inevitably fall into recession if it loses its technological advantages.

At the same time, the United States uses its huge domestic market to put scientific research results into application, and then invest in scientific research after making profits, realizing a virtuous circle of scientific research, and then quickly widening the gap with Japan.

Thirty years ago, Japan's technology was comparable to that of the United States, but 30 years later, Japan lagged behind the United States in terms of research and development, enterprise foundation, scientific research indicators, number of patents, and technological product innovation.

Just look at the stock markets of the United States and Japan. The companies with the highest market capitalization in the United States have changed several times in the past 30 years, from automobile companies, to financial companies, and then to technology companies. The companies with the top market capitalization in Japan have hardly changed in the past 30 years.

This shows that Japan's industrial structure has not changed in 30 years, and the innovation and development of science and technology in the past 30 years have not formed scale economic benefits in Japan at all.

Although there are many reasons for the decline of Japan's technology industry, in the final analysis, there is still a lack of economic drive. A Wassenaar Agreement was born to target China's technological field. In the end, it did not interrupt the backbone of China's technological development, but blocked the path of Japan's technological industry.

Many times when looking back at the development path of a country, we will find that the things that originally restricted the country's development will instead become the driving force for the country's development, and the things that originally helped the country's development will instead become a burden to development.

At this time, I have to feel that the National Luck may really exist!

Closer to home, in the Wassenaar Agreement, sensor-related technologies are listed as a separate item, and the relevant content is as many as forty pages.

Obviously, Americans are still very strict about technology control in this area. This is mainly because the sensor is of great significance as a military application.

To give a simple example, a gyroscope can be used as a signal sensor, such as the route of a fighter jet, the guidance of a missile, and the positioning of a satellite. The United States will definitely not let China obtain such sensitive components that can be used for military purposes.

Therefore, it is simply impossible to obtain high-end sensor technology through purchase.

Since you can't buy it even if you have money, you can only find another way.

I saw Professor Zhuang ponder for a few seconds, and then said: Chairman Li, since there is no way to directly introduce technology, we can only introduce technicians. The Wassenaar Agreement only controls the export of technology, but not scientific research personnel. flow right?

Therefore, I suggest that you can introduce scientific research talents in this field from abroad and form a special scientific research team. Although this will cost a lot of money and time, you can achieve the results you want.

That's a way. Li Weidong nodded, then changed his voice and continued: Professor Zhuang, when it comes to scientific research, I thought you would let me provide research funding for domestic scientific research teams. I didn't expect you to suggest I put together a dedicated team.

There are indeed many scientific research institutions in China that are doing research and development of sensor projects. For example, our Tsinghua University has several project teams. However, the scientific research done by our universities and research institutes is still very different from the scientific research done by enterprises themselves.

Professor Zhuang sighed lightly, and said rather melancholy; The industry-university-research cooperation has been going on for some years, and it has achieved fruitful results. However, scientific research projects in universities like ours are mainly aimed at academia, rather than service enterprise.

For us, publishing several heavyweight papers and then being recognized by the academic community is more important than bringing profits to the company. As for those scientific research institutions, the main goal of their work is to meet the scientific research goals set by their superiors, not to serve enterprises.

Therefore, I always feel that powerful enterprises should conduct their own scientific research, take the road of independent innovation, and directly serve the development of the enterprise with the results of scientific research. From an economic point of view, it may be more beneficial to the entire industry.

...

Scientific researchers are professionals. If you want to recruit professional talents, you must find a special headhunting agency.

So Li Weidong found the well-known headhunting firm Heidrick \u0026 Struggles.

The business scope of modern headhunting companies not only recruits people from enterprises, but also includes consulting on enterprise management, enterprise reform, structure optimization, personnel optimization and other projects. enterprise.

Heidrick \u0026 Struggles is one of the top five headhunters in the world, known as the purest headhunting company. In terms of corporate doctors, Heidrick \u0026 Struggles is not the best, but if it is purely about headhunting business, Heidrick \u0026 Struggles is definitely the best in headhunting Nanbo Bay.

Moreover, Heidrick \u0026 Struggles is very good at the headhunting business of technology companies. The most successful case is to poach Kai-Fu Lee from Microsoft to Google. For this reason, Microsoft also fought a lawsuit with Google.

In order to recruit talents as soon as possible, Li Weidong also offered very generous remuneration, and there is no upper limit for top talents. Heidrick \u0026 Struggles also made a special plan for Li Weidong to review.

Chairman Li, according to your request, Heidrick \u0026 Struggles has specially formulated a set of headhunting plans, please take a look at them. The person who spoke was surnamed Liu, and he was a leader among Chinese headhunters.

Manager Liu, I'm not very familiar with the headhunting business, so please briefly introduce your plan to me! Li Weidong said.

Okay. Manager Liu nodded, and continued: What you need are professional scientific research talents in sensors. Most of these talents are concentrated in European and American countries. But most of the technical talents in European and American countries are Those who do not want to come to China to work.

Therefore, from the perspective of cost input and benefit output, we first recommend that you build the R\u0026D center in the United States, which will make it easier to recruit talents and reduce the cost of human resources.

For people from developed countries in Europe and America, working in a developing country is like exile. Especially Americans are unwilling to let him go to work in Europe or Japan, let alone come to China.

In many poor and backward countries, the United States has not sent ambassadors for decades. It is not because it does not want to send people, nor because it cannot afford it. The important reason is that no one is willing to go. The level of national diplomacy is still so important, let alone the level of ordinary expatriate work, and no one wants to go to poor countries to suffer.

After all, Americans are not as hard-working as the Chinese. If they were replaced by Chinese, as long as they were given more money, they were willing to build roads in the poorest places in Africa. Malaria and cholera would not be a problem.

Li Weidong decided to do research and development by himself in order not to be stuck technically. If the R\u0026D center is located in the United States, obviously the problem of being stuck will not be solved. So he said, Manager Liu, thank you very much for your suggestion, but I still decided to keep the R\u0026D center in China.

In this case, let me introduce the headhunting plan we have formulated. Manager Liu opened the folder in his hand, and then said: Because technicians from European and American countries are unwilling to work in China, we will recruit from some Central and Eastern European countries. The country looks for the right talent.

The income of Central and Eastern European countries is much lower than that of Western European countries. If they are willing to pay high salaries, they should be able to recruit talents in this field from Central and Eastern European countries. In particular, some countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States have the industrial foundation left by the Soviet Union and still have certain technical capabilities.

Li Weidong thought for a few seconds, and then said: The Commonwealth of Independent States has the old foundation left by the Soviet Union, but even the Soviet Union back then was not as good as the United States in terms of sensor research. Moreover, it has been so many years since the Soviet Union disintegrated. I don’t know how much of the technology that comes down can be used. So I still prefer to recruit talents from the United States.”

Most Americans are unwilling to work in China. If they insist on recruiting talents from the United States, they may have to pay twice or three times their salary before they are willing to consider it. And it is only for consideration, they may take This is a better condition to ask your own boss for a raise.”

Manager Liu continued: So we have also formulated a special plan for this. We will focus on recruiting Chinese or Chinese scientific research talents. These people have a Chinese background and are relatively willing to work in China. According to our I understand that there are quite a few Chinese in the United States engaged in scientific research.”

Yes, this is a good direction. After all, the Chinese have more similarities in culture. Li Weidong continued; At that time, add another one. If you come with your family, we can solve it. Spouse's work, children's schooling and other issues.

Manager Liu took the notes, and then continued: There is one more thing, which is for high-level scientific research talents. This kind of high-level scientific research talents will inevitably have some special requirements, not just in terms of money or treatment. You need to go out and connect yourself.”

No problem! Li Weidong nodded with a smile: As long as the other party is really capable, it's no problem for me to visit the thatched cottage!

Recently, I have optimized the following plot and deleted some content. It is estimated that the ending will be in the middle and early next month. There are some contents that have not been written, and I will bring them to you with the Easter egg chapter after striving for the ending!