High quality development research tour | How to solve the "bottleneck" problem in "China Optics Valley" laser | technology | bottleneck

Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone is known as the "China Optics Valley". It is not only the world's largest research and production base for fiber optic cables, but also the largest laser industry base in China.

Focusing on the major strategic needs of the country, the growth of every leading enterprise in Optics Valley and the independent and controllable development of every core technology are almost always accompanied by breakthroughs in the bottleneck problem. From independent exploration by enterprises to full industry chain collaboration, today's high-quality development research tour, reporters walked into Wuhan, Hubei to see how "China Optics Valley" can solve the "bottleneck" problem.

Building a "Chain" with Light and Striving for Integration

Boosting the acceleration of "domestic substitution"

This is the largest 3D five axis laser cutting machine production line in the country, and the staff are conducting final technical performance tests on the upcoming products. In October 2022, as soon as this production line was put into use, product orders reached the total of the past 5 years.

Hu Junwei, Chief Engineer of Huagong Technology's 3D Five Axis Product Line: In 2022, we delivered 200 units, and today we have delivered nearly 280 units.

The three-dimensional five axis laser cutting machine is widely used in fields such as automobiles, ships, mechanical manufacturing, aerospace, etc. It is a sharp tool for processing irregular curved parts and also represents the highest technical level of laser CNC machine tools in the world. Due to its high precision, fast speed, and smoother cross-section, the thermal forming technology brought by the three-dimensional five axis laser cutting machine can effectively reduce the weight of the entire vehicle. In recent years, the demand for it in the new energy vehicle market has been particularly urgent.

Hu Junwei, Chief Engineer of Huagong Technology's 3D Five Axis Product Line: A 3D Five Axis Laser Cutting Machine covers the main core unit technology, one is a CNC system, which is equivalent to its "brain"; The second one is a laser, which is equivalent to its light source; The third one is this three-dimensional five axis cutting head, which is equivalent to a knife. By using the "brain" to command this light source and processing the parts with irregular surfaces through the blade, the whole process is completed in one go.

In one go, it comes from the efficient collaboration of three core unit technologies. During the investigation, the reporter found that manufacturing a complete 3D five axis laser cutting machine requires tens of thousands of components provided by more than 300 companies, and the most core of these "three piece sets" could not completely break away from import dependence until a year ago.

As early as 2018, Huagong Technology launched its first set of three-dimensional five axis equipment with domestically produced cutting heads, and thus won the first prize for scientific and technological progress in Hubei Province that year. However, when the product truly served the market, Huagong Technology still faced difficulties because the localization of the other two core unit technologies was indispensable.

Li Jie, Deputy General Manager of Ruike Laser: It is also a complete monopoly overseas. All your automobile factories or sheet metal processing plants are queuing up, holding cash to queue up. With a large number of market applications, there is demand, and it is also trying hard to help the country solve problems in this industry. How can we break through the situation.

Breaking through the situation requires not only solving the pain points of customers, but also breaking through the industry barriers, jointly tackling challenges and breaking monopolies, and the two companies reaching an instant agreement. Founded in 2007, Ruike Laser was once a company incubated by Huagong Technology. After more than a decade of deep cultivation, Ruike Laser has independently completed the overall layout of the upstream of the industrial chain, becoming one of the most powerful competitors for imported lasers.

Li Jie, Vice General Manager of Ruike Laser: If I want to break this foreign monopoly or high-end application, I also need some high-end support points to achieve my upgrade and then move towards higher technical levels.

Ma Xinqiang, Chairman of Huagong Technology Industry Co., Ltd.: The competition of enterprises, including the competition of industries, is at the core of supply chain and industry chain competition. We feel that we must have this supply chain and innovation chain under independent and controllable conditions in order to develop better products that meet customer needs.

To ensure the autonomy and controllability of the supply chain, it is necessary to promote the deep integration of the industrial chain and the innovation chain. After joining hands with Ruike Laser, Huagong Technology quickly threw an olive branch at Huazhong CNC.

Wuhan Huazhong CNC Co., Ltd. President Tian Maosheng: It may seem like a simple device, but in reality, it is a comprehensive system engineering of mechanics, electronics, hydraulics, control, materials, and more. Our goal and mission is to use the "Chinese brain" to equip Chinese manufacturing.

Strong chain replenishment, domestic 3D five axis C-position debut

The CNC system is the commanding brain of high-end machine tools and has always been a strategic material for foreign countries to implement long-term lockdowns on China. Starting from 2020, a "brain swapping project" has officially begun the path of comprehensive localization and substitution of three-dimensional and five axes. Around this breakthrough, a mechanism driven by "chain owners" for collaborative innovation across the entire industry chain has begun to converge and exert force.

In the "Implementation Plan for Further Deepening the Long Term System of Key Manufacturing Industry Chains" issued by Hubei Province, 16 key industrial chains have been focused on. One of the mechanism of the plan is to select leading enterprises on the industrial chain as "chain owners", and through integrated innovation, focus on breaking through a number of "bottleneck" key technologies, and fully promote the high-quality development of the industrial chain.

Huagong Technology, Ruike Laser, and Huazhong CNC have formed an alliance and launched collaborative innovation across multiple enterprises, fields, and disciplines on one production line.

Ma Xinqiang, Chairman of Huagong Technology Industry Co., Ltd.: Some of the industry directions supported by the state are the focus of our efforts. Together, these core enterprises have dedicated teams, closed research and development, and the supply chain responds quickly.

Tian Maosheng, President of Wuhan Huazhong CNC Co., Ltd.: From an upstream perspective, my chip manufacturer, my own motor, my materials, and other suppliers work together to ensure that my entire CNC system product is guaranteed and technologically advanced. Through deep integration, my entire chain is connected.

The reporter conducted research in several enterprises and the most profound feeling was that the three major "chain owners" became the question setters, and all links of the industrial chain extending around CNC systems, cutting heads, and lasers became the answer takers. The application scenarios are rich, the market demand is clear, and the localization of three-dimensional and five axes is replaced. In the process of production and manufacturing, transformation and upgrading, and high-quality development, it truly becomes the "invisible hand" to promote industrial development. The breakthrough from 1 to 100 units took Huagong Technology a full 5 years to polish, while joint innovation shortened the promotion speed of 100 to 200 units to less than a year.

Li Jie, Deputy General Manager of Ruike Laser: From the government's perspective, it has provided this kind of support for the industrial chain, and with our technology to break through, we have opened up a blue ocean.

On the production line of Huagong Technology's three-dimensional five axis intelligent equipment, the localization rate of orders has exceeded 90%. Costs have decreased and production capacity has increased. During our research period, the company received an order for nearly 50 units from a car manufacturer. At present, the domestic market share of Huagong Technology's 3D five axis has reached 70%.

Polymerization catalysis allows laboratories and markets to run in both directions

The mechanism of "Chain Master" leading the collaborative innovation of the industrial chain is playing an important role in the various advantageous industries and emerging industry clusters that Hubei is striving to build. How to enable the innovation subject to move from a single point of force to a collective force in the cluster, and help the national strategic needs and national economic development needs, another innovation mechanism of Optics Valley is also actively exploring the answer.

Waali, a graduate of Peking University School of Medicine from Palestine, was invited to join Wuhan Nabo Life Technology Co., Ltd. as the Marketing Director in 2022. This is a startup company that has only been established for less than a year. At the company's experimental animal breeding center, these alpacas from South America are leveraging a billion dollar market in the field of nanoantibodies.

Wa Ali, Marketing Director of Wuhan Nabo Life Technology Co., Ltd.: We collect its blood through peripheral blood vessels and then separate it.

Nanoantibodies derived from the body of alpacas are an emerging biotechnology product that can be used to treat diseases such as cancer and viral infections. They have a wide range of applications in biomolecular recognition, life science tools, innovative drug development, and medical fields.

Wa Ali, Marketing Director of Wuhan Nabo Life Technology Co., Ltd.: Currently, there may be several drugs globally that have been launched and can be used, but dozens of drugs are still in the third phase of clinical trials. Therefore, what it means is to protect human health. What we are currently seeing is the future.

In the eyes of Liu Jianfeng, the future that Waali sees is the "last mile" that urgently needs to be completed for the transformation of China's nanoantibody technology achievements. At the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Liu Jianfeng and his team are ensuring the technical gateway of the laboratory for organized achievement transformation.

Liu Jianfeng, Dean of the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology: Antibodies are chips that are equivalent to life sciences. They are a source, but they are actually a bottleneck technology. This research and development cycle is very long, and it belongs to the new generation of antibody technology. Therefore, if we make them, we can bypass many technical barriers.

As early as eight years ago, Liu Jianfeng began to engage in the research and development of nanoantibodies, initially collaborating with a French team. In 2019, he led his research team to start independent innovation. Liu Jianfeng told reporters that compared with foreign research on nanoantibodies, China is currently in a parallel process.

In recent years, the global antibody market has been huge, and countries are seizing the market share of antibody reagents and drugs. However, currently, China's independently produced and supplied antibodies are less than 1%. Between the technical accumulation of laboratories and the huge market demand, the focus is often lost at critical moments when the door is in the air.

Liu Jianfeng, Dean of the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology: How to transform these achievements into productivity has always been a pain point for us scientists, including myself. I have also tried entrepreneurship, and many times people come back after trying it out. It's not because your achievements are not good, but because you have some problems with the entire transformation path that your scientists cannot intervene in.

Creating an innovative ecological platform to build a "circle of friends" for nano antibodies

The scientific team cannot open the door to the market and has always been a bottleneck in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. In April 2022, Wuhan became the fifth science and technology innovation center approved for construction by the state. Almost at the same time, the Wuhan Industrial Innovation and Development Research Institute, with the mission of assisting in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, also emerged. How did this institution, known locally as the "Four Disguises", connect the "last mile" from the laboratory to the market?

Li Xiling, President of Wuhan Industrial Innovation and Development Research Institute: In the past, our team of scientists did not understand the market, nor did they understand capital, and naturally did not have a higher level of trust. As a platform created by the government, Wuchuangyuan has a relatively neutral and public welfare nature. Under this premise, we will help the technical team connect the market and capital parties, and work together to promote the development of this project.

At the beginning of its establishment, the Wuhan Innovation Institute was clearly positioned as not a government agency, public institution, enterprise, or laboratory. The existence of this platform itself is an innovative ecosystem. Faced with the continuous efforts of Optics Valley in the optoelectronics industry and life sciences, Wuchuang Academy took the initiative to knock on Liu Jianfeng's laboratory door.

Liu Jianfeng, Dean of the School of Life Science and Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology: They have helped us find suitable investors, provided us with a breeding base for this alpaca, including alpacas, and provided us with an antibody company that may become a unicorn in the future. This way, we can organically combine our original research team with our upstream and downstream.

What Wuchuang Academy aims to build around nanoantibodies is a "circle of friends" of industrial ecology. Headquartered in Wuhan, Ebotec is a global core supplier of antibody and molecular enzyme reagents. Its sales network has covered Chinese Mainland, the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries and regions, linking major pharmaceutical enterprises nationwide and globally. Wu Chuangyuan has found a collaboration with this "unicorn" enterprise and is interested in the "pivot" of the globalization of China's nanoantibody technology.

Wu Zhicai, Chairman of Wuhan Aibotech Biotechnology Co., Ltd.: The innovation system of Wuhan Innovation Institute is also an open system to attract more global talents, join our large team, and work together to achieve our common goals.

At the same time, Wuchuang Institute has also introduced leading capital in segmented fields and specialized institutions for capitalized operation and maintenance. In this industry ecosystem's "circle of friends", cutting-edge technology, project management, market demand, and capital elements are constantly changing. Liu Jianfeng and his team have officially become important members of the new company's Nabo Life. While the future is promising, Liu Jianfeng feels more at ease because unlike previous resource grafting, Wuchuangyuan is a "group leader" who never retreats from the circle.

Li Xiling, President of Wuhan Industrial Innovation and Development Research Institute: Synergy cannot just stay on the slogan. We believe that symbiosis is still necessary. Only by truly becoming a closely symbiotic consortium can our relationship be sustainable, and ultimately gather domestic and even global innovation forces to work together to promote high-quality development.

Feng Yanfei, Director of Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology: Hubei focuses on five breakthrough development advantages industries, vigorously develops new research and development institutions represented by Wuhan Innovation Institute, and connects the channel from strong technology to strong industry and strong economy.