Why the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area Leading AIE Research Information | Technology | Guangdong Hong Kong Macao
Recently, the Institute of Advanced Research on Aggregation Induced Luminescence and the global scientific and technological information analysis institution Elsevier jointly released the "Report on Research Development and Influence of Aggregation Induced Luminescence 2001-2021". The AIE field is an emerging scientific research field led by China and collaborating globally, with a total of 76 countries/regions and approximately 2200 institutions conducting tracking research. According to this report, the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has outstanding research output and patent numbers in this field, with the academic output and academic influence of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and South China University of Technology leading globally.
"In the past 20 years, the AIE field has developed rapidly and achieved fruitful results." Tang Benzhong, an academician of the CAS Member, dean of the Polytechnic Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the founding president of the Institute of Advanced Research on Cluster induced Luminescence, said in his speech at the press conference, "This Report is a 20-year journey tour in the AIE field, which is not only of reference value to front-line researchers and leaders, but also of guiding significance to the strategic layout of the transformation of research into industry in the AIE field."
What is AIE? Why can the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area lead AIE research? What industrial value will it bring?
Emerging fields led by China
Aggregation induced luminescence is a new concept in the field of photophysics proposed by Academician Tang Benzhong in 2001. It refers to the phenomenon where molecules that emit weak or even no light in solution exhibit significantly enhanced luminescence in aggregated or solid-state states. The proposal of the AIE concept has overturned the traditional understanding that aggregation leads to luminescence quenching in luminescent materials, providing a new approach for the design of highly efficient aggregated/highly efficient luminescent materials, and opening up an emerging research field led by Chinese scientists.
This is a hot research field of global concern. The report shows that the global scientific research influence in the field of AIE is prominent. Globally, a total of 4.6% of AIE literature is listed in the top 1% of highly cited literature, and 32.6% of AIE literature is listed in the top 10% of highly cited literature, which is significantly higher than the average level of all disciplines worldwide.
This is a field that has long been led by Chinese scientists. Between 2001 and 2021, China published a total of 6602 AIE related literature, accounting for 74.7% of the global total; China has always been a leading country in the production of highly cited articles in the AIE field. Among all AIE related literature published, the top 1% of highly cited articles account for 5.3%, and the top 10% of highly cited articles account for 35.5%, all of which are higher than the global average level in the field. 70% of the scholars participating in AIE research come from China, and China accounts for 9 out of the top 10 research institutions in terms of AIE paper output.
This is an area where the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has become a global research hub. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and South China University of Technology are the only two research institutions in the world that have published over a thousand articles in the field of AIE, with 1185 and 1052 articles respectively. As of the end of 2021, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is the research institution with the highest number of AIE related patents worldwide, with a total of 123 related patents. In addition, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and South China University of Technology have 101 and 82 AIE research papers cited by patents respectively, becoming leading research entities in exporting knowledge to industrial technology.
Highlighting the advantages of the Greater Bay Area
What are the advantages of conducting scientific research in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area?
"The Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has a large area, high GDP, and many well-known universities. There are many outstanding talents. As long as these talents have a good environment, they have the potential to achieve technological breakthroughs and product innovation, create tremendous value, and even change the face of society and our way of life." Tang Benzhong said.
Among the four major bay areas in the world, the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has the largest area, the largest population, the fastest economic growth, and increasingly active innovation activities. In 2022, the total economic output of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area exceeded 13 trillion yuan. The World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index Report shows that the "Shenzhen Hong Kong Guangzhou Innovation Cluster" innovation index has ranked second in the world for three consecutive years.
Tang Benzhong stated that Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou each have their own advantages. For example, Hong Kong has a very high level of internationalization and good basic research, while Guangzhou and Shenzhen have a very fast development and complete manufacturing system. It is necessary to further strengthen communication and integration, and fully leverage their respective advantages. In recent years, Shenzhen and Guangzhou have invested heavily in education and research, and famous universities in Hong Kong have also established or prepared to establish branches in mainland China. This has shown a trend of accelerated integration in the field of education and research, which is worthy of recognition.
"When I read about the global impact and collaboration data of AIE research originating in China in 2001, I was very shocked. China, especially the Guangzhou Shenzhen Hong Kong Macao Science and Technology Innovation Corridor, is clearly at the forefront of AIE research and development," said Arnold Peeper, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience and Innovation at Elsevier.
"The field of AIE originated in China, and with the rapid development of the Chinese economy and continuous investment in basic scientific research, China has significant advantages in the field of AIE. It can be said that China has driven the growth and development of this research globally, and is truly the 'leader' of original works." said Dr. Yu Ying, Senior Editor of the Journal Department of the Institute of Induced Luminescence.
The report indicates that vigorously developing international and regional scientific research cooperation is conducive to expanding the international influence of AIE, and the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area has geographical advantages in promoting cross-border cooperation. For example, from the distribution of cooperation types in AIE articles published in China, Hong Kong has achieved an international cooperation rate of 97.9%, while the overseas cooperation rate in the Pearl River Delta region ranks second, reaching 62.3%.
Huge industrialization potential
The application of AIE fluorescent materials is very wide, which can be used to make efficient and energy-saving organic light-emitting diode displays, for biological detection of tumors and normal cells, for fingerprint extraction at crime scenes, and for water detection in the field of environmental protection
"We have done a lot of basic research and now we plan to vigorously promote applications. AIE is a small spark, and to turn it into a prairie fire, we must build a large platform on which we Chinese people will take the lead." Tang Benzhong said.
The Gathering Induced Luminescence Advanced Research Institute, established in 2020, is such a platform dedicated to the transformation of AIE applications. It is a new research and development institution jointly built by the Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau, the Guangzhou High tech Industrial Development Zone Management Committee, and South China University of Technology.
"The Institute of Advanced Research on Aggregation Induced Luminescence is committed to building a platform to transform AIE from laboratory scientific achievements into technology and products." Wang Zhiming, Executive Vice President of the Institute of Advanced Research on Aggregation Induced Luminescence, said, "Currently, we have established a relatively complete AIE theoretical mechanism and developed a series of new AIE materials, which have been successfully applied in efficient optoelectronic converters, high sensitivity sensors, high-resolution specific imaging, precision medicine and other fields. They are playing an increasingly important role in areas related to national economy and people's livelihood, such as health, environment, and materials. In the future, we will continue to focus on cutting-edge technological innovation and application of AIE materials, and strive to promote the industrialization process of AIE."
The establishment of this platform is timely - since 2015, the number of AIE patent applications has entered a period of rapid growth, with patents mainly distributed in technology fields such as chemistry, information technology, healthcare, and electronics, and China is the most important country for AIE materials and technology innovation. From the year of publication of industry university cooperation articles, 78% of the collaborative literature was published in the past 4 years, indicating that AIE industry university cooperation has begun to grow rapidly in recent years, which also conforms to the development laws of emerging scientific research fields to a certain extent.
According to the report, as of the end of 2021, the cumulative number of effective patent families in China's AIE field was 1488, accounting for 92% of the world's total. With the establishment and continuous improvement of the leading theories in the field of AIE, the field has entered a critical transformation period from scientific research theory to industrial application development.
"AIE research has strong industrial application potential." Yu Ying introduced that from the perspective of the main body, most of the owners of AIE patents are universities, with fewer enterprise owners, indicating that AIE materials and technology are still in the early stages of marketization, and also indicating that AIE materials and technology patents are independent innovations of Chinese universities. China has issued a series of policies and laws and regulations to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, which will help university patent owners to carry out the next step of commercial transformation of AIE patents through different means, and play a greater industrial role.
"AIE's overall industry university research cooperation is still in the initial stage of development. Although the overall scale is small, it has developed very rapidly in recent years and there is huge room for growth," said Yu Ying.
"Given the widespread application of AIE in organic optoelectronics and biomedical fields, the report reveals that industry academia cooperation, achievement transformation, and industrialization of corresponding materials and devices will be the main development directions in the future of AIE." Liao Zhuoling, Global Innovation Incubation Director and Shenzhen Office Head of Elsevier, said, "As a member of the Chinese scientific community, Elsevier will fully support the enhancement of China's international influence in scientific research achievements, accelerate high-quality scientific research innovation and achievement transformation."
