Dalian's Extraordinary Decade: Rapid Improvement of Comprehensive Strength in Technological Innovation

"To cope with the actual situation and pain points in China's digital agricultural development, we've moved into battery-free Internet of Things, energy storage, and AI to facilitate traditional agriculture's transformation into high-end agriculture," said a participant of the 11th China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition. On August 16, the 11th China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition (Dalian) and the finals for enterprises of the 8th Dalian Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition, sponsored by the Dalian Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, took place at the Ganjingzi Science and Technology Innovation Center. A total of 81 enterprises competed in the competition through roadshows and debates and shared their brilliant ideas.

The China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition is the largest, most influential, and the highest level of competition focused on both innovation and entrepreneurship in China. Since its establishment in 2014, the Dalian section of the competition and the Dalian Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competitions have successfully been organized seven times to drive the integration of high-quality resources, establish service platforms, and attract all sectors of society to support innovation and entrepreneurship and promote the economic development and transformation of Dalian.

On September 9, the organizing committee of the 11th China Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition announced that 1,485 enterprises were shortlisted in the final of the competition nationwide, of which 26 hailed from Dalian.

The past decade after the 18th CPC National Congress has seen significant progress in the scientific and technological sector and the fastest growth of scientific and technological strength in Dalian. The Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have been engaged in implementing the important thought of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping's speeches and instructions on revitalizing Northeast China, Liaoning Province, and Dalian. The Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have been particularly focused on laying a solid foundation for technological innovation and encouraging independent innovations. Key science and technology indicators have grown rapidly and sharply, and remarkable achievements have been made in building an innovation-driven city. In the past ten years, the comprehensive strength in technological innovation in Dalian has improved at a high speed. In the 2021 innovation capacity index of the national innovative cities, Dalian ranked 17th out of 78 innovative pilot cities in China and topped in Northeast China.

Basic research in Dalian has reaped results. In 2021, expenditures on R&D amounted to CNY 23.61 billion, an increase of 129.7 percent compared with 2012. These expenditures accounted for 3.02 percent of the local GDP, making Dalian the first city in Northeast China whose R&D investment exceeded 3 percent of GDP. Many leading global independent innovations have been made, such as data storage and logical operations based on magnetic moments reversed by spin waves and inhibition mechanisms of lung cancer cell metastasis through metabolites.

A cable-driven feed support system in FAST

Dalian has made a significant breakthrough in strategic sci-tech strength. A large group of excellent facilities was developed in Dalian, such as China's first aircraft carrier, a cable-driven feed support system in FAST, and Hualong One nuclear reactor, the first Chinese 3rd generation nuclear reactor. Dalian is doing its utmost to support the technological development of our country. Dalian is dedicated to developing technological platforms. The Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Liaoning Binhai Laboratory, the Liaoning Huanghai Laboratory, advanced light source big-science facilities, and other major research and development platforms and scientific and technological infrastructure were set up in Dalian. Dalian has 110 national scientific and technological innovation platforms. More enterprises have chosen to settle in Dalian. Currently, the city is home to 3,028 high-tech enterprises, which is 7.8 times that in 2012. The number of technology-driven small and medium-sized enterprises has reached 6,099, which is 7.3 times that in 2017. Scientific and technological achievements continue to be produced in Dalian. A total of 76 scientific and technological achievements have obtained the National Science and Technology Award, and 515 scientific and technological achievements have won the Provincial Science and Technology Award. Technology contract turnover in Dalian reached CNY 33.62 billion in 2021, which was 2.5 times that in 2012. The turnover of technology contracts valid in the city ranked first in the province. Dalian also works to accelerate the introduction and cultivation of talented minds in the scientific and technological sector. There are ten more academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, with the total number of academicians reaching 32. Sixty-two new talented minds have been included in the National Program for the Promotion of Talent, and 72 outstanding researchers have been awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Dalian Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have focused more on the development of the real economy, especially the development of the manufacturing industry. New industrialization has been significantly accelerated. The industrial system is more robust; the industrial chain is more complete, and the overall strength, efficiency, innovative capacity, competitiveness, and ability to withstand risks in the industry have been greatly improved. Industrial upgrading in Dalian has taken a historical leap. Dalian encourages enterprises to set up research and development institutions and supports enterprises seeking to improve their innovative capacity. The technological innovation system in Dalian is continuously being optimized. More than 400 industrial enterprises' technical innovation projects are carried out annually, of which over 200 are key projects for the research and development of new products. As of 2021, a total of 227 corporate technology centers above the municipal level had been set up, of which 15 were national-level centers; 54 industrial design centers have been set up, with four national-level. A total of nine manufacturing innovation centers above the municipal level and seven national demonstration enterprises for technology innovation have been settled in Dalian. Enterprises play an increasingly important role in technological innovation. Dalian attaches great importance to the development of the industrial internet. Changzhengyun Platform, Qingqi Network, Xingjian Platform, and other 14 industrial internet platforms are established in Dalian, connecting more than 500,000 sets of industrial devices and 1,500 industrial applications. The number of equipment and applications connected in Dalian tops the province. Independently developed and manufactured 5-axis machining centers in the aerospace military industry, crankshafts with the largest turning diameter and stroke in the world that breaks foreign technology monopolization, the first aircraft carrier manufactured in China have been launched in Dalian along with the Very Large Crude Oil Carrier assisted by airfoil sails that won a golden award from the China Excellent Industrial Design, and a number of other typical innovative achievements have helped the manufacturing industry in Dalian enter a whole new stage.