How precision instruments break through technological innovation

With the continuous development of the instrument industry, precision instruments in the instrument play an important role in measuring the world. "Dragon" deep dive, "God 10" soundings, humans use the instrument as a tool to understand the world through measurement. Contemporary social development, industrial upgrading, disaster reduction and disaster prevention, environmental monitoring, health care, energy supply, and national defense security all put more demands and higher demands on measurement technology and equipment.

According to experts, there is a clear gap between the research and manufacturing of China's measurement technology and precision instruments and equipment and the international advanced level. Simply relying on imported equipment and imported technology cannot improve the level of precision instruments in China. How to turn imported equipment technology into its own? How to promote the independent innovation of measuring science and technology to enter the world's frontier level?

Measurement and precision instruments mean that the priority of scientific and technological development should pay attention to the research and innovation of measurement technology and precision instruments.

Xu Kexin: Advanced measurement technology and precision instruments are the tools of scientific discovery and the seeds of technological innovation. Many epoch-making scientific and technological achievements and projects that won the Nobel Prize for Science and Technology are all produced. For example, the invention of the mass spectrometer enables us to separate the composition of matter by the difference in the mass of atoms and molecules, and the techniques such as computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow us to detect diseases earlier; CCD) has become a key component in mobile phones and digital cameras. The inventors of these instruments and methods have also won the Nobel Prize.

According to incomplete statistics, 68.4% of the physics prizes, 74.6% of the chemistry prizes, and 90% of the biomedical awards were made with various advanced instruments in more than a century.

The actual social development also puts forward many new questions that must be answered and solved in science. For example, how does industrial emissions affect climate change, the environment, and even the health of people? Dioxins have low concentrations, complex measurement methods and can only be performed offline. The development of environmental science calls for the development of new methods and instruments for the monitoring of dioxins. The mechanism of the impact of trace substances on people's health, assessment and monitoring methods are urgent scientific problems.

Chen Baoquan: The level of measurement and instrument technology also reflects national strength. The data released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the US Department of Commerce in the mid-1990s showed that the output value of instrumentation in the United States accounted for about 4% of the gross national product, but the relevant output value it pulled was as high as 66%. In 2007, the strategic report of the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the US Department of Commerce pointed out that the key to improving the quality of manufacturing and people’s lives in the 21st century is measurement technology, which is also indispensable for maintaining national competitiveness. In order to recapture the advantages of measuring and analyzing instruments, Japan’s Ministry of Education launched a cutting-edge measurement business with an investment of 10 billion yen.

In short, the measurement and instrumentation are the basis of science and technology. Whoever has mastered the most advanced measurement methods and precision instruments will grasp the priority of scientific and technological development, the right to guarantee the protection of people's health, the right to make business standards, and the right to respond to emergencies. .

High-end equipment and equipment basically rely on imports in the research and development of measurement technology and precision instruments. What problems do China have?

Chen Baoquan: China’s investment in science and technology has increased substantially, and large-scale equipment purchased has taken shape. However, 60% of them are imported equipment. In particular, expensive high-end equipment and equipment are basically imported. Take medical equipment as an example. In 2007, the size of the global medical instrument market was approximately US$250 billion, and China’s purchase volume was approximately 4%. The high-end inspections and treatment performed by Chinese hospitals basically use imported equipment. In 2008, the purchase amount of image diagnostic instruments in China reached US$1.57 billion. It was basically divided by GE, Siemens, Philips, and several Japanese companies. China's own medical instrument products accounted for only 2%.

At present, there is a wide gap between China's measurement technologies and precision instruments and the world's powers. This has led to a wide range of technological innovations. If the development strategy is not formulated as soon as possible and catch up, the gap will continue to widen.

What are the key development directions for measuring technology and instrument development directions and approaches to catch up with measurement technology and precision instruments?

Xu Kexin: To promote China's measurement science and technology to enter the world's frontier, we must take into account the world's measurement technology development trends and China's phased needs. I think there are three goals that are important and need to be taken from the layout. One is the original measurement technology and instruments, the second is the measurement technology and instrument led by the development of the national goal-oriented or measuring instrument, and the third is the core technology of precision instruments. Among these three goals, each has a priority for collaborative innovation, namely advanced measurement methods, micro-intelligent detectors, and micro-nano device fabrication technologies.

The gap between our country and the developed countries, except for the industrial scale and technology accumulation is not enough, but the original innovation method of measurement principle and instrument design is not enough. To change the status quo, you need to work hard in several directions. Such as deep-sea exploration in the energy field, rapid detection of trace chemicals in the environmental field, early warning of environmental risks on the Earth's scale, etc.; in food safety and drug residue detection of agricultural products, exploring the establishment of rapid measurements based on optical information such as the fingerprint spectra of substances. Methods for identifying material constituents, especially rapid measurement methods for trace substances; in the field of life sciences, real-time observation of live cells or protein constructs, visualization of intracellular molecular information transmission, identification of cells and proteins, development of detection devices, etc. Fluorescence observation devices, etc.; to overcome complex conditional constraints, to break through the existing measurement limits, to change the method limitations of the original model, single principle, cross-cutting and integration of different disciplines, and to carry out method innovation based on comprehensive application of mathematical methods to achieve measurement methods Original innovations, these above-mentioned achievements will have an inestimable impact on independent innovation of science and technology.

Xu Kexin: An intelligent micro-detector refers to a sensor system that is small in scale, can independently acquire and send specific information, and has its own power source. This smart detector is used as a "human eye" in many fields and has a wide application prospect. This area can provide strategic traction for many aspects of basic R&D such as nanotechnology, MEMS, sensors, self-contained energy, etc., leading to more predictable results. Hewlett-Packard Co., Ltd. is developing the "Earth Central Nervous System": it plans to lay out 1 trillion sensors in the world and form giant arrays to monitor the ecology, earthquakes, and energy use.

Xu Kexin: Micro-nano device manufacturing technology is the core technology of precision instruments, involving materials, processes, core algorithm software and many other fields of technology. The current direction is to miniaturization, multi-function integration and intelligent development. The world's leading ultra-precision machining technology can realize feature structures with less than 1 nanometer accuracy and less than 30 nanometer scale. According to China's national conditions, priority can be given to exploring new mechanisms. When the scale of matter reaches nanometer scale, new effects will occur in mechanics, thermals, electricity, or optics. The classical theory is no longer applicable, and amendments or new theories must be given.

The working mother machines used to process micro-nano devices are high-end precision instruments and currently rely on imports. Our country should actively tackle problems on the one hand, and on the other hand, it should form its own processing technology as soon as possible on the use of existing equipment.

What are the ways to achieve these three goals and the direction of priority innovation?

Xu Kexin: In the developed countries, the high-tech industries such as surveying and precision instrument industry have formed a pattern of upstream and downstream convergence and cooperation between enterprises. In this field, China can also engage in some key projects with appropriate scale and high efficiency. The industry is a technology-intensive industry and the development cannot be separated from the intelligence and talent support of universities, R&D institutes. Universities, R&D institutions should be strong and united, and work in collaboration. At present, colleges and universities in our country are playing a major role in R&D. However, in colleges and universities “surname education”, staffing and fixed funding still come from educational tasks. At present, China needs to develop a number of small and medium sized fine-information companies with unique technologies and innovative capabilities. Adjusting policies and mechanisms, under the premise of teaching benefits, the results of research and development in colleges and universities and even the rapid transformation of intellectual resources into productive forces, college graduates, especially Ph.D., are required to work in small and medium-sized enterprises.

The development and promotion of many powerful small and medium-sized enterprises is not only a good instrument industry, but also a path that our country’s industrialization cannot circumvent. Taking the Jingyi industry as an example, high-tech, high-value-added, high-risk technology-based SMEs cannot rely on the method of “individual approaches to farming, simplicity, and simplicity,” and they must consider appropriate supporting policies around the characteristics of high-tech products, such as attracting High-end talent entrepreneurship, perfect real venture capital awareness and channels.

Xu Kexin: The country’s support for precision instrumentation and measurement technology innovation should be based on ex post incentives. This makes it easier for R&D investees to turn to beneficiaries instead of investing taxpayers’ money in companies. In order to prevent the various R&D units from fighting each other and appearing low-level duplication and vicious competition with quick success and instant benefits, we can consider establishing national collaborative innovation centers and industrial alliances independent of universities and institutions to truly lead the industry, concentrate strength, and rationally allocate resources. Resources to solve practical problems.

â– Relevant reading China's instrument manufacturing profit increased 12% year-on-year in the first half of the year

According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of 2013, China's large-scale instrument and meter manufacturing industry realized a main business income of 345.05 billion yuan, an increase of 16.7% over the same period of last year. The total accumulated profits of the industry reached 25.24 billion yuan, an increase of 12% year-on-year, of which, the profit from main activities was 24.59 billion yuan, an increase of 10.78% over the same period of last year.

Although domestic instruments have started late and have developed rapidly, there are still some problems, such as: lack of market power, backward technology, and large gaps in physical transformation. In the follow-up of market demand, these problems will become the constraints on the development of domestic instruments. Only innovation is the hard truth, increase scientific research investment, and use strategies to promote, in order to occupy a place in the international status.

Domestic instrumentation adopts technologies that should have been eliminated in the past. This will not only increase the cost but also limit the root cause of its innovation and R&D. Only if it is separated from the shackles of backward technology can it better catch up with international development. Instrumentation can have a bright future.

After decades of construction and development, China's precision testing equipment industry has not been underestimated in strength. It has initially formed an industrial system with relatively complete product categories, a certain production scale and development capabilities, and has become the world's second-largest producer nation with Japan. However, the current status of China's precision measurement technologies and instruments still falls far short of the rapid development of the domestic machinery and equipment manufacturing industry, especially in the basic theoretical research of advanced measurement technologies and instruments and the development of common key technologies. Big gap. In particular, some of the core components such as high-end equipment and precision instruments and meters still rely heavily on imports. The high-end equipment manufacturing industry is a technology-intensive industry in the equipment manufacturing industry and is the core and key to the development of high-end manufacturing. At present, we must speed up the pace of technological innovation, seize the opportunity of a new round of global industrial distribution, rely on low-carbon technology and information technology to upgrade the overall level of equipment manufacturing, and promote the process of industrialization.