Chinese inventors demonstrate tech progress at key global exhibition
Event showcases extent of achievements in 40 years of opening-up to outside world
Chinese innovators showed off tech progress at the recent 10th International Exhibition of Inventions in Foshan, Guangdong province, with the third World Invention and Innovation Forum taking place there at the same time.
With the theme of “Invent for Dreams and Innovate for the Future”, the event, which ran from Sept 13 to 15, consisted of a wide range of immensely entertaining and informative displays, including Chinese innovations and inventions by adolescents.
The exhibition focused on the achievements of China’s reform and opening-up over the past 40 years, the integration of military technologies with civilian defense sector suppliers, and international inventions.
More than 4,000 inventions from China and abroad were on display.
Organizers said that some 350 foreigners from 62 countries, regions and international organizations discussed international technological inventions and innovations.
Yu Huarong, executive vicepresident of the China Association of Inventions, the event’s organizer, said the event was a platform to pool together invention technologies and patents to promote more mutual communication.
“We have long devoted ourselves to serving inventors and serving national strategies with their patents,” Yu said.
“To better combine inventors’ personal values with a service to society is also a focus of our work.”
A highlight of the exhibition was a cutting-edge magnetic resonance imaging vehicle named Aiyilifang MRI, developed last year by Lian Jianyu, chief technology officer of the China Academy of Invention Achievement Transformation.
Lian led his team to develop the downsized MRI equipment, which can be installed in medical vehicles.
The MRI vehicle invention's advantages include it being shockproof and portable, Lian said, with the equipment half the size of existing fixed MRI machines.
Magnetic resonance imaging is one of the most effective clinical diagnostic instruments, he said. “The mobile medical device can help to give timely treatment to patients in remote areas.”
It took about 20 years to turn the idea into a product, Lian added. “The equipment meets growing market demand and has opened up a new application field in the medical industry.”
George Smoot, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics, said that 85 percent of economic growth worldwide was the result of innovation that traced its lineage through the commercial development of scientific knowledge.
There is greater demand for new technology and personnel with high-tech skills and talent, Smoot said. “Increasingly, the emphasis is on obtaining the talent that can put new technology and scientific results into practice.”
Also on show was an integrated unmanned aerial vehicle tactical drill system developed by Honeycomb Aerospace Technologies Co, a Beijing-based UAV system and service provider.
The system adapts to the comprehensive tactical training requirements of military UAVs in the information age. It can be used for training small and medium-sized UAVs in long endurance flights.
Chen Weiqiang, project manager of Honeycomb, said it can replace large combat UAVs to carry out training, reduce training costs and improve training levels of air forces.
The company has invested a total of 60 million yuan ($8.74 million) in its research and development, and is expected to gain revenue of 100 million yuan in three years, Chen said.
The system has applied for two software copyrights, one invention patent and a utility model, one of the three types of patents under the current legal system in China, he said.
Safeguarding crucial technologies is the key to protecting the core interests of companies, Chen said. “The application of core technology patents at the appropriate time provides greater protection of corporate interests.”
Tian Lipu, chairman of the China Intellectual Property Society, said that companies have reported a growing rate of commercialization of intellectual property, at over 70 percent, in the country during the past few years.
The industrialization and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements is a market behavior that requires multiple participants, he said.
“Enterprises and colleges should make full use of the country's policies to integrate research with the market,” Tian added.
To better combine inventors’ personal values with a service to society is also a focus of our work. ” Yu Huarong, executive vice-president of the China Association of Inventions