Science brings windfall to icy Heilongjiang

Scientific accomplishments and high-tech breakthroughs have attracted investments and generated commercial success in Heilongjiang province.

As of October, there were 523 scientific or high-tech projects connected with buyers, with a total investment of 9.58 billion yuan ($1.58 billion).

Academic institutions and high-tech companies contributed a lot to these technologies and their spin-offs.

In front of the library in the Harbin Institute of Technology, there is a globe with a diameter of more than 2 meters. The globe is not simply a work of art. Made of steel, it is manufactured with a technology invented by the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

It has been applied in the manufacturing of auto components for some big names in the automobile industry, including BMW, Audi and Chrysler.

Inside the institute's manufacturing workshop, the technology has been used to produce such automobile components as dashboards, fore strut-beams and sub-frames.

"Compared to the traditional manufacturing approach of auto components, this technology brings an integral structure and a hydro soft molding instead of some fragmented structure which were welded together and hard molding. It is quite an innovation," said Han Cong, associate professor from the School, who is in charge of commercializing this technology.

"The technology can improve the safety of the automobile and also help reduce exhaust emission," said Han.

Han said that with the technology, now automobile manufacturers don't need to rely on imported technologies or products.

"It kind of breaks the monopoly in this area, which really means a lot," said Han.

Han also came up with an example. The sub-frame hydro forming component for a certain car brand used to come exclusively from abroad, which made the unit price very high and also limited the amount of orders.

"When the automobile manufacturers worked with us, the cost of the frame component only accounted for one-tenth of the previous price," said Han. "So far, we have cooperated with many automotive component manufacturers in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Tianjin and many other cities."

Besides technological breakthroughs in automobile components, there are many other cases that can demonstrate how much progress Heilongjiang has made in terms of commercializing its technologies.

The technology for further processing egg products which is produced through a partnership between Northeast Agricultural University and Heilongjiang Xing He Biotechnology Co Ltd is expected to have the capacity to process 20,000 tons of eggs, with an annual output value of 2.4 billion yuan.

In recent years, the provincial government has stepped up efforts to promote the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements in the province.

The provincial government has released a series of policies to back up the related institutions and companies.

zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn