China's Premier Li Qiang in Anhui: enhancing capability for innovation-driven development and accelerating tech self-reliance
Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Anhui Province on Friday.
As a traditional agricultural province in Chinese history, Anhui has shown remarkable development momentum in recent years. Its capital city, Hefei, has been rapidly developing. According to the latest data, over the past 20 years, Hefei's GDP has increased by 18 times, ranking first in growth among cities with a GDP exceeding one trillion yuan nationwide.
In recent years, Hefei has also successfully invested in major companies like BOE, CXMT, and NIO, driving the formation of industrial chains worth hundreds of billions of yuan. This has further propelled the rapid rise of strategic emerging industries in Hefei, earning it a reputation among public opinion as the "top venture capital city." Under the significant pull of the manufacturing sector, Anhui's growth of this decade alone exceeds the total growth of the 62 years from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to 2011.
In 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping inspected Anhui, positioning it as "three regions and one zone" — to be transformed into an area of significant influence for scientific and technological innovation, a hub for emerging industries, a new highland for reform and opening up, and a comprehensive green transformation zone for socio-economic development.
Li Qiang visited the Institute of Quantum Information and Quantum Technology Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院量子信息与量子科技创新研究院) and Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science and Technology of China(中国科学技术大学先进技术研究院), and CXMT(长鑫存储） during the research period. He said China will increase investment in basic research to support innovative development and achieve high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement.
Notably, the U.S. revoked the export licenses of Qualcomm and Intel to Huawei and imposed sanctions on 37 Chinese entities by adding them to the entity list, coinciding with Premier Li's visit to Anhui. Quantum information technology is the main target of the new sanction. Among the 37 sanctioned entities, 22 are quantum companies/institutions. The U.S. began to sanction China’s quantum with the "entity list" in November 2021, when Qasky(国盾量子) and its subsidiary, Shanghai Qasky, along with the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale at the USTC(中国科学技术大学合肥微尺度物质科学国家研究中心), were added to the list.
However, this time, the sanction is more comprehensive. Notably, sanctions to USTC were extended from specific research centres to the entire university, including USTC-linked institutions like the Shanghai Research Center for Quantum Sciences(上海量子科学研究中心) and the CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics(中国科学院量子信息与量子科技创新研究院), etc.,
But the impact is limited. China's self-sufficiency strategy in quantum is more aggressive than that of semiconductors because of quantum computing's great military potential in the first place and its limited civilian use. Its investment in it is more than the U.S. and EU combined. It is also widely viewed as the global leader in quantum communication（量子通信）. Regarding quantum computing, China is behind the US in some aspects, but its scientists( exp, Prof. Pan Jianweiv(潘建伟) of USTC) have made eye-catching achievements. Pan is said to have been visa banned by the U.S., and his cooperation with U.S. experts was cut off.
According to a press release from Gotion High-Tech(国轩高科）, a technology company specializing in new energy batteries, Premier Li also listened to the company's introduction. Li Qiang acknowledged Gotion High-Tech for its cooperation with Volkswagen by introducing its strategic investment and developing standard battery cells with Volkswagen, and encouraged the company to deepen its collaboration with Volkswagen, accelerating technological advancement and product upgrades.
The following is the full text of the CGTN's report:
In Anhui, Li Qiang emphasized the importance of grasping the trends of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and focusing on enhancing the ability for innovation-driven development.
On May 10th, Li Qiang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and Premier of the State Council, conducted a research visit in Anhui. He emphasized the need to thoroughly implement the important instructions from General Secretary Xi Jinping on technological innovation and industrial innovation, grasp the trends of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, focus on achieving high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, lead industrial innovation with technological innovation, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, and work on enhancing the ability for innovation-driven development.
On May 10th, Li Qiang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and Premier of the State Council, conducted a research visit to Anhui. This visit included Li Qiang listening to a report on technological innovation and achievements transformation at the Institute of Advanced Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China and visiting research equipment and technology product exhibitions.
Li Qiang first visited the Institute of Quantum Information and Quantum Technology Innovation at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he received a report on the institute's construction and development, gained a detailed understanding of research progress in key areas, and interacted with researchers. At the Institute of Advanced Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China, Li Qiang received a report on technological innovation and achievements transformation, visited research equipment and technology product exhibitions, held discussions with leaders of incubating enterprises, and affirmed the effectiveness of enterprise cultivation and talent attraction. Li Qiang emphasized the rapidly changing landscape of world technological innovation and the need to accurately grasp technological trends and development patterns, strengthen forward-looking layouts, take quick actions, seize opportunities, and gain more initiative in development. It is essential to fully leverage the leading role of national strategic scientific and technological forces, improve operational management mechanisms, continuously increase investment in basic research, and provide fundamental support and original supply for innovation and development. Li Qiang pointed out that the vitality of technology lies in its application and in benefiting humanity. Bold explorations and breakthroughs are needed in deepening the reform of the scientific and technological system, establishing platforms for deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and facilitating better transformation of technological achievements into practical productivity. The focus should be on talent as the primary resource, sparing no effort to nurture and attract talent and create better conditions for them to concentrate on research and innovation.
On May 10th, Li Qiang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and Premier of the State Council, conducted a research visit to Anhui. During his visit to Anhui Forklift Group Co., Ltd., Li Qiang was briefed on the company's development history and project layout. He examined product displays, inquiring in detail about product performance, research and development investments, market sales, and other aspects.
At Anhui Forklift Group Co., Ltd. and Changxin Technology Group Co., Ltd., Li Qiang was briefed on the companies' development history and project layout and looked at the production lines and product displays. He asked detailed questions about product performance, research and development investments, and market sales and was pleased with the continuous innovation breakthroughs achieved by the companies. He encouraged them to focus on national strategic needs, concentrate on their core business, keep digging deep, and keep exploring new horizons. Li Qiang pointed out that it is crucial to connect the innovation chain and the industrial chain to enhance the ability to drive innovation-led development. Companies should play a full role as innovation leaders, further create an ecosystem conducive to their innovation and development, gather various resources, and support companies in enhancing their core competitiveness. It is important to strengthen the foundation of the modern industrial system in traditional manufacturing, accelerate digital transformation, promote technological iteration and upgrade, and enhance the level of high-end, intelligent, and green development. Efforts should be made to foster emerging and future industries, intensify breakthroughs in key core technologies, actively expand application scenarios, strengthen the autonomy and controllability of industrial and supply chains, and meet demands and create demands with more new technologies, products and services to create a new engine for sustained economic growth.
Li Qiang fully affirmed the achievements of Anhui's economic and social development and hoped that Anhui would thoroughly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on Anhui's work, deepen the promotion of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, cultivate and strengthen new driving forces, and achieve greater success in promoting high-quality development.
Wu Zhenglong accompanied the research visit.
Below is the press release from Guoxuan High-Tech:
Li Qiang encouraged Gotion High-Tech to accelerate its innovative development and expand internationally
At the exhibition of scientific and technological innovation achievements of the Institute of Advanced Technology at the University of Science and Technology of China, Li Zheng, the chairman of Guoxuan High-Tech, reported on the company's development to Li Qiang. Guoxuan High-Tech, as a technology-oriented company focusing on new energy batteries, has been continuously promoting technological and product innovation in areas such as iron-manganese lithium batteries, semi-solid-state batteries, and all-solid-state batteries, and holds a leading position in the global battery material technology field. Li Qiang fully affirmed the efforts made by Guoxuan High-Tech in advancing battery technology. When he heard that the Gendome family mobile power products and the Yijia Electric intelligent mobile charging piles are very popular in the European and American markets, Li Qiang said that the energy storage industry has huge demand and broad prospects, and the country encourages technological innovation and supports exports. Li Qiang praised Guoxuan High-Tech for introducing strategic investment from Volkswagen and jointly developing standard battery cells with Volkswagen, which is a strategic move for the company's global development, and encouraged Guoxuan High-Tech to comprehensively deepen cooperation with Volkswagen and accelerate technological progress and product upgrades.
The Prime Minister's full affirmation of Guoxuan High-Tech's technological innovation and industrial innovation has sparked enthusiastic responses from the company's employees, with everyone expressing their determination to strengthen forward-looking layouts, build a higher-level technology-oriented company, firmly implement a globalization strategy, become pioneers in the export of new quality productive forces, accelerate the construction of the entire industry chain, comprehensively enhance competitive advantages, and focus on enhancing capital strength to support the company's high-quality development, demonstrating strength and making contributions in the new world energy revolution.