Xinhua Wuhan, April 29 (Hu Cheng, Zhang Pan) Walking in Jingchu, you can clearly feel the vitality of innovation.

In recent years, Hubei has taken scientific and technological innovation as the core element of the development of new quality productivity, accelerated the promotion of self-reliance in high-level science and technology, pursued "new", sought "quality" from "new", vigorously promoted the practice of Chinese style modernization in Hubei, and accelerated the establishment of an important strategic fulcrum for the rise of the central region.

"Little giant" surges strong kinetic energy

Walking into the exhibition hall of Black Sesame Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., headquartered in Wuhan, the autopilot chips with independent intellectual property rights showed the enterprise's hard core scientific and technological innovation strength.

"Huashan Series is for intelligent driving and provides high computing power. Huashan No.2 A1000 is the first auto driving chip independently developed and mass produced at the vehicle size level; Wudang Series is for multi domain integration, and the first C1200 is the world's first computing chip platform with four domain integration, which is expected to be mass produced by the end of 2024." The founder and chairman of Black Sesame Intelligent introduced in a single chapter.

The picture shows the exhibition hall of Black Sesame Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., headquartered in Wuhan. Photographed by Zhang Pan of Xinhuanet

From Huashan series of high computing chips to Wudang series of cross domain computing chip platforms, "Black Sesame" has successfully stood at the leading position in the field of global smart car chip by creating two high-tech products "sharp tools" through independent innovation. In just three years, the company's valuation jumped from nearly 2 billion yuan when it first settled in 2021 to more than 4 billion yuan.

"Let Beidou high-precision technology enter into thousands of households". This is the corporate slogan of Wuhan Mengxin Technology Co., Ltd. located in the Optical Valley Beidou Science and Technology Industrial Park.

Since its establishment ten years ago, DreamCore Technology has been focusing on the field of navigation and positioning. As a national "specialized, special and new little giant" enterprise, Mengxin Technology is the first company in China to realize the batch application of single Beidou, and the annual shipment of high-precision products reaches millions.

From the "China's first core" developed in 2015, the first 40 nanometer process Beidou chip in mass production in China, to the successful launch of the last "closing star" of Beidou No.3 in June 2020, Mengxin Technology has gone all the way. The independently developed Beidou navigation positioning chip has filled the gap of "no core" in the Beidou industry in Hubei Province, And won the "First Prize for Progress in China's Satellite Navigation and Positioning Science".   

Now, the Beidou chip of Dreamchip Technology has continued to iterate to the fourth generation of products with higher precision, lower cost and lower energy consumption, and has expanded to more life application scenarios such as safety monitoring, car navigation, smart helmets, and "electronic fences".

A small "core" has become the "source" power to promote Hubei's industrial development. In Hubei, there are many such small giant companies, which contain strong momentum.

"Full cycle" holds up "stars all over the sky"

"Enterprises are the main body of innovation, and science and technology innovation enterprises are the core driving force to achieve high-quality economic and social development," said Wei Huai'an, a professor in the School of Public Management of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

In recent years, Hubei has accelerated the gathering of projects, funds, platforms, talents and other innovative element resources to science and innovation enterprises, and taken the lead in exploring and implementing the "whole life cycle cultivation plan of science and innovation enterprises" in the country. The "forest of science and innovation enterprises" continues to flourish, injecting strong impetus into the development of new quality productivity.

"Scientific and technological innovation enterprises should have bright moons in the sky and stars in the sky."

Feng Yanfei, director of Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology, introduced that in April 2023, Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology officially launched the Life Cycle Cultivation Plan of Science and Technology Innovation Enterprises in Hubei Province (2023-2025). The "cultivation plan" divides science and technology innovation enterprises into four stages, namely seed stage, start-up stage, growth stage and maturity stage, and correspondingly implements 20 supporting measures for four types of plans, namely "breeding plan", "seedling plan", "forest plan" and "towering plan".

The picture shows the chip products of Dreamchip Technology Co., Ltd. Xinhuanet

"Every step of enterprise growth is inseparable from a good scientific and technological innovation environment and policy support." Han Shaowei, the founder, chairman and general manager of Wuhan Mengxin Technology Co., Ltd., said that since the company was founded ten years ago, from a seed to a tree, both the enterprise's own efforts and the cultivation of Hubei's scientific and technological soil are inseparable.

It is committed to building a "smart car, smart road", and the growth of "black sesame" can not be separated from the "nourishment" of Hubei science and technology fertile soil.

"The province and the city have given us a lot of help. The company has established close cooperation with Wuhan University, Huake, Wuhan Science and Technology and other universities, and will attract more upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to develop in Wuhan in the future," said Shan Jizhang. As a "unicorn" enterprise, the company currently has more than 1200 employees worldwide, and more than 85% of R&D personnel.   

Established in 2015, "Hanhai New Enzyme" is a high-tech enterprise mainly engaged in research, development, production, application and technical services of core raw materials for biomedicine and in vitro diagnosis. From the initial establishment to the official launch of the listing plan this year, every growth stage of the enterprise can not be separated from the cultivation and support of the science and technology department.

A set of data strongly shows the "achievements" of the cultivation of scientific and technological innovation enterprises in Hubei: up to now, the number of high-tech enterprises in Hubei Province has reached 25000, an increase of 24%, and the ranking has risen to the sixth place in history in China. The number of technology-based SMEs reached 35000, an increase of 47%. The number of technology-based SMEs exceeded 30000 for the first time, and the number of technology-based SMEs remained the fifth in the country. In 2023, Hubei was approved to have six national innovative industrial clusters, with the number of new industrial clusters ranking first in China and the total number ranking third in China

According to the whole life cycle cultivation plan of scientific and technological innovation enterprises in Hubei, Hubei strives to reach 50000 technology-based SMEs, 30000 high-tech enterprises, 2000 scientific and technological innovation "new species" enterprises and 100 influential scientific and technological leading enterprises in China by 2025.

Strengthen the family foundation and consolidate the "new" advantages

Focusing on scientific and technological innovation, Hubei has a solid foundation and fine tradition.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Hubei successively established the Lianghu Academy and self-improvement school, which started the prelude to revitalizing Hubei through science and education.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state attached great importance to the development of science, education and industry in Hubei. High level institutes and universities, represented by Wuhan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and a number of major industrial projects, represented by Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, Wuhan Heavy Industry Group, Wuhan Shipbuilding Group, and Second Automobile Group, have been deployed in Hubei.

Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, high-quality science and education resources have accelerated to gather in Hubei. At present, Hubei has 23 scientific research institutions affiliated to the central government, 132 colleges and universities, 32 national "double first-class" construction disciplines, and nearly 2 million college students; There are 81 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the total number of high-level talents such as winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and Changjiang Scholars ranks first in China; It has established 1 national laboratory, 18 national key laboratories and 10 Hubei laboratories to promote Hubei's scientific and technological innovation to play an increasingly important role in serving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance.

The world's first high-resolution millimeter wave radar small satellite, the world's leading three-dimensional flash memory chip in storage density, the world's first rice genome breeding chip, the world's first clinical all digital positron emission computed tomography (PET-CT) equipment... batch after batch of major scientific and technological achievements have been produced in Hubei, and breakthroughs have been made in key core technology research, China Optical Valley is accelerating its march towards the World Optical Valley, and Hubei's strategic position in the national innovation landscape continues to improve.

The picture shows China Optics Valley. Xinhuanet

Feng Yanfei said that at present, with the deepening development of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial reform, Hubei's scientific and technological innovation is facing new development opportunities. To build Hubei into a scientific and technological power, it is an important strategic fulcrum. Scientific and technological innovation has always played an important role in leading, supporting and leveraging.

Through the "Whole Life Cycle Cultivation Plan for Science and Technology Innovation Enterprises", Hubei has accelerated the construction of the cultivation chain of "science and technology based SMEs - high-tech enterprises - science and technology innovation 'new species' enterprises - science and technology leading enterprises", and opened up the transformation chain of "source innovation - technology development - achievements transformation - industrial agglomeration".

In 2023, Hubei has been approved 9 new national science and technology business incubators, with a total of 84, ranking fifth in the country. 1054 science and innovation "new species" enterprises have been cultivated, including 3 unicorn enterprises, 8 potential unicorn enterprises, 1043 gazelle enterprises, and 7 science and innovation "new species" enterprises such as Guangting Information and Tianyuan Environmental Protection have been successfully listed.

The stars of scientific and technological innovation in Hubei are converging into a bright river of high-quality development.

(Source: Xinhua News Agency)