Author | Wei Qiyang
Source | Insights New Research Institute
On Zhihu, there is a popular question with more than one million views - "What do you think of the city of Changsha?"
The answer of the respondent "Planet Research Institute" was highly praised, " This is a city with a fiery nature ".
Under the cloak of an Internet celebrity city, from Hunan Satellite TV's variety shows, to Internet celebrity food and tea beauty; from the beautiful scenery of the Xiangjiang River on Yuelu Mountain in Orange Island, to the bustling market in Pozi Street, Wuyi Square, Changsha presents a hot market. The hot and hot city appearance has been listed as "the happiest city in China" for 15 consecutive years.
With a long history of three thousand years, the civilization of Changsha City has continued like a fire. It has been burned by fire, but it has been reborn again and again . The root of it lies in its very contrasting urban character with its appearance.
Throughout the ages, Changsha people have continued the torch of Changsha’s thousand-year culture by relying on the tenacity of “ endure hardship and patience ”, and light up the fiery youth of Changsha with the tenacity of “ dominant and not afraid of death ”. .
Ideals are immortal, youth is immortal.
At the 2023 Internet Yuelu Summit that ended not long ago, Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, gave Changsha a new proposition-to create a " global R&D center city ".
Shortly thereafter, Xiangjiang New District publicly stated that for the work of building a global R&D center city, " we must be at the forefront and be the main force, and we must build the new district into a core leading area of a global R&D center city. "
The proposal of the strategy of building a global R&D center city is not only Hunan Province's new thinking on Changsha's future development, but also based on the city's innovative connotation, and its full trust in Changsha's ability to complete this task.
01. The logic of industrial development has changed, and R&D leaders have made the best use of the situation
Before rolling up their sleeves and working hard, many people may have doubts in their minds. Why does Changsha propose to build a "global R&D center city" at this point in time? What role does R&D play in the current industrial competition?
We answer with cases.
In the early days, Huawei imported interactive computers from Hong Kong and started by selling agents. According to the development history of the domestic communication market, even if Huawei continues to follow this route, it still has a great opportunity.
However, Huawei chose to do its own research. The air separation user interactive machine HJD48 series had just been successful, and it immediately turned to the more difficult research and development of the "telecom bureau use interactive machine".
It's a pity that the start was not good. The JK1000 used by the Air Separation Simulation Bureau pressed the wrong technical direction. The product was facing a replacement as soon as it was released. With all our efforts, only more than 200 sets of this product were sold.
The JK1000 project suffered heavy losses, but Huawei did not stand still. Instead, it fought with its back and invested all the company's remaining funds and personnel in the research and development of new digital switches. This is the famous C&C08 that later allowed Huawei to establish its first milestone. switch.
Through the C&C08 product, Huawei’s revenue was 800 million in 1994, and 1.5 billion in 1995, doubling for two consecutive years. During the research and development process, it not only laid the company’s technological cornerstone, but more importantly, allowed Huawei to break through the domestic market. Encircled by peers, it has entered the stage of competing with international giants such as Cisco, Ericsson, and Motorola.
The essence of Huawei's success is driven by R&D and innovation. The mode of technology implementation has changed. From a macro perspective, for cities, the logic of industrial development has changed. In the past, it was the traditional "production-learning-research" The model has now changed to the "research-study-production" model.
The translation is that in the past, it was "expanding production capacity, using demand to drive R&D innovation, and then driving academic innovation". The current logic is to use the power of R&D innovation to directly judge investment or concentrate on cultivating a brand-new technology industry, so as to realize the "bend". Overtaking" .
The strategy of returning to Changsha to build a global R&D center city is not only to occupy a place in advance, but also to adapt to changes in technological innovation and industrial development models, and to propose new development ideas and directions for the upgrading of the city's industrial structure.
In fact, before Changsha proposed to build a global R&D center city, as the only city holding four national licenses (National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Changsha) Test Zone, National Vehicle Network Pilot Zone, National Intelligent Network Vehicle Quality Supervision and Inspection Center (Hunan), National Smart City Infrastructure and Intelligent Connected Vehicle Collaborative Development Pilot City), the intelligent connected vehicle industry has accumulated a lot of experience in the integration of cutting-edge scientific research and development and urban industry through the exploration of the first trial.
When Changsha decided to develop the ICV industry in 2016, the industry had just started, and the direction of the industry was mainly research and development. Most of the major autonomous driving companies demonstrated their technical capabilities through road tests of unmanned vehicles, drawing a blueprint for the future. At the same time, enhance the confidence of capital and society in the industry.
In this regard, Changsha has no representative companies, and there are no particularly good targets for attracting investment from other domestic cities. After the argumentation of the decision-makers, the entry point for breaking the situation is to target the pain points of the industry's research and development and lack of a test environment for autonomous driving and unmanned vehicles . The high-standard test area builds the industrial ecology of intelligent networked vehicles from scratch in the way of "building a nest to attract phoenixes".
If you believe first and act first, you will naturally see before others.
Changsha’s industrial layout soon yielded results. Shortly after the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Changsha) Test Zone was listed (in 2019), Hunan Xiangjiang New District ushered in Schaeffler, a well-known supplier of automotive bearings and gearboxes. The cooperation was signed, and Schaeffler established a wholly-owned company in Xiangjiang New District, and also settled the second R&D center in Greater China in Changsha.
Over the next year or so, Changsha, with its excellent R&D/testing environment, attracted giants of different research directions in the autonomous driving industry, including Baidu, Tencent, Huawei, JD.com, CRRC, Continental, and Bosch. According to statistics, there were more than 300 key related companies of intelligent connected vehicles gathered in the whole area at that time, and Changsha established a very active industrial ecology in a short period of time.
At this time, Changsha also began to have the ambition to compete for the "first city of intelligent driving".
In 2019, when the industry developed to the point where it needed to go to open roads to further polish its technical capabilities, Changsha decisively invested in the construction of the "two hundred" projects (100 square kilometers of urban open roads and 100 kilometers of smart expressways), which complemented the development of the industry. The necessary infrastructure construction of "vehicle-road-cloud-network-map" will take Robotaxi's first place in China, and its industrial logic is still driven by research and development.
In addition to local incubation, Changsha's ICV industry is also actively participating in international cooperation and exchanges.
As early as 2018, Continental AG signed a contract with Xiangjiang New District, and the two parties jointly carried out cooperation in technology demonstration, market promotion, industrial funds, business incubation, government-industry-university collaboration, etc.
During the 2020 Yuelu Summit, Xiangjiang Intelligent signed contracts with Ford (China) and SÜD Group respectively, which contributed to the commercialization of C-V2X "vehicle-road collaboration" technology.
Xiangjiang New Area has also carried out technical R&D and business cooperation exchanges with Schaffhausen, Switzerland for many times. The two sides have carried out very in-depth cooperation in smart transportation fields such as smart buses and logistics heavy trucks, as well as open road testing and intelligent network standards. discuss.
The China-Italy Chamber of Commerce also organized a delegation to Changsha in March this year to discuss cooperation and development with ecological enterprises in the intelligent networked automobile industry.
As an inland city in central China, it is not easy for Changsha to form the voice of " starting in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and landing in Changsha " in the emerging industry of intelligent networked vehicles, which is integrated with many cutting-edge sciences, especially in the " In the white paper "Research on the Top 100 Cities with Potential Investment in China's Intelligent Connected Automobile Industry in 2020", Changsha rushed to the third place in the top 100 in one fell swoop, and its influence in the industry has also reached its peak.
02. From "squatting seedlings" to results, industrial construction will not be accomplished overnight
Changsha's intelligent networked automobile industry has indeed achieved good results, but the competition within the industry is also very fierce.
A very obvious weathervane, the "Comprehensive Evaluation Index and Best Practices for Urban Intelligent Networked Vehicle Industry Development (2022)" jointly compiled by the National Intelligent Networked Vehicle Innovation Center, China Society of Automotive Engineers, and China Intelligent Networked Vehicle Industry Innovation Alliance According to the evaluation results of Changsha, although Changsha is still in the first echelon of urban ICV competitiveness, compared with the No. Three, the ranking dropped by two places, and came to fifth place.
What's going on in it?
In fact, to develop an industry in a city, in addition to adhering to a scientific industrial layout and predicting the industrial development route, it is more important to advocate the cultivation of an industrial development concept similar to "squatting seedlings".
That's right, Changsha's intelligent connected car industry has been "squatting seedlings" for the past two years.
The original meaning of the term "squatting seedlings" refers to controlling fertilization and irrigation within a certain period of time, so that the roots of the seedlings will be rooted, grow vigorously, and prevent the stems and leaves from growing excessively. This is mapped to industrial development. The solid technology research and development is compared to "squatting seedlings". Only then can we "tie down the roots" and accumulate thickly.
In the actual operation process, research and development is not an easy task like "squatting seedlings". The "grain seedlings" have already borne fruit, and some "grain seedlings" are still waiting to be harvested.
The most typical case is the development experience of Changsha Intelligent Driving Research Institute (Xidi Zhijia), which is a local enterprise incubated by Xiangjiang New District. The company's name can be seen from its R&D attributes.
Xidi Zhijia has experienced a period of dormancy in the initial stage, and a large part of its energy has been devoted to the accumulation of research and development of autonomous driving technology. It achieved an automatic driving speed of 100 km/h, which was a sensation.
When the scale of commercialization of the industry was launched, Xidi Zhijia showed a strong explosive energy, realizing the large-scale commercialization of multiple scenarios such as unmanned mines, trunk logistics, smart parks, and urban buses.
With brilliant performance, Xidi Zhijia has become one of the few unicorn companies in Hunan, and has been selected into the lists of "2022 Forbes China's New Unicorns" and "2023 Hurun Global Unicorns", showing that The capital market recognizes the industrial value of Xidi Zhijia.
For example, since the establishment of the CRRC New Energy Vehicle Research Institute, it has anchored the research on key core technologies of new energy vehicles, focusing on intelligent driving, vehicle network big data, new motor electronic control, power battery level cascade utilization and recycling, hydrogen fuel cells, New energy vehicle lightweight and other technological research has provided very strong technical support for the launch of related products of CRRC Times.
For another example, the Lizhong Automotive Safety R&D Headquarters relies on the Lizhong Auto Body Advanced Design and Manufacturing State Key Laboratory. A breakthrough has been made in component technology, realizing independent control of technology and products.
Sort out the R&D ecology already established in Changsha, including:
The second R&D center of Schaeffler Greater China mainly focuses on research and development of steering systems, chassis business, and mechatronic solutions;
CRRC New Energy Vehicle Research Institute, which focuses on the key core technologies of new energy vehicles;
Jilin University Changsha Automobile Innovation Research Institute with the main goal of building a vehicle development platform, simulation platform and test platform;
Relying on the public service platform for R&D and verification of common technologies of ICVs, the ICV National Inspection Center and Central China R&D Base provide R&D and verification services for ICVs;
Changsha Intelligent Driving Research Institute founded by Professor Li Zexiang, a well-known entrepreneurial mentor;
Relying on the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacture of Automobile Body, Lizhong Automotive Safety R&D Headquarters has achieved technological breakthroughs in advanced auto parts...
In the R&D ecosystem established in Changsha, there are Fortune 500 companies, new R&D institutions, and leading companies in the industry. With these ecological companies as the main body, an "innovation forest" has formed within the intelligent networked automobile industry, converging to Together, they become an industrial label of Changsha.
To broaden the field of vision, other industries in Changsha can also learn from this industrial development model to build a city "R&D landmark" with regional characteristics in the form of an urban industry "innovation jungle".
03. Anticipate the difficulties more fully, and the road ahead will be smoother
It is not difficult to see that the logic of Changsha's development of the intelligent networked automobile industry is that R&D is just an "introduction". At a deeper level, the industry driven by R&D will eventually land on the realization of industrial value and the leadership of the urban economy.
At present, the commercialization process of the intelligent networked automobile industry has started, but it is undeniable that in many scenarios, there are still many challenges such as the maturity of technology, the tolerance of regulations, and the acceptance of costs. It will take time for the scale to be popularized.
In this process, research and development is still one of the focuses of the industry. We have full expectations for the development of the industry, but we must also realize that cutting-edge industries with multi-disciplinary integration such as intelligent networked vehicles have the characteristics of "large investment in research and development, and output of research results. " It has the characteristics of "uncertainty ", and a little carelessness may cause the problem of "white elephant".
In the ancient country of Siam, which is today's Thailand, elephants abounded. White elephants are regarded as sacred treasures because of their rarity, and whoever owns a white elephant can gain supreme glory.
Ordinary elephants can be used for labor and help humans in exchange for wealth, but white elephants are superior to being too precious and can only be supported and cannot be used for labor. Often supporting a white elephant means a huge expense, even the nobles will be greatly affected.
Over time, people called such an expensive encumbrance " White Elephant ".
When the "white elephant" problem arises, how should we deal with it?
The in-depth integration of technology research and development, industrial development and urban construction, and the final presentation in the form of Xiangjiang Intelligent Connected Industrial Park, is the result of Changsha and Hunan Xiangjiang New District's thinking on the next step of the development of the intelligent connected automobile industry.
According to the plan, the Industrial Park is a natural R&D center and pilot test base, as well as an industrial incubator, consisting of the Artificial Intelligence Science and Technology Park, Smart Connected Innovation Park, Smart Connected Acceleration Park, Smart Connected Manufacturing Park, Smart Connected Service Park, Smart Agricultural Science and Technology Park, Digital Rongcheng Demonstration Park consists of seven "gardens within gardens".
Relying on the industrial park, Changsha and Xiangjiang New District will be able to further flexibly use relevant policies to build an industrial fund platform, a testing service platform, a data integration and sharing platform, an innovation transformation platform, and an off-site dual recruitment platform for the intelligent networked automobile industry. Consolidate the industrial foundation, lengthen the upstream and downstream chains, and provide new driving force for the intelligent networked automobile industry.
Measure the future of Changsha's intelligent connected car industry with a longer time dimension, firmly believe in "squatting seedlings", and maintain the original intention when the industry was first established, and eventually the industry will explode.
At present, the research and development of Changsha’s intelligent networked industry is more about basic research, common technology research and key core technology research. At present, it has been approved as the National Technical Standard Innovation Base (Changzhou-Zhuzhou-Tan) Intelligent Networked Vehicle Standard Innovation Center, and developed 40 standards. It is estimated that the development of standards in the next three years will reach 100 items.
These studies are the base support for the development of the intelligent networked automobile industry. If the vision is wider, the intelligent networked automobile industry is like a surprise soldier, and it is also the backbone of Changsha to build a global R&D center city.
From point to point, the experience of Changsha's intelligent networked automobile industry is summarized. It is a long process for any cutting-edge technology from research and development to implementation and then to the realization of industrialization value. The problems encountered by the intelligent networked automobile industry And difficulties will also be encountered in other industries and in the construction of global R&D center cities.
Now that the difficulties are better estimated, the road to running in the future will be smoother.
Of course, the key to our confidence in Changsha’s ability to achieve its goals lies in the city’s character mentioned at the beginning of the article. Changsha has the tenacity of “enduring hardships and patience” and the firmness of “being tyrannical and not afraid of death”.
Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, also commented that the spiritual characteristics of Hunan culture, such as " dare to be the first, practice the world, seek truth and be pragmatic, open and inclusive ", are exactly what scientific and technological innovation needs.
Go ahead to dangers.
It was the same in the past to explore the way to develop the intelligent networked automobile industry, and it is also the same in building a global R&D center city now.
Mountains, rivers and time endowed Changsha with a thousand-year heritage, and the surging "back wave" endowed Changsha with a fiery youth.
The global R&D center city is an opportunity for Changsha and the future of Changsha; it is an irresistible trend, and it is also the foundation for urban industries and even national power competition.
References
1. Zhihu answerer: Planetary Research Institute, what do you think of the city of Changsha?
2. Chen Ying, The Rise of Science Center Cities