Recently, the People's Daily, China Industrial Daily, Xinhua Daily and other central, provincial and industry mainstream media have released a number of special reports, focusing on the Shenghong Group’s taking the lead in building a national advanced functional fiber innovation center, leading the way for the key technological innovation of China's fiber materials, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of the textile industry.
Since the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) spearheaded the construction of manufacturing innovation centers in 2016, new materials have been among its key focuses. In June 2019, the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center was established, continuously exploring ways to clarify key technology innovation roadmaps, promote breakthroughs and transformation of key core technologies, and create new patterns for fiber material applications, providing strong support for China's manufacturing industry to move towards high-end development.
Integrate innovation "deep exploration", and the innovation chain activates the industrial chain
As an important part of new materials, advanced functional fibers are based on technological breakthroughs and cross-integration in materials, machinery and other fields. They have excellent characteristics such as ultra-high performance, high cost-effectiveness, high added value, high industrial pull effect and low-carbon green, which can play a subversive and revolutionary role in traditional industries.
Data shows that the scale, structure, quality and efficiency of China's textile fiber material supply have achieved a historic leap. In 2020, the total amount of textile fiber processing in China reached 58 million tonnes, accounting for more than 50% of the world's proportion, while the production of chemical fibers accounted for more than 70% of the world's proportion. The scale advantage and the closed-loop innovation ecology of the whole industrial chain have took China's fiber material innovation from "following" to the stage of "following, running and leading".
An official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center, as an important innovation carrier and platform in the textile field, aims to organize and carry out breakthroughs in key core technologies and the transformation of research results to meet major needs in high-end fibers and textiles, thereby promoting the optimization and upgrading of the entire chemical fiber and textile industry chain. Over the past two years, the center has provided the industry with cross-disciplinary support for the research and development, engineering verification, and industrialization of key common technologies, significantly enhancing China’s core competitiveness in the field of new fiber materials.
From tackling key common technologies such as the industrialization of chemical fiber oil agents and the research and development of antimony-free and flame-retardant fibers, to the establishment of collaborative innovation public service platforms, from implementing capacity building for technology development, testing and verification, pilot-scale incubation, achievement transformation, investment and financing, and talent training, to the blueprint for future sustainable development, China's fiber materials innovation and development have achieved remarkable results with the continuous advancement of the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center plan.
The three major systems are "deeply constructed" to strengthen the strategic scientific and technological strength
"Building this important platform, fully aggregating the industry's best innovation resources, accelerating breakthroughs in key core technologies, and speeding up the application and transformation of innovative achievements are the missions of all members of the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center," said Miao Hangen, Chairman of Shenghong Holdings Group, the leading unit of the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center. He added that the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center has established a strategic advisory committee led by seven top academicians in the industry; including Chief Scientist Yu Jianyong, President of Donghua University and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Based on the research and development direction and the key common technologies it is committed to tackling, it has also equipped eight top-notch innovation technology teams with dual heads of operations and technology, attracting 213 scientific and technological personnel.
The National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center has also gathered a group of well-developed, highly innovative enterprises with leading positions in relevant sub-sectors. The Shenghong Group, the leading organization in establishing the center, has in recent years built a series of scientific research and innovation platforms, including a national-level enterprise technology center and a postdoctoral research station, forming a powerful "brain" to support innovative development and continuously breaking international monopolies in core technologies such as microfiber. By the end of this year, Shenghong's 16 million-tonne integrated refining and chemical project, with an investment of 67.7 billion yuan, will be put into operation, and Shenghong is expected to achieve full upstream and downstream integration from "a drop of oil" to "a single fiber.”
Since its establishment more than two years ago, members of the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center have actively invested innovation resources and integrated innovation elements, achieving breakthroughs in a number of key core technologies and entering the stage of technology transfer.
? Focusing on functional fiber new materials, high-end fiber materials and textiles, and cutting-edge fiber new materials, the center has established a technology innovation supply system supported by "key laboratories", "pilot bases" and "national textile testing centers".
? The number of shareholder units has increased from 9 to 14, and the number of innovation alliance units has increased from 15 to 133, covering the complete industrial chain of domestic textile fibers and building a collaborative innovation system of in-depth cooperation between industry, academia, research and use.
? The center aims at advanced functional fiber and information, machinery, biology and other disciplines, carries out technological breakthroughs and cross-integration, carries out a series of capacity building, and explores the construction of an integrated innovation system with the innovation chain layout of the industrial chain.
Apply ecological "deep expansion" to give rise to cross-border cooperative butterfly change
In recent years, the relevant policies intensively introduced by the state have clearly put forward the layout and construction of a comprehensive national science center and a regional innovation highland, overcome the shortcomings, improve the overall efficiency of the innovation chain, and develop strategic emerging industries including new materials.
Miao Hangen said that the center will focus on building "a pilot base", build "four key laboratories" and "three service platforms" around the construction requirements of the national manufacturing innovation center, and accelerate the "application and transformation of four scientific research results".
Sun Ruizhe, president of the China Textile Industry Federation, suggested that the center should take quality as the core, accelerate the formation of leading strategic scientific and technological forces, strengthen top-level planning, and focus on innovation in key areas. It should strengthen basic research and technology accumulation, pay attention to original innovation, fully integrate into the digital economy, and promote the breakthrough of key core technologies in fiber manufacturing and the improvement of technological iteration ability. Furthermore, it should accelerate the integration of innovation chain and industrial chain, scientifically evaluate the potential and maturity of technology, and promote the process of industrialization and commercialization in a refined way. Guided by "one demand for multiple materials" and "one material for multiple uses", it forms a virtuous cycle of demand and supply.
Relevant people from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also said that the National Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center shoulders the important mission of industrial innovation. It also needs to continue to target cutting-edge technologies and key common technologies to continue to tackle and break through. Focusing the layout of the innovation chain of the industrial chain, coordinate the upstream and downstream innovation subjects to jointly promote the R&D and transformation of major scientific and technological projects, form an innovation synergy, improve the cohesion and leadership of the national advanced functional fiber innovation center, organize the implementation of key forward-looking and strategic major scientific and technological projects, and promote the innovation and development of the whole textile industry chain with the innovation of chemical fiber materials.
