中国企业努力加大创新力度

China technological innovations have rarely attracted the same attention as its productivity. But as the government and countless companies continue to spend big on research and development, the economy is slowing moving from mass producing cheap products to creating the technologies that will be used tomorrow.

With no diesel needed and zero emissions, a bus that runs through downtown Shanghai has been powered by a supercapacitor since 2008. The bus uses an innovative storing and charging system for its batteries to maximize efficiency. Every time it stops to pick up passengers, it’s charging.

"After charging at the departure station, the bus can go four to five stops, and it can run the entire route without the air-conditioner on," bus driver Zhao Rongyi said.

Compared with traditional batteries, which can take hours to recharge, those that run on supercapacitors are much more time saving; it only takes 30 to 90 seconds to charge the system.
That means the bus can charge while waiting for traffic lights to change. The system not only saves time, it is also cost effective.

"The service life of a bus is eight years. The supercapacitor only needs to be replaced once and cost 600 thousand Yuan; while lithium batteries need to be replaced every two to three years and cost 1.8 million Yuan. We can save a lot of money by operating supercapacitor buses and we will open a new route this year," Hu Ningbiao, project leader of Shanghai Bashi Public Transportation Co., said.

Aowei Technology Development, a private tech company based in Shanghai, is a big driver of the innovation. Starting from scratch 16 years ago, it has become one of the leaders in the industry. The company has exported supercapacitor buses and has set up industrial standards in Europe and Israel. But the success has not come easily.

"Tech companies need more policy support from the government, because the market is usually affected by it. For example, we have gained contracts for super capacitor buses, but it was canceled later due to the subsidy policy change," Hua Li, chairman of the board, Shanghai Aowei Technology Development Co., said.
Hua says financing difficulties are also a big challenge for small-and-medium sized tech companies, as they usually do not have many fixed assets. They rely solely on their technology.
China's move from imitation to innovation has been a matter of national policy in recent years. As well as the drive of the market, Chinese companies, especially start-ups, need a more supportive mechanism to transfer their innovations from the lab to practical use and profit.

"Many small firms focus on some specific areas of the industry chain, and they need to work with its upstream and downstream technologies together to make a product for the market. In many cases, there is a lack of such information to find the right match. The government should help to integrate these resources," Ma Xingfa, vice-chairman of Shanghai Science & Technology Commission, said.

Despite being the second largest economy in the world, and manufacturer of most of the world’s electronics and gadgets, China still has a long way to go before it will be recognized as a technological and innovative powerhouse.