(Economic Observation) What does DJI rely on for winning?
China News Service, Beijing, September 14 (Reporter Xia Bin) The US International Trade Commission (ITC) recently announced the final decision of the 337 investigation against DJI: No ban will be issued.
In 2018, a US subsidiary of a Chinese company requested ITC to initiate a 337 investigation and issue a limited exclusion order and a prohibition order on the grounds that DJI infringed its patent rights.
Two years later, the accusation was finally rejected.
DJI won, what does it rely on?
Technology is hard power.
Founded in 2006, DJI has become a “unicorn” in the global drone industry in the past 12 years. In 2019, its industrial output value exceeded 26 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), and in the first half of 2020, Still maintained a growth rate of more than 20%.
What supports DJI’s “Soaring” is the extreme emphasis on technology. Half of the company’s employees are engineers, and more than 20% of its income is directly or indirectly invested in research and development. Long-term and deep technical research is not for the purpose of short-term profit. Hard power in the field.
In terms of patent applications, as of February 15, 2019, DJI has over 8,700 global patent applications, and more than 3,000 authorized patents worldwide, making it the top ten domestic PCT patent applications for many years.
Especially in the UAV field, the US, EU, Japan and other countries or regions have authorized over 1,000 patents.
Foresight Industry Research Institute has given such a set of data: DJI holds more than 80% of the global drone market share, and in the United States, its market share is more than 85%.
This means that DJI is extremely irreplaceable in the US market.
Since 2017, the U.S. federal government and the U.S. military have passed dozens of regulations and orders to restrict the use of DJI drones.
However, due to the inability to find alternative products, DJI's market share and scale in the United States are still increasing.
Xie Tiandi, Director of Public Relations of DJI, told a reporter from China News Agency: "We maintain a strong competitiveness and a high level of compliance in such an international environment, but a small number of people in the West always proceed from a political standpoint regardless of the facts. Attacking us has data security issues."
In fact, since 2009, DJI has basically maintained the rhythm of introducing innovative products every year.
Starting from a commercial autonomous flight control system, to gradually launching products such as gimbal systems, multi-rotor aircraft, small multi-rotor all-in-one aircraft, DJI has filled a number of technical gaps in China, including flight control systems, racks, gimbals, cameras and other components All are designed and developed independently by it, and are produced and assembled in a self-built factory.
The foundation for DJI to build its own technological "treasure house" is talent.
Xie Tian bluntly said that the core competitiveness of DJI is talents.
It is reported that DJI has the largest UAV R&D team in the world and has attracted and cultivated engineering and scientific talents around the world through a number of talent programs.
In recent years, the quality and quantity of talents in the field of robotics in China have rapidly improved, and this can be seen in the Robo Master tournament that DJI has hosted for many years.
Xie Tiandi recalled: “When we first held the competition in 2015, it was very challenging for the robot designed by undergraduates to automatically aim and shoot through vision. It often required the guidance of graduate students, and it might even be difficult for graduation design. But by 2017 this technology has been popularized in various college teams, and everyone can skillfully develop and deploy visual recognition, automatic targeting and other technologies. The automatic targeting developer of the 2018 champion South China University of Technology team is actually a freshman. This It means that through hands-on practice, many advanced technical knowledge can be quickly grasped by students."
"After such a competition, students can not only learn the engineering science knowledge in practical textbooks, but also have experience in project collaboration and organization and management. If they are involved in entrepreneurship, students with competition experience are more likely to bring technology from the laboratory to the industry. Xie Tiandi said that from 2015 to 2019, DJI invested 350 million yuan in the five competitions to select talents, cultivate and export engineer culture.
He revealed that as Robo Master players gradually graduated to enter the field of scientific research or into society, many have already joined the field of robotics. It is foreseeable that a number of "very powerful" projects will be on the stage in the next few years.
Shenzhen, where DJI is located, is an important hub for China's innovative technology and scientific research talents, and its scientific and technological status in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is self-evident.
When asked, what are the core elements to build the Greater Bay Area into an international technological innovation center?
Luo Zhenhua, President of DJI Innovation, said that the main expectation is in terms of talents.
Generally speaking, whether it is the Greater Bay Area or the whole of China, the density of scientific and technological talents still has great potential for improvement. Only when more people devote themselves to technological innovation can better technological enterprises continue to emerge like bamboo shoots after a rain.
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