"Three Questions" Shanghai's Future Industry: "Chess" Future Inclusive of "Uncertainty"

Zhongxin Wanghai, March 3 (Reporter Zheng Yingying) The layout of cutting-edge industries is often like the next "future chess", and the results will not be known until years or even decades. But only with a forward-looking layout will the opportunity to lead the wave of the technology industry when the time comes.

Shanghai is trying to lay out future industries, and this "future industry blueprint" is still uncertain.

Why embrace "uncertainty"?

As one of the earliest cities in China to lay out and develop future industries, in 2022, Shanghai took the lead in releasing the Action Plan for Shanghai to Build a Future Industrial Innovation Highland and Develop and Expand Future Industrial Clusters (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan) to promote the layout of future industries.

The Action Plan lays out future industries in 16 subdivisions in five major directions in Shanghai. The five major directions refer to the five major industrial clusters focusing on future health, future intelligence, future energy, future space and future materials; 16 subdivisions include: brain-computer interfaces in the field of future health, synthetic biology, etc.; General AI, quantum technology, 6G and so on in the field of future intelligence.

Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said, "We believe that these five directions are certain, but these 16 areas are uncertain, and can only be said to be a judgment from our perspective today and based on our past knowledge to see the future industrial development." ”

He pointed out that through the horse racing mechanism, through the unveiling of the leaderboard, it is necessary to see which areas can stand out in the competition.

"If some of these 5 fields can develop momentum with five to eight years of hard work, then our work to cultivate the industry of the future will be very meaningful." Zhang Hongtao said.

He pointed out that the future industrial direction represented by disruptive technologies can lead the productivity to achieve a new leap, "Whoever masters the future technology will master the initiative of future development." ”

How is the new track different from the industry of the future?

In 2022, Shanghai released action plans for four "new tracks" of digital economy, green and low-carbon, metaverse, and smart terminals. Why is it that after the new track, Shanghai has laid out the future industry? How is the industry of the future different from the new track?

In short, one is for the "tomorrow" of Shanghai's industry, and the other is for the "day after tomorrow" of Shanghai's industry.

Ding Guojie, vice president of Shanghai Zhongchuang Industry Innovation Research Institute, said in an interview with Chinanews.com that the four "new tracks" focus on 3 to 5 years, focusing on some industries with more explosive power and growth, so they are called new tracks, and the track is the field that everyone is entering and developing.

Why is Shanghai proposing to develop future industries? Ding Guojie said that this is divided according to the technology maturity curve, the industry of the new track has seen a relatively clear direction, and large-scale industrialization may see prospects in the next few years; The future industry is different from the new track, and some technologies are not mature, and its application may be far away, perhaps 10 to 15 years.

What are the challenges of developing the industry of the future? Ding Guojie said: There are probably the following aspects:

First, technological breakthroughs, we have a gap with foreign leading countries in source innovation, relatively speaking, we are in the role of "following". She stressed that breakthroughs in basic research will take a long time.

Second, future technology is not necessarily mature, and some of its products may not be immediately recognized by the public or widely used. We need to support the development of these future technologies and allow them to continue to be proven to maturity.

Third, many of the industries that focus on the future are start-ups, and the growth of these start-ups is under pressure.

What kind of soil can Shanghai provide for the "future industrial tree"?

With the theme of "Building the Main Engine of Innovation and Seizing New Opportunities in the Future", the Shanghai Industrial Technology Innovation Conference was held in the Golden Furnace Hall in Baoshan District, Shanghai on the 25th. At the meeting, Shanghai awarded licenses to the first batch of three future industry pilot zones in Zhangjiang, Lingang and Dazero Bay. In the future, the industrial pilot zone will play a leading role in institutional innovation, policy supply, achievement transformation, and demonstration application.

For example, the Shanghai (Big Zero Bay) Future Industry Pilot Zone will give full play to the advantages of university resource agglomeration, focusing on the three directions of future intelligence, future energy and future space, with the goal of reaching about 2030 billion yuan (RMB) in the future industry by 1000.

Spring River Water Heating Duck Prophet. Shanghai has outlined the direction of the future industry, attracting "people of insight" to come and settle and seek the "chess game" of the future industry.

Gao Anzhu, associate professor of the Institute of Medical Robotics of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said in an interview that medical robots are a systematic project that requires multidisciplinary cross-integration, and hopes to give full play to the advantages of relevant systems and teams to jointly achieve whole-process innovation.

In addition to the Action Plan and the pilot zone, Shanghai will also provide more assistance for future industrial development. As Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said, although there are still many uncertainties about Shanghai's future industrial layout, two aspects of work are certain: on the one hand, to grasp talents, and on the other hand, to grasp the soil (environment).

Tang Haisong, chief consultant of the NTU Synthetic Biology Industrial Park, said that the development of science itself has many contingencies, just as "intentional planting of flowers does not bloom, unintentional planting of willows and willows". But without the accumulation of basic research, there will be no new technology. Our industrial development must have a short-term balance, and the long-term (innovative layout) cannot be lost. He believes that the advantage of Shanghai's future industrial development lies in talents. (End)