April 26, the 18th World Intellectual Property Day quietly came to us.


As a tool, intellectual property rights provide impetus and support for the development of the country's economy as a whole.


Recently, a series of hot issues surrounding intellectual property rights have been fermenting, reminding us that it is urgent to strengthen technological innovation.


At present, China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry has developed vigorously, and its proportion in industry has been increasing.


However, in the field of high-end equipment, 80% of IC chip manufacturing equipment, 40% of large-scale petrochemical equipment and 70% of key automobile manufacturing equipment still rely on imports.


ZTE was sanctioned and Huawei was investigated, which shows that if there is no core technology intellectual property rights, putting the "life gate" of the technology supply chain in the hands of others is like building a house on the wall of others. No matter how big and beautiful it is, it may not withstand the storm, or even be vulnerable to a blow.



"Heart" Dream Awakening


Just as steel and petroleum are the food of the industrial age, chips are the food of the information industry.


The so-called information age is the chip age.


Because of its late start, China's chip industry has a weak foundation in patent distribution, technology accumulation and other aspects, and is subjected to others everywhere. Intellectual property strategy is also facing severe challenges.


Recently, a ban on sales in the United States has pushed ZTE to the lifeline, and at the same time, the pain of "core-free" Chinese industry has once again become a hot topic for the public.


ZTE, once in the ascendant, may not have thought that a small chip has pressed the "pause button" of the rapid development of enterprises.


In the final analysis, the reason for this "choke" by the United States is that we lack the conditions for independent research and development of chip technology and rely heavily on imports from the United States. Once we are pinched on the "life gate", the consequences are unimaginable.


In order to avoid this dilemma happening again, we must continue to strengthen investment in independent R&D, innovate and master independent intellectual property rights in the future.


Chip technology directly affects the implementation of Made in China 2025 strategy.


In the strategy of Made-in-China 2025, Internet of Things technology is an important component. As the core component of the Internet of Things, chip is also the hub of the whole network information transmission, and it plays a central role in all applications of the Internet of Things.


But nowadays, the high-end sensor equipments all over the country often grow a "foreign core", and the development of the Internet of Things industry in China is stuck by small chips.


Lack of relevant technical personnel, lack of innovation, long design and manufacturing cycle, R&D cost and high risk restrict the development of domestic chip manufacturing technology, leading to most domestic manufacturers prefer to inject a "foreign core" into their equipment, which is the high cost of investment, leading to the Internet of Things. Generally, the prices of products produced by industries tend to be high.


At the same time, chip technology is the key to the development and full application of 5G standard. The impact of 5G on our future is subversive. It will not only open a new era of interconnection, but also bring huge economic benefits and change our way of life.


In the field of intelligent manufacturing, 5G can make machines and machines coordinate, talk and interact directly. More robots and artificial intelligence will be involved, which will greatly improve the quality of industry and really promote the real economic change. Therefore, the research and development of chips with independent intellectual property rights also determines the application progress of 5G standard, thus affecting the development of Intelligent Manufacturing in China.


Crisis and opportunity often occur at the same time. From now on, China will increase investment in the chip industry, and the whole industry will usher in a historic development opportunity. Under such circumstances, how to reduce the cost of intellectual property rights in the whole industry, how to concentrate limited efforts to deal with risks and how to lay out new technologies will be the key to solve the bottleneck of intellectual property rights, thus creating conditions for the smooth implementation of Made-in-China 2025 strategy.


Key technologies are subject to human constraints


At the same time, in the industrial automation application side, domestic substitution still stays at the middle and low end, while at the core technology level, key parts and components are still subject to people, which has a long way to go. We should always keep a clear mind and see the gaps.


Nowadays, although domestic substitution has steadily improved, most of the industrial automation market is still dominated by foreign investment. As shown in the figure below, from the market share of local brands in China's automation market in 2012-2017, foreign enterprises occupy about 65% of the market share of the industrial automation industry.

From the change of local brand share of main automation products from 2012 to 2017, the share of local brands of PLC, DCS, industrial computer, frequency converter, servo, sensor, instrument, industrial communication and other products, as well as the key components of these products (such as cpu, memory, power semiconductor, sensitive components, operating system, etc.) and Compared with foreign investment, there is still a big gap.

There are gaps, but we will not stop moving forward. We don't have to belittle ourselves because of the prosperity of the application side and the obvious gap between local brands.


In the strategy of Made-in-China 2025, the importance of strong industrial base has been clearly defined. In the future, we will focus on solving the problems such as the heavy dependence on imports of core basic components and key basic materials, which is also the direction of joint efforts of the industry.

In the field of intelligent manufacturing, it is also very important to have independent intellectual property rights. As early as 2016, "Intelligent Manufacturing Development Plan (2016-2020)" proposed that in the future, China will accumulate a number of core intellectual property rights for the layout of intelligent manufacturing.


Like the pain of chips in China, there is a similar crisis in the core technology of Intelligent Manufacturing in China.


Industrial robots are the most representative equipment in the intelligent manufacturing industry. They play a leading role in the robot industry.


At present, China has become the largest market for industrial robots in the world. In the "Made in China 2025" plan, the robot industry has been listed as one of the key development industries by the state. China's robot industry has also made great progress in recent years, and its competitiveness in the international market has become increasingly high. However, it is not difficult to find that the core components of the robot industry, such as reducers, guideways, servo motors, control systems, are basically in the monopoly of international brands. After years of efforts, domestic substitutes have made considerable progress, but compared with international large-brand products, there are still considerable gaps in control accuracy, stability and product life.


Therefore, China's robotics industry urgently needs to break through key parts and core technologies, master its own intellectual property rights, take the lead in the development of the next generation of robots, and achieve sustainable and healthy development.


In the future, we need to improve the "made in China" intellectual property layout, focusing on the key areas of "China made 2025" and the key links of "Internet +" action to form a number of industrial core technology intellectual property rights. Only in this way can we avoid repeating the mistakes of ZTE in the industry.