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Introduction: The R&D level of scientific instruments, as a key indicator of a nation's independent innovation, has always been a focus of government attention. During this special period of economic slowdown in my country, breaking the long-standing dominance of imported instruments in the domestic market and enhancing the strength of domestically produced instruments has become a top priority.
For a long time, there has been a trade deficit between domestic and imported instruments. The "2015 China Scientific Instrument Industry Development Report" indicates that in 2015, the total import and export volume of the instrumentation industry was US$67.6 billion, the first decline since 2003. Imports amounted to US$41.4 billion, while exports were US$26.2 billion, resulting in a deficit of US$15.3 billion, a six-year low.
Weak domestic market demand and improved domestic enterprise capabilities led to a significant decrease in imports; the weak international market affected both the export of high-end products by foreign-invested enterprises in China and the export of low- and mid-range products by domestic enterprises. The combined effect of these two factors created conditions for a reduction in the trade deficit. "Small industry scale, fragmented specialization, and the majority of enterprises' products concentrated in the low-end market" is the current reality for domestic instrument companies.
Domestic Instruments Face Repeated "Squeezing Out" Compared to Imported Instruments
Currently, my country's economy is in a period of "slowdown and shifting gears." On the one hand, downward pressure on the economy is further increasing; on the other hand, it is a crucial period for industrial upgrading and achieving sustainable economic development. However, domestically produced instruments are repeatedly "squeezed out." In the eyes of many Chinese researchers, although domestically produced instruments are cheaper and have lower costs than imported instruments, their lifespan is shorter and their operation is less convenient. This directly leads to the predicament that most research institutes would rather purchase imported instruments at high prices than acquire domestically produced instruments at lower prices.
In terms of technical parameters, most existing domestic low- and mid-range products can replace imported products, but the reliability indicators (mean time between failures) of high-end products are one to two orders of magnitude lower than those of foreign products. In terms of measurement accuracy, existing domestic products are generally one order of magnitude lower than foreign products. According to the "2015-2020 China Instrument and Meter Parts Industry Development Analysis and Investment Potential Research Report," about one-third of high-end instruments still rely on imports, while the level of domestic brands of another one-third of instruments is completely equivalent to that of imported brands.
The development of domestically produced instruments is not only squeezed by imported instruments but also challenged by competitors. Currently, factors such as low-end, homogeneous competition, exclusion from bidding processes, and constraints from implicit foreign technological barriers remain the precarious situation for domestically produced testing instruments.
Exploring Reform and Innovation, Strengthening the Transformation of Research Results
Improving the overall competitiveness of the industry and continuing to narrow the gap between my country's instrument technology and advanced foreign technologies requires government coordination and support.
During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, 208 national major scientific instrument and equipment development projects were approved, with a total investment of approximately 12 billion yuan. In December 2014, the State Council issued the "Reform Plan for Deepening the Management of Central Government-Funded Science and Technology Programs (Special Projects, Funds, etc.)," which involves two aspects: first, requiring the establishment of a public and unified science and technology management platform for central government-funded programs; and second, optimizing and integrating nearly 100 existing central government-funded science and technology program special funds. It also emphasizes respecting enterprises' independent decision-making and supporting enterprises as the main body of project implementation.
In 2009, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission launched the construction of the Capital Science and Technology Conditions Platform. To date, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), and other universities, research institutes, and large enterprises, has integrated 743 national and Beijing municipal key laboratories and engineering centers in the capital region, opening up 40,500 sets of instruments and equipment worth 20.9 billion yuan to the public for sharing. This has facilitated the transfer and transformation of 636 relatively mature scientific research achievements and gathered 10,403 experts, including academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Changjiang Scholars, forming a large-scale pattern of open access to instruments, equipment, scientific and technological achievements, and R&D service personnel. The establishment of the capital's science and technology conditions platform has provided important resource support for promoting the development of domestic instruments and enhancing the competitiveness of China's scientific instrument industry.
Supply-Side Reform Opens the Door to the Domestic Instrument Market
Scientific research innovation and favorable policies are incubators for excellent instruments. On May 20th, the 4th Domestic Testing Instrument and Equipment Verification and Comprehensive Evaluation Technical Service Promotion Conference was held in Beijing. Outside the venue, eight instruments from seven domestic instrument companies were showcased, attracting attention. At the 2016 Beijing Scientific Instrument Exhibition, numerous domestic brands attended the exhibition with their high-quality instruments, instantly causing a sensation. It is the collective efforts of many instrument companies that have brought a new "spring" to domestically produced instruments.
Meanwhile, the Capital Science and Technology Conditions Platform launched the Domestic Testing Instrument and Equipment Verification and Comprehensive Evaluation Project, establishing a platform for communication and exchange between domestic testing equipment manufacturers and testing institutions. This provides a new service model to address the bottleneck of lacking authoritative technical verification data and testing methods in the market promotion of domestically produced testing instruments, offering enterprises a new path for "supply-side structural reform."
Supply-side reform in the scientific instrument industry should proceed in two steps. First, it calls for purchasing domestically produced instruments whenever possible, provided they can meet demand. Second, the domestic instrument industry must transform and upgrade, pursuing specialization and refinement. Advanced scientific instruments and equipment are not only a prerequisite for knowledge and technological innovation but also a core component of innovative research and a significant manifestation of innovative achievements. Therefore, supply-side structural reform in the scientific instrument industry needs to be led by innovation.
In 2016, focusing on the start of the "13th Five-Year Plan" and prioritizing supply-side structural reform, the key is to improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth and comprehensively enhance the productivity of all factors of production in China. Following the guiding principles of the reform plan, the development of my country's scientific instrument industry will further explore a path suitable for my country's current development characteristics.
