News Information

In recent years, thanks to the continuous enhancement of China's chemical science and technology innovation capabilities, China's chemical industry has maintained a stable growth, with an average annual growth rate of about 5% to 7%. Despite environmental protection pressure and global economic fluctuations, the industry has maintained its growth momentum through technological innovation and structural adjustment.

Thanks to the continuous efforts of scientific and technological workers in the industry, China now possesses a number of core and proprietary technologies with completely independent intellectual property rights, and has the capacity to build and operate complete sets of ten-million-ton oil refining, one-million-ton ethylene/aromatics and some downstream derivative production facilities relying on its own technologies. The production of oil refining and basic chemical raw materials has broken free from the "bottleneck" of foreign technologies. New coal chemical technologies such as coal-to-olefins and coal-to-ethylene glycol have made great strides forward...

As a key area of the national industrial innovation system, the chemical industry is not only an important starting point and support for high-tech, but also a backbone force driving strategic emerging industries and achieving the "dual carbon" goals. Looking ahead to the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the technological innovation in the chemical industry for the future needs to be prioritized in the following aspects.

First of all, it is to cultivate new quality productivity for the future and trigger disruptive and forward-looking innovations. Chemical industry innovation should "look up to the stars and face the future". Innovation deployment should not be limited to the improvement of existing technologies; the focus should be on disruption and forward-looking. In actively fostering emerging and future industries, the country has put forward six major directions: "future manufacturing, future information, future materials, future energy, future space, and future health". The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to consolidate and expand the leading position of the intelligent connected new energy vehicle industry. Accelerate the development of cutting-edge emerging hydrogen energy, new materials and innovative drug industries; Actively build new growth engines such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy; Open up new tracks in quantum technology and life sciences. The cutting-edge technologies in the chemical industry drive most of the future industries and are strategic choices for leading scientific and technological progress, promoting industrial upgrading, and cultivating new quality productive forces.

Secondly, the innovation chain and the industrial chain should be closely integrated to promote key innovations from multiple dimensions. In the era of great transformation unseen in a century, all industries are confronted with new chemical demands brought about by transformation and development. As people's pursuit of a better life continues to rise, new demands will also be put forward for chemical products. This requires the chemical industry to constantly innovate to meet these demands and thereby cultivate new quality productivity in the chemical industry.

Take the refining and chemical industry as an example. The first category includes cutting-edge technologies that lead the industry's development, such as new catalysis and reactions, molecular refining, and materials genome engineering, etc. The second category includes disruptive technologies related to sustainable development, such as carbon capture and utilization, hydrogen energy, and other technologies; The third category includes core technologies related to transformation, such as the deep integration of oil and chemical industries and the production of high-end chemical materials. The fourth category includes technologies related to artificial intelligence, such as molecular simulation of reaction processes and dynamic identification and optimization of production scenarios. The above content is just an example. There is still uncertainty as to where the technologies that can form new quality productive forces come from. The involved fields are new and the technological content is high. It is necessary to rely on the close integration of the innovation chain and the industrial chain and continuously carry out innovation in key areas. Scientific and technological personnel should not remain in their comfort zones. They should be brave enough to take on heavy responsibilities and dare to "be the first to try".

The third is to promote the transformation of scientific research paradigms in response to the new technological revolution and the green revolution. A workman who wants to do his job well must first sharpen his tools. Since the Industrial Revolution, the form of world scientific research has bid farewell to individual efforts, manual workshops and random trial and error, and has entered the "big science" era characterized by division of labor and collaboration, overall advancement and intelligent design. Research paradigms and breakthrough organization models have become important factors for the success of scientific research activities. Strengthen the understanding at the molecular level, achieve leapfrog development on the existing track or open up new tracks, and realize the transformation from the following model to the independent innovation model. Strengthen the depth of basic research, enhance the level of collaborative innovation, and achieve the transformation from applied research to "applied + basic" research. Strengthen intelligent research and development based on theoretical calculation, material genetics, rational design, big data analysis and experimental verification, give full play to the role of high-throughput equipment, large scientific platforms and pilot-scale verification, and achieve the transformation from trial and error to "trial and error + rational design". Strengthen the R&D layout of the entire industrial chain and achieve the transformation from single technology R&D to ecological chain R&D. Further strengthen the guidance of scientific theoretical methods on the practice of innovation, adhere to the awareness of the overall situation, problem-oriented approach, and first principles, and cultivate progressive, autonomous, and disruptive innovative thinking patterns through fundamental logic.

As the main body of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, chemical enterprises should carry out innovation from all aspects and multiple perspectives such as technological innovation, industrial chain innovation, and application innovation, and break out of the comfort space of traditional development such as "scale". First, we should focus on the existing industrial chain, aim at the high end, concentrate on upgrading, and break through the "shortcomings" and "bottleneck" technologies. Second, we should aim at the strategic demands of the country, pool our efforts to carry out original and leading scientific and technological research, and cultivate and create new quality productive forces. Third, we should aim at the "dual carbon" goals, focus on the innovation of new green and low-carbon technologies, apply digital and intelligent technologies to enhance industry efficiency and reduce costs, and address the reality of intensified competition in the global chemical market. Fourth, we should aim at the cutting-edge of global scientific and technological development, build a more efficient mechanism for integrated innovation among industry, academia, research and application, lead the scientific and technological community out of the comfortable space of academic development such as the "ivory tower", promote breakthroughs in key core technologies, and establish an advanced and efficient system for scientific and technological and industrial innovation.

In conclusion, the great tide of The Times has already arrived. The chemical industry must aim at the forefront of global development, focusing on exploring new paths in areas such as the reengineering of traditional industries, the cultivation of strategic emerging industries, the transformation of innovation system paradigms, and green and intelligent development. With the spirit of "daring to be the first in the world", it should cultivate and create new quality productive forces and take the lead in opening up a "new blue ocean" for the future of the chemical industry.