Large gap between domestic scientific instrument entities

Compared with the waves of mergers and acquisitions by foreign instrument companies, the domestic instrument industry has become extremely bleak. The market has good prospects and there is plenty of room for development. However, in reality, such a superficial situation is behind it. However, it looms over the lack of potential for production of domestic scientific instruments and cannot go hand in hand with R&D capabilities, not to mention the development of the domestic scientific instrument industry. Through the global market, foreign companies are strong and united, continue to occupy the dominance of various categories of international scientific instruments, and take a step into the Chinese market, swallowing market share. This situation has aroused the attention of relevant experts in the industry, and strengthened the research, development, and production of domestic scientific instruments. It has become a major solution to the urgent need.

The price to win the market to be superior

"Made in China" has become another Chinese pronoun for a long time. This is no exception in the production of domestic scientific instruments. According to relevant investigations, domestic and foreign buyers will be more inclined to choose Chinese-made instruments and equipment under the same performance conditions of the instrument.

Take environmental protection testing instruments as an example, in order to realize the real-time accurate measurement needs per minute, PM2.5 monitoring instruments in many major cities in China currently use the oscillating balance method. The core technology of the instrument is monopolized by Thermo Fisher Scientific. Taiwan's instrument price is about 280,000 yuan. After installing FDMS compensation measurement and calibration, it is as much as 380,000 yuan. Some domestic companies have introduced prototypes of PM2.5 monitors using beta ray methods. The price of a single unit is only about 150,000 yuan. For second- and third-tier urban environmental monitoring stations with insufficient funds and low real-time data, this The competitive advantages of products are very obvious.

At the same time, domestic scientific instrument manufacturers do not pay attention to high quality while paying attention to the proportion of prices. Sometimes a domestic instrument is used for testing. Each index is not bad compared to foreign products, but it is a different one. Again, there will be a large gap between the indicators. This shows that the stability and repeatability of China's domestic product quality have yet to be improved. The reliability and stability of the instrument is a chain problem involving raw materials, basic components, and the level of production technology. Due to the price constraints of domestic instruments, domestic components can only be purchased with limited funds, and many domestic components are , raw materials in the technical indicators, the use of life compared to imports, there are indeed differences.

It must be mentioned that when PM2.5 related topics first appeared in China, many domestic manufacturers saw opportunities, but because the market came too fast and too sudden, domestic equipment manufacturers lost the chain in technology and talent. According to a media reporter's investigation conducted in July 2012, US brands accounted for more than 95% of PM2.5 monitoring instruments that were put into use in Guangdong Province.

At the 2013 China Scientific Instruments Development Conference held recently, Song Xiaohui, party secretary of the AVIC Beijing Aerospace Materials Research Center, said that data shows that China’s large-scale high-end equipment and equipment are almost entirely dependent on imports. The total annual import testing equipment is close to China’s test. 50% of the total output value of the instrument industry. The four types of typical detection instruments all show that the performance indicators of high-end equipment lag behind foreign products, and high-end equipment, key technologies and components rely heavily on imports, and low-end instruments account for a large proportion, low value, and many homogeneous products.

R & D technology is not inferior to the substantial conversion gap

In fact, at present, some domestic instrument manufacturers have already made great efforts to invest in and complete many prototypes of new and innovative technical instruments that achieve performance. The performance, quality, and specifications can even be comparable to international advanced levels, but once they are mass-produced, Quality is greatly reduced. The reason is that the manufacturer has a backward production process, and there are many problems in converting R&D results into actual products.

On the one hand, there is insufficient investment in R&D. On the other hand, some good technical achievements have no obvious market benefit. Many instrument manufacturers are faced with the bottleneck of development that is both survival and innovation. In order to survive, they often choose the mode of development that is eager for quick success.

In addition to the deficiencies in the conversion of physical products, the development of related subsidiary functions has also been stagnant. Compared with imported instruments, domestic instruments have another deficiencies in application method development. Domestic instrument manufacturers used to focus only on manufacturing, not on application. Foreign products are often launched at the same time the application method is also introduced accordingly, with their instruments can be directly applied, no need to explore methods, and domestic instruments in some applications still need to find ways. Obviously, users will choose imported products for convenience. Therefore, application method development is also one of the important issues facing the development of domestic instruments. ”

Yan Zengxuan, secretary general of the China Instrument and Meter Industry Association, put it: "The development of China's scientific instrument industry has entered the phase of structural adjustment and development opportunities. Enterprises must have adequate ideological preparations; the decline in corporate profits is a prominent problem faced by the industry and must attract everyone's attention. The import and export situation is strict and the international market needs to improve the competitiveness of domestic instruments; independent innovation, transformation and upgrading are the key to adjustment of the industrial structure and adjustment of product structure and efficiency of enterprises.”

In 2013, special national major scientific instrument and equipment development projects have been launched. The industry believes that the special project will enhance the independent innovation capability of the scientific instrument and equipment industry and help improve the competitiveness of local leading enterprises. The Ministry of Science and Technology requested that, combined with the characteristics of the development of major scientific instruments and equipment, as well as the actual development of China's scientific equipment and equipment industry, the risk-sharing mechanism should be strengthened, and the reform of financial aid nodes should be explored for projects led by enterprises.