China’s High-End Equipment Industry Seeks Further Breakthroughs with Policy and Innovation Support

From the speeding CR450 EMU test trains and aircraft engines soaring in the sky, to intelligent ships sailing into the deep sea and industrial mother machines forging precision machinery, high-end equipment forms the backbone of China’s industry. Currently, the international competitiveness of China’s high-end equipment continues to improve, though there are still shortcomings in some core links. Looking ahead to the 14th Five-Year Plan period, deputies and members have put forward suggestions to further improve institutional guarantees, promote the engineering application of innovative products and industrial chain coordination, and enhance the level of independent controllability.

Pilot scale verification and scenario application are key links in promoting high-end equipment from laboratory research to market application. It is noted that aviation engines require thousands of hours of rigorous verification tests to ensure their safety, reliability and performance. At present, the limited number of existing engineering verification platforms are mostly built to meet the needs of traditional aviation kerosene verification, lacking pilot scale bases for alternative aviation fuels and multi-fuel engines. Suggestions have been put forward to build an international-level pilot scale base for alternative aviation fuels and multi-fuel engines, so as to enhance the design and verification capacity of multi-fuel engines and boost the competitiveness of domestic engines.

In the construction field, super projects such as shield machines and the world’s first 350 km/h intelligent high-speed railway have reconstructed urban spatial patterns in recent years. However, there are still problems such as unsmooth transformation chains of scientific and technological achievements in high-end equipment, and imperfect links in engineering verification, pilot scale maturation and process adaptation. Relevant proposals include organizing leading enterprises, universities and research institutes to form cross-field innovation consortia, strengthening research on common key technologies, and coordinating the layout of regional, open and shared pilot scale platforms and concept verification centers for the construction industry to promote the maturation of new technologies. It is also suggested to promote the coordinated connection between scenario cultivation and policies for first-of-its-kind equipment, materials and software, forming an integrated path of "technological breakthrough — pilot scale maturation — scenario verification — industrial application — system upgrading".

As a representative of high-end equipment, industrial mother machines are characterized by high technology intensity, complex system composition and narrow technical windows, requiring continuous iteration and upgrading in practical application scenarios. Proposals advocate strengthening the integration of national pilot scale verification platforms, common technology research institutes and application scenarios to improve the maturity of achievements and expand industry promotion. Meanwhile, it is recommended to rely on leading enterprises in the industry to integrate upstream and downstream resources and promote the systematic application of scientific and technological achievements.

Improving the institutional and factor guarantee system is another focus of attention. It is proposed that the 800 billion yuan ultra-long-term special national debt funds arranged for "two key areas" construction should be refined into a support list for high-end equipment manufacturing, incorporating projects such as core technological research in the domestic gas turbine industry, industrial chain supporting facilities construction and remanufacturing industrial bases into the support catalog of "two new areas" and "two key areas". As a major energy equipment, gas turbines are the "industrial heart" ensuring national energy security, and improved policies, sound demonstration project mechanisms and increased special fund support will help promote the independent and high-quality development of the domestic gas turbine industry.

The importance of financial support policies has also been emphasized. For high-value major high-end manufacturing equipment such as commercial aircraft engines, the international market has established a high-tech, exclusive and full-chain industrial ecological "moat". It is suggested that under the overall guidance of national strategies and industrial policies, a supporting fiscal and tax preferential policy, financing support mechanism and value evaluation system covering the whole life cycle of engines should be established. Innovating financial support mechanisms, accelerating the development of industrialization tools such as venture capital, science and technology insurance and intellectual property pledge financing, and building a financial service system covering the whole life cycle of scientific and technological innovation are also recommended.

In addition, to address the phenomenon that patent quality does not match industrial needs and patents are "numerous but not excellent", proposals include establishing a high-value patent cultivation system oriented to transformation and application, and taking the industrial contribution and market value of patents as key criteria for measuring innovation results, so as to integrate more high-value patents into production lines and industrial chains.