Premier Li lauds innovation as key source of growth for northeast's heavy industry

In a recent trip seeking for more sources of economic growth, Premier Li Keqiang said the upgrading of heavy industries with excessive capacities requires innovative ideas and the spirit of craftsmanship.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits a business incubator in Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning province September 12, 2015.  [Photo/China New Service]

China's manufacturing industry is systematic, but it lacks strength and is in urgent need of upgrading, which could only be realized through innovation, Li said during a trip to Dalian, Liaoning province, one of the three rust-belt provinces in China's Northeast known for heavy industries.

It is Li's first in-field trip outside Beijing to feel the pulse of economic growth, since the economic index indicated slower growth. In addition, ups and downs in the financial market further aggravated the feeling of uncertainty.

China posted a reading of 7 percent economic growth in the first half this year - within the range of the government's aim but still the slowest in nearly a quarter of a century.

During the trip, Li visited a business incubator center and a State-owned enterprise producing large-scale equipment on Wednesday.

Yu Yue, an engineer-turned-businessman at the incubator center running an online forum for engineers to share ideas and find partners, told Li that his forum has attracted more than 280,000 registered members since its establishment in 2012.

"The forum is a platform to turn ideas into real products," Yu said. The products being developed under the collaboration of online members include a desktop robot that can be controlled with a smart phone application.

A member proposed the idea of making such a robot on the forum, then it became an instant hit and other members in different professions, who worked to develop the product together.

Yu said online partners collaborated on the project with their expertise in industrial design or software development. "The product has already been in the overseas market for two years. It could be used in teaching or robot football games," he said.

Another product, which was developed by a professor from Tianjin University and also a member of Yu's forum, can produce digital models of industrial parts designed by online innovators.

"With these three-dimensional digital models, innovators are able to see if the real products are what they want. If not, they can modify the design before mass manufacturing," Yu said.

The Premier said start-up businesses are the origin of innovation and creativity. "They are not only innovators themselves. They could also mobilize hundreds of thousands of talents in society," he said.

Liaoning, a traditional base for heavy industry in the country's northeast, ranked the bottom in economic performance among all the provincial areas with an expansion of 2.6 percent in the first half of this year.

Yu said more innovators are based in the southern part of China which lacks in large-scale industrial machines, while these kinds of machines in the north are often being left unused due to the economic slowdown.

He said he estimates that about 30,000 machines are sitting idle in the northeast area. "By matching the demand and the supply, the overcapacity industries are given another chance of reinvigoration."

Gong Ke, a professor in electronic engineering, said traditional industrial production no longer fits modern consumption demand which emphasizes a tailored design, while Yu's forum has bridged the gap between production capability and the demand of consumers.

"It is a case in point that reform is usually based on what we already have," Gong said.

"With improved products and a better match between demand and supply, we are able to encourage potential spending and better productivity," he said.