——General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his report that we should accelerate the construction of innovation-oriented country
On October 18, the Opening Session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held in The Great Hall of the People, Beijing. General Secretary Xi Jinping represented the 18th CPC Central Committee to report to the Congress. Xi pointed out that: "We should accelerate the process of building China into an innovation-oriented country. Innovation is the primary impetus to lead development, and the strategic support for the construction of a modern economic system. We should target the frontier of global science and technology, enhance fundamental scientific research, achieve prospective fundamental research, and make major breakthroughs in leading original outcomes. We should improve applied fundamental research, expand national key science and technology projects, and highlight key generic technology, cutting-edge technology, modern engineering technology as well as disruptive technology, so as to provide solid support for developing China into a country superior in science and technology, quality, aerospace, network, transportation, as well as the building of a digital China and an intelligent society."
The development of national innovation system should be enhanced and China’s strength in strategic science and technology should be improved. Deeper reform in China’s science and technology system should be carried out, aiming at a market-oriented technical innovation system that mainly consists of enterprises and features deep level integration of production, education and research. More support should be given to small- and medium-sized enterprises, so that more transformation of science and technology achievements could be accomplished. Culture of innovation should be promoted and the creation, protection and application of intellectual property should be enhanced. We should train a great number of world-class talents in strategic science and technology, talents that lead in science and technology field, young science and technology talents and high-level innovation teams.
——Shanghai promotes the construction of the “Sponge City”, aiming to prevent waterlogging even in once-in-a-century rainstorm
Shanghai has been listed as one of the pilot cities of the national program of constructing “Sponge City”. The overall goal for Shanghai is “to avoid urban ponding in ‘once-in-five-years’ rain, prevent waterlogging in once-in-a-century rainstorm, and ensure no black and smelly waterbody”. As an important component in the construction of the “Sponge City” as well as the largest deep-layer regulation and storage pipes engineering in China, Shanghai Soozhow Creek Deep-layer Regulation and Storage Pipes Engineering has been actively advanced and the construction of trial section has begun.
——Stanford researchers develop a new type of soft, growing robot
Mechanical engineers at Stanford University have developed a new type of soft, growing and vine-like robot, whose tip can grow and cover a long range without movement of its body. This robot could serve a wide range of purposes, particularly in medical devices and search and rescue. The creation of the robot was inspired by natural organisms that cover distance by growing – such as vines, fungi, and nerve cells. The researchers say even though the body of the robot is stuck in obstacles in the environment such as rock, the robot cannot be stopped from moving because its tip can continue to grow.
——German company develops the fastest production electric motorcycle with a maximum speed of 115km/h
The German company Gulas recently announced its new electric motorcycle Gulas Pi1S. It may be the world’s fastest production electric motorcycle with a maximum speed of 115km/h. Gulas Pi1S has a retro and tough appearance with a green and black coating. Featuring a total weight of 128kg, a 38 HP engine and 100N m torque, Gulas Pi1S offers two optional types priced at 20,000 and 30,000 euros respectively. The cheaper one has a 6.5kWh battery and a maximum travelling range of 125km, and 10kWh and 200km for the other. Its market launch time has yet to be released.
——Motorola releases Amazon Alexa-powered Moto Mod
Motorola recently released an Amazon Alexa-powered Moto Mod for the Motorola Moto Z with a price of 149.99 US dollars. This new accessory, officially named “Moto Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa”, is basically a Soundboost 2 speaker supported by Amazon Alexa. It has a large blue LED ring on the back, making it a mini version of Amazon Echo.
——Feedzai, a company using machine learning to spot payment frauds for clients, closes a Series C round of financing of 50 million US dollars
Recently, Feedzai closed a Series C round of financing of 50 million US dollars led by an unnamed VC with additional capital from Sapphire Ventures. The six-year-old startup builds machine learning tools to help banks and merchants spot payment fraud. It currently has 60 clients including major financial institutions like Capital One and Citibank.
——Domestically produced supercomputers perform at exascale FLOPS to be successfully developed by 2020
On October 19th, the delegate Meng Xiangfei, head of the R&D Department of “Tianhe-1”, noted that his team is now carrying on the research and development of supercomputers that perform at exascale FLOPS and will be accomplished by 2020. Speaking of the development of supercomputers, Meng said that although the U.S. and Japan have postponed their deadlines of completion due to great difficulties, China still holds on to its original plan to complete it by 2020. last year, China’s National Key R&D Plan initiated the research and development of the prototype system of supercomputers that perform at exascale FLOPS, with its development circle being divided into two parts: first, development of the prototype; two, formal initiation of the project of development of supercomputers that perform at exascale FLOPS.
——China’s first special use airspace for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV) set up in Shenyang General Aviation Industrial Base
In order to strive a vigorous development of its industrial base for UAV, Shenyang General Aviation Industrial Base recently announced it would expand and optimize its full industry chain for general aviation and formally set up China’s first special use airspace for UVA. Starting to be built since 2010, Shenyang General Aviation Industrial Base has a planned area of 68 square kilometers and nearly 20 settled aviation enterprises. It has now completed the construction of airstrips, terminals, tarmacs, hangars, road net, tube net and so on, with an open airspace of 3,000 meters below and 3,000 square kilometers above. It is now building a base for the R&D, flight-testing, and aviation equipment production of general-purpose aircraft, and establishing an UAV industrial park as well as an aviation new materials industrial park.
——China’s largest robot industry base SIASUN Wisdom Park put into operation in Shenyang
On October 18th, SIASUN Wisdom Park, China’s largest robot industry base, was put into operation in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, SIASUN Robot & Automotion Co., Ltd. is one of the world’s largest robot manufacturers with most complete product lines and China’s leading enterprise in robotics industry. It takes robot technology as its core and devotes to producing and providing fully intelligent products and services. At present, SIASUN’s product line includes five major series: industrial robots, cleaning(vacuum) robots, mobile robots, special robots and intelligent robots. SIASUN has broken foreign monopoly with its technologies and products for several times and rewrote China’s history of robot trade deficit without exported robotics products, thus creating 108 N0.1s in robotics industry.
——Baidu Apollo holds hands with King Long to launch unmanned bus
On October 17th, Baidu and King Long signed a strategic cooperation agreement, planning to achieve the small-scale production and trial run of commercial unmanned micro-cycle bus by the end of July, 2018, which commits to solve the travel difficult problem for residents living in areas out of public transport cover. If the plan goes well, the second generation of King Long unmanned micro-cycle bus will be China’s first unmanned bus put into volume production.