On May 16th, the Zhoushan Municipal Association for Science and Technology jointly organized a Zhoushan Forum seminar with the Publicity Department of the Municipal Party Committee. The event invited Academician Yang Huayong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of the Faculty of Engineering at Zhejiang University, and Director of the National Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Basic Components and Mechatronic Systems, to deliver a specialized advisory report titled "Cultivating New Quality Productivity in Manufacturing." More than 200 people attended the seminar, including leaders from the four major leadership teams of the city as well as heads of municipal units and institutions under the departments of the province and central government located in Zhoushan.
At the seminar, Academician Yang Huayong systematically explained the core connotations and cultivation directions of new quality productivity in manufacturing with a global perspective and vivid examples, focusing on cutting-edge technologies and future industries such as atomic-level manufacturing, bio-manufacturing, and humanoid robots.
Yang Huayong pointed out that over the past 40 years, China's manufacturing industry has developed rapidly, with GDP growth reaching 216 times. However, in high-precision manufacturing areas like high-end machine tools and lithography machines, it still relies heavily on foreign technology. Manufacturing needs to transition from macro-manufacturing to micro-manufacturing, nano-manufacturing, and even atomic-level manufacturing to break through current technological bottlenecks. Atomic-level manufacturing surpasses traditional precision manufacturing limits by manipulating atomic clusters and levels, achieving precise manufacturing from nanoscale to macroscale materials. This is a root technology of significant strategic importance, potentially driving "overtaking on curves" in fields such as aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing, biomedicine, and new materials, creating independently controllable industrial chains. Bio-manufacturing represents a new blue ocean for the manufacturing industry, involving multiple directions such as organ printing, tissue repair, and artificial meat, with broad application prospects in organ transplantation and tissue repair. Currently, the Zhejiang University team has achieved results such as three-layer vascular 3D printing and heart patches, and in the future, it aims to realize customized organ transplants.
During the report, Yang Huayong also introduced the fourth-generation interactive humanoid robot "Xiaoyao" developed by the Zhejiang University team. It integrates AI and flexible electronic skin technology, possessing 40 facial expressions, multi-modal interaction, and access to AI large models, providing intelligent service solutions for scenarios such as elderly care companionship, medical assistance, and educational entertainment.
Yang Huayong emphasized that cultivating advanced productivity in manufacturing involves many interdisciplinary collaborations, requiring breaking down barriers between engineering, medicine, and material science, conducting interdisciplinary cooperation, promoting the transformation from "laboratory technology - pilot testing - mass production" through industry-university-research collaboration, while improving local industrial chain support, leveraging the advantages of the Yangtze River Delta region in scientific and technological innovation and industrial development, attracting top talent and industrial agglomeration. He particularly noted that scientific and technological innovation is the core driving force for the high-quality development of manufacturing. Zhoushan should combine its marine economic characteristics, deepen the integration of scientific and technological innovation and advanced manufacturing, and develop distinctive marine economy-based productivity. As a demonstration zone for the marine economy, it can rely on industrial foundations such as high-end marine equipment, biopharmaceuticals, and clean energy, accelerating the layout of identifiable marine new quality productivity clusters.
Yang Huayong's report was broad in vision, distinct in theme, rich in content, and easy to understand. It not only provided forward-looking thoughts on how technology leads productivity changes but also accurately grasped the development trends of advanced manufacturing. The analysis of relevant cases had strong relevance, inspiration, and guidance, broadening our horizons and providing direction for promoting the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing and realizing high-quality development. Zhoushan will deeply recognize the importance of cultivating new quality productivity in manufacturing, enhance a sense of responsibility and urgency, strengthen learning and research, make forward-looking layouts, play the first-move strategy, and seize the initiative. Next steps will focus on the municipal Party committee’s 985 action and the construction of a hub for bulk commodity resource allocation, taking the deep integration of technological entrepreneurship and industrial innovation as a key goal. Zhoushan will develop and strengthen marine new quality productivity according to local conditions, transform and upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and expand emerging industries, and make forward-looking layouts for future industries, accelerating the construction of the 315 scientific and technological innovation system and the 155 manufacturing industry cluster. Efforts will be made to fully build a modern marine industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, providing strong support for the high-level construction of a modern marine city.
Source: Zhejiang Provincial Association for Science and Technology, Zhoushan Municipal Association for Science and Technology
