The Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) recently convened a thematic standing committee meeting focused on policy deliberation. The central theme was advancing the "new" to capture emerging tracks in future industries.
In a shared intelligent manufacturing facility for robots operated by Tangshan Baichuan, technicians are busy calibrating equipment. As the new wave of scientific, technological, and industrial transformation accelerates, new competitive arenas such as artificial intelligence, aerospace information, biomanufacturing, green computing power, and embodied intelligence are rapidly emerging. As a major industrial province, how can Hebei attract more cutting-edge technologies to take root? How can it foster the formation of more new industrial clusters?
Recently, the Hebei Provincial CPPCC organized members to conduct in-depth inspections at industrial parks, enterprises, and production lines to understand the real situation and identify bottlenecks. The goal was to gather wisdom and strength for the province's accelerated advancement along this new path, centering on the theme of "accelerating the construction of a cultivation system for strategic emerging industries and future industries in our province."
Core Breakthroughs: Seizing the Technological High Ground Through Source Innovation
At the fusion laboratory of the Langfang ENN Energy Research Institute, behind a thick glass wall, a massive metal apparatus over three meters tall, covered in pipes and resembling a giant pomelo, stands out prominently. "Its codename is 'Xuanlong-50U', our commercial spherical torus hydrogen-boron fusion experimental device," explained Yang Yuanming, Deputy Chief Engineer of Fusion at the institute.
Why pursue fusion energy technology? "Coal, oil, natural gas, and other energy sources will eventually be depleted. Wind and solar power generation are not stable enough. Humanity needs a technology that is as stable as a thermal power plant but does not rely on fossil fuels," Yang Yuanming clarified to reporters. Fusion power generation is a new choice for future energy—creating a special device to mimic the sun's working principle, releasing immense energy from atoms under extreme heat, and then converting that energy into electricity.
"'Xuanlong-50U' is the prototype of an artificial sun," Yang Yuanming stated proudly. Relying on this device, the ENN technical team has consecutively broken world records: achieving the world's first mega-ampere-level hydrogen-boron plasma discharge in April last year; realizing a second-level 1.2 Tesla strong magnetic field in May last year; accomplishing the world's first high-confinement mode discharge of hydrogen-boron plasma at the end of last year; and in January this year, pushing electron temperature beyond 100 million degrees Celsius, entering the ranks of international advanced levels.
In the view of Li Yanjun, a standing committee member of the Provincial CPPCC and Vice Chairman of the Langfang Municipal CPPCC, ENN's breakthrough is a vivid microcosm of Hebei Province seizing the technological high ground and making forward-looking arrangements for future industries. "Hebei is a major traditional energy province, long facing structural contradictions such as a coal-heavy energy mix and insufficient self-sufficiency. To promote high-quality development, it is necessary to further optimize the energy structure, accelerate the incremental replacement with non-fossil energy, and drive the green transformation of energy," Li Yanjun said.
However, during their research, committee members deeply felt that the more innovation targets the frontiers of science and technology, the more it must confront practical challenges such as high investment, high risk, and long cycles. This is also a "growing pain" that many technology-based enterprises find difficult to overcome. How can more core innovation projects be helped to grow from "a single seed" into "a towering tree"?
Li Yanjun suggested leveraging Hebei's computing power industry advantages to promote the mutual empowerment of fusion and computing, forming a differentiated development path of "artificial intelligence + fusion energy" for Hebei. Simultaneously, a coordination mechanism should be established at the provincial level, involving cross-regional coordination and multi-departmental collaboration, to build a long-term stable policy environment, R&D environment, and application environment, fostering a favorable industrial ecosystem.
Committee members also proposed creating an industrial "pilot zone" in Langfang to strengthen the coordinated efforts in the foundational, technological, and application layers of the fusion field. This would involve piloting initiatives in technological breakthroughs, achievement transformation, talent cultivation and recruitment, and industrial integration and development, constructing a future industry cultivation chain of "source innovation—technology transfer—enterprise incubation—industrial clustering."
Computing-Power Coordination: Using Green Momentum to "Charge and Empower" Future Industries
At the Heyun Data (Huailai) Technology Industrial Park, a massive electronic screen displays real-time curves of wind and solar power generation dynamically and precisely matched with the computing load curves of data center server racks. When clean power is abundant, computing tasks instantly ramp up to full load; when new energy generation is unstable, the data center draws power from energy storage projects.
"This is the real picture of 'computing-power coordination'," introduced the head of the Heyun Data (Huailai) Technology Industrial Park. "Computing tasks actively and flexibly adjust according to the rhythm of green power supply, achieving green power driving computing power and computing power locally consuming green power." Heyun Data's computing-power linkage model has been selected as one of the first batch of excellent cases by the National Data Administration, with some sections of the park achieving 100% stable green power supply.
The foundation of computing power is electricity. This year's government work report explicitly proposed implementing new infrastructure projects such as ultra-large-scale intelligent computing clusters and computing-power coordination. Seizing the opportunity, various regions are competing to make arrangements.
"Beijing and Tianjin have large computing power gaps and strong demand. Zhangjiakou has green power, favorable climate, and geographical advantages, possessing a good industrial foundation for developing computing-power coordination," said Li Changqing, a standing committee member of the Provincial CPPCC and Chairperson of the Zhangjiakou Municipal Committee of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party. As the only national-level renewable energy demonstration zone in the country, a core city of the national integrated computing power network hub node in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and one of the top ten national data center clusters, Zhangjiakou possesses unique resource advantages that should be fully utilized.
However, resource advantages do not automatically translate into industrial advantages. During their research, committee members found that several "gates" still stand between green power and computing power "joining hands": policies for direct green power connection are relatively tight, with a lack of clear detailed rules for a single new energy station directly supplying power to multiple computing enterprises; some already-built data centers have a low proportion of green power usage, with restrictions on the grid integration and consumption of surplus green power; supporting systems such as grid infrastructure, cost sharing, and computing load scheduling need further refinement.
In response, Li Changqing suggested optimizing the policy system for direct green power connections. The three major computing power agglomeration zones—Huailai, Zhangbei, and Xuanhua—should be integrated into a provincial-level green power direct connection demonstration park, with unified planning and construction of dedicated corridors and supporting grid frameworks for direct green power connection. Provincial-level implementation rules for "one-to-many" direct green power connections should be issued, promoting a mechanism of "one-time approval, multi-user sharing, dedicated line co-construction, and cost sharing" to facilitate direct power supply from a single new energy station to multiple computing enterprises in the same or adjacent parks.
Simultaneously, support should be given for Zhangjiakou to carry out pilot projects for direct green power connection and surplus electricity grid integration, enhancing the local consumption and flexible regulation capacity of surplus green power, and guiding existing data centers to accelerate green power replacement.
To strengthen technological drive and transaction mechanism construction, committee members also proposed deepening the "computing-power-carbon" transaction mechanism and integrated scheduling system, promoting precise matching and efficient adaptation between computing tasks and grid peak/off-peak periods. A collaborative certification system should be established based on blockchain and the Internet of Things, creating a carbon-computing traceability mechanism to enhance the market value and competitiveness of green computing power through standardized means.
Ecological Nurturing: Transforming "Innovation Seeds" into an "Industrial Forest"
Gently picking up and steadily placing, a row of fermented bean curd is neatly packed into glass jars with round mouths and square bodies. On June 5th, at Tangshan Siwei Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., a fermented bean curd bottling robot was performing precise packaging operations. This small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) with just over 20 employees was able to undertake the fermented bean curd bottling robot project for Beijing Wangzhihe Food Group Co., Ltd., thanks to the support of the Tangshan Baichuan Robot Shared Intelligent Manufacturing Factory.
"For many SMEs, the threshold for robot R&D and manufacturing is high, and the investment is substantial. A good idea often gets stuck at the critical leap from prototype to product," explained Wang Mengzhao, the head of the Baichuan Shared Factory. The shared factory gathers over a thousand professional technical personnel and is equipped with more than 800 sets of shared equipment. As a robot technology achievement transformation and pilot-scale testing platform in Hebei Province, it can provide SMEs with full-chain services ranging from raw material procurement and R&D design to production and manufacturing.
There is still a long way to go for innovation seeds to grow from "a single tree" into "a forest." During their research, committee members witnessed the demonstration effect of the shared factory but also soberly recognized that the innovation ecosystem supporting the development of strategic emerging and future industries still has shortcomings: the number of high-energy-level innovation platforms is relatively small, and their energy level is relatively low; the discipline settings in some universities are not tightly aligned with industrial needs, leading to insufficient supply of interdisciplinary and engineering-type talent; many technology innovation enterprises are asset-light and technology-heavy, making their financing models incompatible with traditional credit logic.
"Discipline settings must first keep pace with the speed of industrial transformation," suggested Liu Xiaoping, a standing committee member of the Provincial CPPCC and former Party Secretary of North China University of Science and Technology. He proposed closely following the development directions of the province's strategic emerging and future industries, regularly releasing lists of urgently needed disciplines and majors, and guiding universities within the province to add interdisciplinary programs in areas such as aerospace information, biomanufacturing, low-altitude economy, robotics, and embodied intelligence. The collaborative education model of "enterprises posing questions, universities solving them, and the market grading the papers" should be promoted, encouraging universities and leading enterprises to jointly establish modern industrial colleges. Through order-based training, they can co-cultivate practical talent who understand technology, processes, and the market.
Once talent is cultivated, there must be platforms capable of receiving and utilizing them effectively. Committee members recommended establishing a gradient cultivation pool for national-level innovation platforms focused on key directions like robotics, low-altitude economy, and biomanufacturing. A mechanism of "one platform, one dedicated team; one field, one plan" should be implemented, making forward-looking arrangements for specialized high-energy-level laboratories in areas like aerospace information and embodied intelligence to address shortcomings in the original innovation of future industries.
Simultaneously, the Baichuan Shared Factory model should be promoted. Relying on industrial agglomeration zones in Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Langfang, Tangshan, etc., provincial-level shared pilot-scale testing platforms should be planned and arranged in a coordinated manner. Innovation "enclaves" should be established in Beijing and Tianjin to promote the pilot-scale maturation and localized transformation of more scientific and technological achievements from Beijing and Tianjin in Hebei.
To irrigate future industries with the "living water" of finance, Mei Aibin, a standing committee member of the Provincial CPPCC and Chairman of Bank of Hebei, believes the financial evaluation logic must shift from "looking at collateral and financial statements" to "looking at technology, industry track, and data." He suggested establishing a gradient cultivation pool for future industries, implementing "one enterprise, one policy" differentiated services based on the technological maturity and industrialization progress of enterprises, and promoting the precise matching of financial resources to the needs of innovative enterprises at different growth stages.
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