During the arrangement of key tasks for this year, the government work report proposed promoting the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation. This addresses the core challenges in the transformation and development of resource-based cities like Baiyin, clarifies the path for building a modern industrial system, and significantly strengthens our confidence and determination to rebuild the competitive advantages of old industrial cities," said Liu Kai, a National People's Congress deputy and Secretary of the Baiyin Municipal Party Committee.
Liu Kai stated that Baiyin established enterprises due to its mines and became a city because of these enterprises. Traditional industries such as non-ferrous metallurgy, coal chemical industry, and building ceramics form a solid foundation for promoting high-quality development and are also crucial areas for cultivating new quality productive forces.
"For instance, Baiyin Group's copper smelting technology long relied on the flash furnace process introduced from Finland, which not only required high-quality copper ore, akin to needing 'fine grain,' but also had relatively high energy consumption. In response, Baiyin Group has continuously carried out 'three transformations'—modernization, automation, and intelligentization—on its self-developed Baiyin Furnace technology, promoting iterative upgrades. After the successful upgrade to the fourth-generation Baiyin Furnace technology at the end of 2023, energy consumption decreased by over 20%, production capacity increased by more than 30%, and the capability to smelt low-grade and complex copper ores was achieved, effectively improving the utilization efficiency of copper ore resources. This drove Baiyin Group's total industrial output value to reach 52.7 billion yuan by 2025, more than doubling compared to 2023," Liu Kai said. This proves that there are no backward industries, only backward technologies. As long as we keep pace with the times and promote technological innovation, traditional industries can transform, upgrade, and develop into new quality productive forces.
"Technological innovation is the core driving force for nurturing new industries, new models, and new momentum. Only by continuously seeking momentum from technological innovation can we revitalize traditional industries and extend the chains of emerging industries," Liu Kai emphasized. He indicated that the next steps will focus on emerging sectors such as battery new materials, rare earth new materials, and optical gas chemicals, guiding enterprises to persistently increase R&D investment and concentrate efforts on breaking through a number of key core technologies. The hard strength of technological innovation will support new heights in the development of emerging industries.
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