President's Statement
The overarching goal of JITRI is to prime the pump of industrial innovation in Jiangsu Province. First, we focus on the collection of industry needs that can be filled by new technology, and on matching these needs to innovation resources both within China and globally. Second, we build research capacity through Research Institutes in areas of interest to Jiangsu industry. Third, we explore new mechanisms of industrial technology innovation and personnel training.
In 2020, JITRI achieved many milestones, including six new Research Institutes, forty project manager teams introduced into Jiangsu Province, thirty-six outstanding JITRI Fellows or Junior Fellows were hired, and 160 new enterprises were spun off from various professional research institutes. The JITRI Research Institutes achieved total revenue of 4 billion CNY, transferred more than 1000 technological achievements to industry, and launched major projects in industrial innovation.
Strengthening research and development capacity.
We continued to develop our role as a test bed by adjusting the organizational structure of JITRI headquarters itself. We divided the organization into operating departments and specialized business units according to technical focus. In addition, we strengthened our top-level strategic planning and drafted mid- and long-term strategic plans. We also refined our foundational Project Manager model, as well as the mechanisms by which we fund and invest in new enterprises.
Gathering innovation needs.
In 2020 we built 54 new Joint Innovation Centers (JICs) with leading enterprises in the province; overall, the JICs documented 285 new technology needs, made plans to invest 413 million CNY, and reached 123 technical cooperation projects with contract value of 630 million CNY.
Gathering innovation resources.
In 2020 we established strategic partnerships with nine overseas university departments, including Harvard Medical School, the University of Munich Department of Physics, and the University of Saskatchewan. We recruited forty new project managers from around the world, who all had innovation or entrepreneurship projects in JITRI.
Speed up the implementation of major projects.
In 2020 we implemented seven new major projects including one to develop a new flexible forming process for metals, and another to build epitaxial deposition equipment for silicon carbide electronics. The total investment in these projects was 300 million CNY. These projects both filled domestic gaps and promoted the commercialization of innovation.
Develop "JITRI University".
Leveraging JITRI’s innovation ecosystem, a system of dual supervisors is being implemented by developing project-based, interdisciplinary learning. JITRI jointly trained 1045 new JITRI graduates by working with partner universities.
JITRI is an ongoing experiment in new mechanisms of industrial research and global cooperation. Our staff and partners around the world are committed to gathering resources to solve local and global problems using technology.
Entering 2021, to support the 14th Five-Year Plan, JITRI will focus on the following eight tasks:
1. Strengthen our strategic leadership. Addressing both national strategic needs and the industrial development of Jiangsu Province, we will strengthen our connections with Jiangsu's leading industries to understand how the key core technologies of industry fit together to form an industrial ecosystem, and thereby guide research to strengthen and complete the technology chain.
2. Grow the industrial technology innovation system. First, we will continue to build research institutes with high-quality facilities, personnel teams, and technology expertise. We will strengthen our support system to nurture the best-performing Institutes and thereby enhance the overall research capacity of Jiangsu. Second, we will grow our roster of joint innovation centers and leverage them to improve our collection of industry needs and their matching with technology solutions. Third, we will gather high-quality innovation resources from around the globe and introduce them into Jiangsu to build innovation resource clusters.
3. Integrated innovation platforms. We will develop JITRI’s two core platforms, the Yangtze Delta Advanced Materials Research Institute and the Jiangsu Integrated Circuit Application Technology Innovation Center, to identify major projects to solve key technical problems by bringing together facilities, talent and investment.
4. Establish a JITRI-wide information platform. Develop a complete construction plan for a JITRI digital industry technology innovation system, initially set up a business operation management system, and accelerate the creation of "online JITRI."
5. Establish "JITRI University". Further expand the scale of student development, improve education system, and continue the construction of JITRI University with the JITRI college as the main body, which is built by JITRI headquarters, major comprehensive innovation platforms and universities.
6. Continue the construction of innovation spaces. Construct innovative space such as the new site in Nanjing Jiangbei New Area and Suzhou Yangtze Delta International R&D Community, and strengthen planning to exchange talent and cultures to integrate resource clusters across the Yangtze Delta region.
7. Support the Yangtze Delta integration. Organize inter-regional and inter-disciplinary technology research, and build national technology innovation centers. Based on our innovation ecosystem, we will gather global innovation resources and match them with the needs of industry in the Yangtze Delta to build the Yangtze Delta National Technological Innovation Center.
8. Strengthen our own capacity building. Further optimizing internal organization, we will strengthen the structure of JITRI itself to function at a higher level. This includes optimizing the evaluation and incentive mechanisms of Headquarters, improving hiring, incentives and promotion policies, and providing ongoing training opportunities for headquarters staff.
By connecting innovation resources around the world with Yangtze Delta industry, we will build a strong, prosperous and high-tech Jiangsu that can benefit the entire world by solving global problems. We hope you will join us on this new journey!
