The future industry is the main front for a city to cultivate and develop new quality productivity.

In recent years, Hefei has always adhered to the belief of "as long as it is worthwhile, it must be willing", successfully explored the "investment with investment" investment promotion model, promoted the integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, built an industrial cluster highland with advanced manufacturing as the pillar, and actively seized the commanding heights of the future industry.

From 2012 to 2023, Hefei's total economic output will increase from less than 500 billion yuan to 1,267.38 billion yuan, ranking first among the 26 trillion yuan cities in the country, and the total ranking will advance from the 31st to the 20th in the country, and from the 15th to the 10th in the provincial capital.

From January to June this year, Hefei's GDP was 613.54 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, 0.5 percentage points higher than the national level. The added value of industry above designated size increased by 15% year-on-year, hitting a new high in the past 30 months, 9 percentage points higher than the national level, ranking first among the trillion yuan cities in the country. With the successive implementation of many star projects such as NIO and Volkswagen Anhui, Hefei's new energy vehicle industry has also shown a rapid development momentum.

Recently, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" has visited a number of cutting-edge technology enterprises and scientific research institutions in Hefei to immerse themselves in the charm of "Hefei Intelligent Manufacturing", including both the "leader" of Hefei's benchmark industry, and the new players in the city who are seizing the lead.

Race for a new track in the sky

In recent years, Hefei High-tech Zone has attracted a number of well-known scientific research institutes and key enterprises in the field of aerospace to settle in, including Zhongke Xingtu (688568. SH, share price of 28.52 yuan, market value of 15.496 billion yuan) GEOVIS Digital Earth Global Headquarters, etc. Zhongke Xingtu is the earliest enterprise engaged in digital earth products and industrialization in China, and the company's business covers many sectors such as special fields, smart government, meteorological ecology, and commercial aerospace.

In the exhibition hall of Zhongke Xingtu Digital Earth, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" noticed that the company gathered more than 300 satellite data resources to create a software that gathers multiple remote sensing data resources - Xingtu Earth Today's image, which can actively push information within 24 hours of satellite transit, and quickly deliver results within 24 hours of production orders, and the application is open to public users and enterprise users.

High-definition 3D stereoscopic imaging of Mount Everest presented by Digital Earth Image source: Courtesy of the company

As the third mode of travel in the future, low-altitude travel is rapidly moving towards practical application. Zero Gravity Aircraft Industry (Hefei) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zero Gravity) takes manned eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) as the core, and has the only eVTOL assembly and manufacturing workshop in Anhui Province. The company's core products include multi-rotor eVTOL aircraft ZG-ONE, tiltrotor eVTOL aircraft ZG-T6, electric fixed-wing aircraft RX1E-A, etc.

Zero-gravity tiltrotor eVTOL aircraft ZG-T6 scaling machine Image source: Photo by reporter Zhang Baolian

During the visit, the reporter learned that the zero gravity holding company has officially delivered the first RX1E-A to Anhui customers at Feidong Bailong Airport in May this year, and the model has made more than 30 confirmed orders in the first half of this year, and is expected to bring more than 50 million yuan in sales revenue throughout the year. In addition, the company's six-seater eVTOL ZG-T6 is expected to roll off the assembly line at the end of this year. "It is expected that the type certificate will be obtained after 2027, and it will be put into market-oriented operation until after 2028." Introduction of zero-gravity related staff.

The implementation of future industrial achievements will be accelerated

Quantum technology has developed by leaps and bounds in recent years, and has become the frontier of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Accelerating the development of quantum science and technology is of great scientific significance and strategic value. With the development of many quantum enterprises in Hefei and the acceleration of industrial achievements, Hefei has also risen as a "double highland" for quantum scientific research and industrial development.

In Guodun Quantum (688027. SH, share price 155.88 yuan, market value 12.529 billion yuan) In the corner of the exhibition hall, there is a superconducting quantum computer of the same scale as "Zu Chongzhi No. 2". According to Guodun Quantum, in May 2023, the cloud platform based on the self-developed 176-bit superconducting quantum computer will be launched, and public users can use a machine with the same computing power as the "Zu Chongzhi No. 2" to study various quantum algorithms.

In the field of quantum communication, from the "Beijing-Shanghai trunk line" to the "Hefei quantum metropolitan area network", and then to the successful docking of the quantum satellite ground station with the "Micius" and "Jinan-1" quantum satellites, Guodun Quantum has helped build a wide-area quantum communication network integrating space and earth. In the field of quantum precision measurement, Guodun Quantum has also made breakthroughs, and the single-photon detection and other components launched have served in the fields of quantum radar and photoelectric color sorting, and femtosecond laser frequency comb products have been delivered to users.

Huge energy comes from the "core". Nuclear fusion energy is regarded as the ultimate energy source of the future world, with the advantages of "unlimited resources, safe and efficient, clean and low-carbon". The study of nuclear fusion has been a problem for researchers around the world since the beginning of the last century. When the reporter visited the fusion reactor host key system comprehensive research facility (hereinafter referred to as CRAFT), he learned that the main project of CRAFT is composed of two parts: superconducting magnet research system, host and deflector research system, and has completed more than 100 milestone construction tasks and the design, pre-research and testing and verification of core components.

After the full completion of CRAFT, it can provide a core technical foundation for the research and development and construction of core components of fusion reactors in China, and provide a research platform and strong technical support for the research on key issues of heat and particle exclusion under fusion reactor conditions, large-scale low-temperature and superconductivity technology research, strong current particle beam and basic plasma research, as well as for energy, information, health, environment and other interdisciplinary frontier fields.

It is understood that China and many countries around the world jointly participate in the implementation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER program, in which China undertakes about 9.09% of the tasks, of which the Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as the core unit of the ITER China Working Group, is deeply involved in the ITER program, and undertakes most of the research and development tasks of the ITER program China procurement package. "Design in China" and "Made in China" are applied to ITER international science and engineering projects.