“Ren Zhengfei’s Concern” Triggered Wuhan Entrepreneurs’ Resonance

Changjiang Daily, June 6. “Huawei has felt an uncertain future and is unable to identify its direction.” On May 30, Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder and president, revealed his “shocking words” at the National Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation, triggering huge repercussions. On the occasion that state leaders and academicians from CAS and CASS gathered, Ren Zhengfei did not talk hollow words and sing his own praises, but spoke his mind freely and expressed his judgment and thinking of future trend.

 

In recent years, Huawei has increasingly become into a benchmark of Chinese enterprises and won its own reputation internationally. The “Uncertainty” said by Ren Zhengfei makes all concerned astonished at the first but is thought-provoking after careful think-over. In Ren Zhengfei’s view, Huawei is entering an isolated leading area, a dilemma of no navigation before it, no established rules available and no follower behind it. Meanwhile, currently Huawei is still at the innovation level of engineering sciences such as engineering mathematics and physical algorithm, but has not entered research of basic theory.

 

Human society will evolve into an intelligent one in the following 20-30 years. By then, it will not center on labor and be unable to be controlled without culture. If the case that capital employs “intelligent robot” in large scale occurs in the times, polarization will be more serious. In such a situation, it may be possible that the Western manufacture will return to low-cost era and industries go back to the West and China will hollow out.

 

To break the dilemma and come out of the uncertain future, Ren Zhengfei’s prescription is: in the era of great opportunities, we must keep strategic patience, persist in scientific and technological innovation, pursue major innovation, and train more excellent talents with excellent talents.

 

Last Friday, Wuhan Municipal Committee of CPC held the meeting of members of the standing committee (enlarged), and proposed the goal of quickening construction of the innovative city and national central city with powerful driving force, demonstrating Wuhan’s outstanding attention to and determination in innovation.

 

Enterprises are the subject of innovation, and enterprises with powerful innovation capacity and leading power will have the power to change the future of a city. Just as Huawei and Tencent for Shenzhen and Alibaba for Hangzhou, YOFC, XMC, Wuhan CSOT and Humanwell Healthcare as representative enterprises in strategic emerging industries of Wuhan should have higher sense of responsibility and be more pressing in terms of innovation driving.

 

Yesterday, leaders of these innovative enterprises with powerful driving force in Wuhan accepted the exclusive interview by Changjiang Daily’s journalists, and offered their thinking and resolutions to the topic that how individuals, enterprises, cities and the state should take up their responsibilities in the great era of innovative development.

 

 

“China wants to build itself into a sci-tech power in the world, while Wuhan wants to develop itself into an innovative city and a central city of China with powerful driving force. It is inspiring in the great era.” Yesterday, Zhuang Dan, president of Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company, accepted online interview by Changjiang Daily’s journalist during his business trip abroad.

 

 

According to Zhuang Dan, YOFC took a typical road of “introduction, digestion, absorption and innovation” in its 28 years of development, and now is stepping into the stage of technology output and advancing toward the goal of “global No.1 and industrial leader”. It is expected in this year YOFC can realize global No.1 in terms of sales volume of products in the whole industrial chain from fibre preform, optical fibre to optical cable.

 

General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the national “three conferences on science and technology”, sounding the horn of the times of building a sci-tech power in the world. “On July 21, 2013, General Secretary Xi expressed his expectations when making an inspection of YOFC: to further intensify R&D and scientific and technological innovation, increase technological content and market share of products, and constantly lift international competitiveness. YOFC really practices as expected. ” Zhuang Dan said. YOFC, as a Sino-Foreign joint venture established earlier, has gradually shaken off control by foreign technology through development after establishment, by persisting in long-term high investment in R&D at the ratio of 5% of annual sales income, a high level of investment in R&D in the sector.

 

Today, YOFC has occupied the leading position in China’s optical fibre and optical cable sector, and is near at hand to realize the goal of global No.1 in sales volume of fibre preform, optical fibre and optical cable. However, Zhuang Dan expressed that the “global No.1” is just a breakthrough in quantity, and the “industrial leader” will be a leap of quality.

 

“Enterprise’s competitiveness lies in providing quality products, technologies and services, which are all based on technology innovation in essence.” Zhuang Dan disclosed that the Company’s paths of “whole industrial chain operation”, “multi-process route ” and “internationalization”, etc has only one core, namely focusing efforts on optical fibre and optical cable to carry out various integrating and forward-looking innovative exploration.

 

Last year, during OFC (Optical Fibre Communication Conference) in the U.S., YOFC officially released two new products of optical fibre including super-low-consumption large-effective-area optical fibre to global markets. The super-low-consumption large-effective-area optical fibre is just the one developed by integrating advantages of different production and technology routes of fibre preform, able to meet demands of next-generation communication and transmission network for super-high speed, super-large capacity and super-long distance, and suitable for laying for land long-distance transmission and sea-bottom optical cable. “If we stick to single process route and are not brave in making breakthrough, we cannot realize such integrated innovation.” Zhuang Dan said.

 

 

Just due to continuous input in scientific and technological innovation and R&D, YOFC, under the general background of stable growth of global optical fibre and optical cable market, has challenged the international tycoon Corning in the field and become a leader, which is a natural process of success as conditions are ripe. Zhuang Dan said, under active national drive of “three networks’ integration”, “broad-band China” and “Internet plus”, Chinese optical fibre and optical cable enterprises represented by YOFC have entered a rare period of strategic opportunities, “Over the past five years, Chinese optical fibre and optical cable enterprises kept expanding and rose sharply, extruding market and technology space of European and American tycoons in the sector.”

 

“Scientific and technological innovation needs persistence, dedication and continuous input.” Zhuang Dan said. Such input does not mean more financial resources, but more talents and organization guarantee. “YOFC arouses sufficient passions and sense of pride of R&D personnel from system, and minimizes short-term appraisal indicators on R&D work.”

 

In its latest five-year strategic plan, YOFC specially adds the prospective description of “leading China’s optical fibre and optical cable sector”. Zhuang said, for Wuhan, if every segment of industries has enterprises striving to be leader and expanding to be a leader in a good city environment, the city will prosper naturally, and can be naturally expected to become “an innovative city and national central city with powerful driving force”.

 

From the front page of Changjiang Daily, June 6, 2016 （By Journalist Xiao Juan and Correspondent Liu Qing）