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If you have read “The Three-Body Problem”, you must be impressed by the “Three-Body Man’s” killer weapon, the two-dimensional foil, which can compress the three-dimensional space into two dimensions, turning the entire world into a “flat map”. And naked-eye 3D is its reverse operation – “pulling” the monotonous two-dimensional world back to three dimensions, restoring the real three-dimensional sense for you.
Recently, Zhao Wei’s team at Nanjing Institute of Technology, which possesses a number of naked-eye 3D core technologies, has made important progress in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. The prototype of the naked-eye 3D ophthalmic surgery display system developed for Alcon, the world’s largest professional company in ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and medical devices, has been delivered and is expected to enter the European and American markets.
○ In September this year, the Ministry of Education and the People’s Government of Jiangsu Province signed an agreement to jointly build the first national regional technology transfer and transformation center for colleges and universities, with Nanjing as one of the core bearing areas. As the main battlefield for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, the reform of the empowerment of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities is particularly important.
○ Nanjing Institute of Technology, which successfully incubated the first school-owned enterprise in Jiangsu universities to be listed on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Connie Electromechanical, has continuously encouraged scientific researchers like Zhao Wei to join the transformation wave through measures such as professional title evaluation reform and determination of transformation income distribution in recent years, and has initially explored a distinctive path.
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The transformation of scientific and technological achievements can be used as a basis for professional title evaluation
○ At 8:00 am on December 3, Zhao Wei walked into the office and excitedly told team partner Zhao Jian that another company had come to consult about the transformation and cooperation of naked-eye 3D technology last night, and hoped that the team could carry out customized development according to their application scenarios. “Come, let’s discuss the technical possibilities and commercial cooperation models.” Zhao Wei said with a smile.
○ Zhao Wei, 38 years old, is an associate professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Nanjing Institute of Technology. His research focuses on material forming and control engineering. He has invention patents such as flexible welding technology and laser cladding technology.
○ In 2019, Zhao Wei was appointed by the school to work in Xuxiake Town, Jiangyin City. His main responsibility was to help enterprises in need solve various technical problems under the leadership of the local science and technology department. Once, Zhao Wei was pulled aside by Tang Hongxin, the head of Jiangsu Fulangte Engineering Machinery Co., Ltd., during a regular enterprise visit, and anxiously asked about welding robots. It turned out that with the retirement of a group of old people in the factory, there were no young people willing to take over the hard and tiring welding work on the assembly line. Tang Hongxin thought about it and decided to launch a batch of automated production equipment (i.e. welding robots) to replace manpower, but he did not understand the technology. Faced with the dazzling products on the market and the quotations with very different prices, he did not know how to choose. It happened that experts from Nanjing Institute of Technology visited, so Tang Hongxin immediately stepped forward for help.
○ At that time, although Zhao Wei had been engaged in relevant research for many years, he did not think of “selling” himself, but just did his best to answer questions and solve problems for enterprises. “At that time, I felt that doing research was our responsibility,” Zhao Wei said.
○ On the other side, Tang Hongxin, who had many years of experience in the business world, decided after a brief exchange with Zhao Wei that the company had reached a critical moment of transformation and upgrading and urgently needed expert support; Zhao Wei was undoubtedly a professional with practical knowledge and down-to-earth skills, and he must be firmly grasped. Therefore, Tang Hongxin signed a relevant cooperation agreement with Nanjing Institute of Technology by hiring a senior consultant.
The contract was sent back to the school. Han Bing, who was then the director of the Science and Industry Department of Nanjing Institute of Technology, encouraged Zhao Wei to try to cooperate with it in industry, academia and research, and actively transform the school’s relevant scientific and technological achievements into corporate productivity. “The school will introduce a series of policies to encourage everyone to transform scientific and technological achievements. The biggest breakthrough is to use the transformation of scientific and technological achievements as an important basis for the professional title evaluation of scientific researchers and technology transfer personnel. In other words, in the future, in the professional title evaluation, the weight of a scientific and technological achievement transformation may be equivalent to the weight of a high-quality paper.”
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96%-98% of the conversion proceeds belong to the researchers
The reforms Han Bing mentioned were implemented very quickly. In recent years, the university has issued a number of policy documents, including the “Nanjing Institute of Technology Intellectual Property Management Measures” and the “Nanjing Institute of Technology Provincial and Ministerial Research Platform Performance Assessment Measures (Trial)”, which take the transformation of scientific and technological achievements as an important content and basis for the title evaluation, job and salary management, and assessment and evaluation of scientific researchers and technology transfer personnel, improve the income distribution system, and deepen the reform of the right to use, dispose of, and benefit from scientific and technological achievements.
In addition to linking the transformation of scientific and technological achievements with professional title evaluation as mentioned above, the school also clearly stipulates that for transformation projects with a cooperation amount of less than 100,000 yuan, the school will charge a 4% management fee; for the part above 100,000 yuan, the school will only charge 2%, so that the transformation income will belong to the scientific researchers to the greatest extent.
○ Assessment is the baton. The new policy has pointed out another way for Zhao Wei and other young researchers besides climbing to the top in vertical research, that is, the horizontal transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Many people have begun to rethink their research directions, and Zhao Wei is one of them. “The way to serve the country with science and technology is not just vertical research. This work experience has made me clearly realize that there are many grassroots companies like Fulante that are in urgent need of cutting-edge technology support.” Zhao Wei said.
○ So, starting as a senior consultant, Zhao Wei successively carried out targeted research on a number of cutting-edge topics for Fulante, such as robotic arm welding technology and local damage repair of key components. During this period, he formed three invention patents, two of which have been successfully implemented and become the company’s core production lines, helping the company double its output value in just a few years.
○ “From the first year of cooperation with 100,000 yuan to now, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements has not only brought me financial returns, but also laid a solid foundation for my future evaluation of the title of professor.” Zhao Wei introduced, “Most importantly, through the horizontal transformation of scientific and technological achievements, I have personally witnessed my research from a design draft to a production line. This is the original intention and dream of many scientific researchers!”03
The school provides comprehensive support in terms of personnel, finance, materials and technology
○ Zhao Wei, who “got both the moon and sixpence”, inspired and motivated more “Zhao Weis”.
○ Dr. Zhao Jian, who has devoted himself to the research of the emerging visual technology naked eye 3D for many years, came up with the idea of pushing the technology to the application end, but he had never been exposed to the market and didn’t know how to do it. He introduced that unlike the technology that can only present three-dimensional images with the help of tools, naked eye 3D does not require wearing any equipment, and the screen itself can make the picture “surface”. It is not only in the field of entertainment, but also in scientific research and teaching, medical treatment, military simulation and other fields. Its market size exceeds 10 billion yuan. “At present, internationally renowned companies such as Samsung and LG have already begun relevant layouts, and our Chinese companies should also act quickly.” Zhao Jian said.
○ In 2020, the school’s Science and Industry Department organized experts to conduct a professional evaluation and began to incubate the project. The first step was to post a notice on campus to recruit talents and invite people of insight to complete the “last mile” of the scientific and technological achievements from the laboratory to the market.
○ Zhao Wei, who has sufficient experience in the market and is also the school’s technical manager, signed up without hesitation. In addition, more than ten people, including Professor Zhu Changjian, who is well-known in the field of intelligent engineering machinery, and Associate Professor Zhang Zhen, who has unique insights into product performance evaluation, have also joined the transformation team. A high-tech enterprise with Zhao Wei as the legal representative and Zhao Jian and others as technical partners, Suxin Ruishi Technology Co., Ltd., was established.
The school provides the company with all-round support in terms of personnel, finance, materials and technology. For example, Suxin Ruishi has signed a patent transformation agreement with the school according to its own needs, and entrusted the school to organize manpower to carry out targeted breakthroughs in a specific technology. At present, Suxin Ruishi has actively contacted well-known companies such as Shenzhen Zuolian Interactive, Japan Softbank, and Alcon (USA), among which Alcon’s prototype has been delivered. “We are confident that Suxin Ruishi will become another listed company of the school.” Zhao Wei said.
