News on China's scientific and technological development.

surpassed the US to become the top jurisdiction in terms of the number of in force last year - 3.6 million, according to the WIPO's World Intellectual Property Indicators Report 2022, which was issued on Monday..

Details -​

China’s IP office received 1.59 million patent applications in 2021 of the total 3.4 million filed worldwide in 2021, which is similar in magnitude to the combined total of the next 12 offices ranked from second to 13th. China was followed by the offices of the U.S. (591,473), Japan (289,200), the Republic of Korea (237,998) and the European Patent Office (188,778). Together, these five offices accounted for 85.1% of the world total.

Industrial designs​

An estimated 1.2 million applications containing 1.5 million designs were filed worldwide in 2021. The number of designs grew by 9.2% in 2021. China’s IP office received applications containing 805,710 designs in 2021, corresponding to 53.2% of the world total..

Trademarks​

China’s IP office had the highest volume of filing activity[] with a class count of around 9.5 million; followed by the USPTO (899,678), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (497,542), and the offices of India (488,526) and the UK (450,815)

There were an estimated 73.7 million active trademark registrations at 149 IP offices in 2021 – up 14.3% on 2020, with 37.2 million in China alone, followed by 2.8 million in the U.S., and 2.6 million in India.

China's scientists and engineers are pioneering our future through innovation..

Core components of China-made world’s largest ‘artificial sun’ accomplished, new breakthrough in core technology

By

and Du Qiongfang Published: Nov 22, 2022 09:02 PM


Celebration of the accomplishment of the prototype piece of the enhanced-heat-flux first wall panel of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor, also known as the world's largest "artificial sun," is held in Guizhou Province on November 22, 2022. Photo: Courtesy of the Southwestern Institute of Physics under the China National Nuclear Corporation
Manufacturing of the core components of the next-generation "artificial sun," the full-size prototype of the enhanced-heat-flux (EHF) first wall (FW) panel, has been completed in China with its core indexes being significantly better than its design requirements and meeting the conditions for mass manufacturing, marking a new breakthrough by China in the scientific research of the core technology of EHF FW, the Global Times learned from its research team on Tuesday.

Also known as the world's largest "artificial sun," the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) for the exploration and development of nuclear fusion energy is one of the largest and most far-reaching international scientific projects in the world, and the largest international scientific and technological cooperation project that China participates in as an equal alongside with the EU, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US.

China signed an agreement on the launch of the ITER project with the other six parties in 2006 and has shouldered responsibility for about 9 percent of its tasks.

, with its HL-2M plasma current exceeding 1 million amperes, setting a new record for the operation of controllable nuclear fusion in the country.

The EHF FW panel, which can withstand a surface plasma ion temperature of the reactor core up to 150 million C, some 10 times hotter than the real Sun, during the operation of the ITER, is the most critical core component of the reactor, involving the core technology of the fusion reactor construction.

The technology mastered by China previously took the lead in passing international certification.

The full-size prototype piece of the ITER EHF FW was developed by the Southwestern Institute of Physics under the state-owned China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC).

After the researchers from the institute manufactured EHF FW fingers in batches, they then completed the welding and assembly of the components by overcoming setbacks such as high temperatures, power cuts and COVID-19 outbreaks by cooperating with Guizhou Aerospace Xinli Technology Co, a company specialized in metal smelting and forging, which is located in Zunyi city in Southwest China's Guizhou Province.

The Chinese team, which took the lead in manufacturing the prototype piece in the international team, once again made a substantial engineering breakthrough for the research and development of the key components of ITER, marking China's solemn fulfillment of its international commitment.

Luo Delong, director of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, addressed the achievement and said that great achievements have been made by the Chinese team after years of efforts and lots of fruitful research and development work.

Through the work, China has independently mastered the principle of the process and made breakthroughs in technology while also providing "Chinese wisdom" and "Chinese plans," making huge contributions to independently master key technologies, fulfilling international commitments and demonstrating its responsibilities as a major power, Luo said.

China is developing new nuclear system to power moon base expected to be up and running by 2028​

• Lunar programme chief designer says China is working on system to address ‘long-term, high-power energy demands’ of moon station
• Station’s basic configuration will include lander, hopper, orbiter and a ride-on rover that will be charged with nuclear energy

Chinese scientists develop self-propelled robots to clean up microplastics​

Xinhua | Updated: 2022-11-22 16:08
Wang Jizhuang, one of the leading researchers from Jinan University, uses a microscope to observe micro-robots removing microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) from water on Nov 22, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGZHOU -- A group of Chinese scientists has developed a kind of micro-robot powered by ion exchanges to remove microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) from water, according to Jinan University, one of its developers.

The robot is 20 to 100 microns in diameter, which is thinner than a human hair. It has an innovated means of obtaining energy, making use of exchanges with impurity ions in the water, and can work without additional energy input.

The research, published recently in the journal Science Advances, states that MNP pollution in non-marine waters poses a great threat to the global ecosystem. However, existing strategies, such as chemical flocculation and physical filtering, often fail to remove the ultrasmall plastic particles thoroughly.

Seeking a better solution, scientists from the Guangzhou-based Jinan University and the University of Hong Kong designed the micro-robots to remove MNPs from water, taking their inspiration from floor-sweeping robots.

"Floor-sweeping robots can work autonomously on a planned route and sweep the garbage near them, so we thought there could be a similar kind of robot to clean garbage in the water," Wang Jizhuang, one of the leading researchers from Jinan University, told Xinhua.

The self-propelled robots developed by the group comprise resin spheres with magnetic nanoparticles, and can interact with surrounding particulates during their movements, accomplishing the dynamic removal of MNPs in their path. Each robot has an adsorption range of up to 200 microns in diameter, Wang said.

Meanwhile, the adsorption of plastics in the water induces a fluidic flow around the robots, thus propelling them to move autonomously without other energy input.

Owing to the magnetic components inside, the robots can also be simply collected with a magnet after completing their missions, and can be controlled precisely through a programmable magnetic field, according to Wang.

In their research, the robots were confirmed to show a removal efficiency of more than 90 percent during 100 consecutive missions to remove MNPs with various compositions, sizes and shapes in the water.

It is estimated that every liter of sewage only needs about 5 million micro-robots of this kind to clean up the MNPs present in the water, Wang said, adding that the number is very easy for the micro-robots to achieve in practice.

The group has set further research goals, such as finding ways for the newly-developed robots to simultaneously collect MNPs and degrade them in situ.

It is hoped that the development of the self-propelled robots, with the advantages of affordable cost and minimal secondary pollution, will make them suitable for industrial applications, providing an appealing strategy for the removal of the ultrasmall plastic particles on a large scale, Wang said.

TOKYO -- China is on track to control 43% of global OLED panel production capacity, putting it in striking distance of the South Korean competition.

Chinese panel makers BOE Technology Group and TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (TCL CSOT) have ramped up output since around 2019, thanks to generous state subsidies, as China chases South Korea's projected 55% share for 2022 in an October estimate by U.S. market intelligence firm Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC).

OLED panels, which use organic light-emitting diodes, share many aspects of development and production with liquid crystal display panels but require engineers with more sophisticated know-how.

"Starting from around 2018, Chinese companies have hired a host of engineers from Samsung Electronics and other South Korean companies, which made up for the shortfall," said Yoshio Tamura, president of Asian operations at DSCC.

This echoes how Japanese LCD panel makers started losing engineers to South Korean and Taiwanese competitors around 2000. Japan subsequently fell behind South Korea and Taiwan in global share.

Now China is expected to expand its share in LCD panel production capacity to 67% in 2022.



Mini-LEDs and micro-LEDs have been seen as promising next-generation technologies. But mini-LED panels are basically LCD panels that use tiny LEDs for backlighting. With micro-LEDs, the LEDs themselves emit light, but costs have proved difficult to bring down, and the applications are believed to be limited.

In other words, if China overtakes South Korea in share of OLED production, China will dominate virtually the entire display industry. Most Chinese-made OLED panels are small to midsize ones for smartphones, so the focus will be on whether Chinese companies acquire capabilities for manufacturing large OLED panels.

In South Korea, "the government has stepped in to halt the transfer and sale of large-screen OLED technology and manufacturing equipment to China," Tamura said. Meanwhile, Japanese company JOLED has developed a prototype 65-inch OLED screen with TCL CSOT, with which it has a capital tie-up.

Insiders in Japan's electronics industry remain wary of South Korea, since companies there have squeezed Japanese corporations in semiconductors and LCD panels. JOLED's move is also meant as a play against South Korean manufacturers.

But South Korean companies have already lost out to China in the race to invest in producing large LCD panels. In large OLED panels, South Korean companies are steadily going on the defensive.

For Japanese companies, which now mostly play the role of purchasing display panels and selling equipment for manufacturing them, it would not be a healthy development if business partners are concentrated in one place. Collaborating with South Korean partners in a balanced manner appears to be the prudent choice.

A China-developed offshore wind turbine rolled off the production line Wed in SE China's Fujian, becoming the wind turbine with world's largest single-unit capacity of 16MW. It can produce over 66 mln kWh of clean electricity annually while cutting CO2 emissions by 54,000 tonnes..

Goldwind is a surprise as it has been a laggard, contented with its permanent magnet motors.

UAV power line inspection:

Shanghai to Develop Industrial Hubs in Health, Intelligence, Energy, Space and Materials..



Nov. 24 -- The megacity of Shanghai will build five industrial clusters, covering health, intelligence, energy, space and materials, that will strive to achieve an output value of CNY500 billion (USD70 billion) by 2030.

The health hub will focus on research and development in gene and cell therapies, synthetic biology, biosecurity and brain-computer interface devices, the municipal government said at a press conference yesterday.

The intelligent industrial cluster will make breakthroughs in smart computing, artificial intelligence, extended reality, quantum technology and sixth generation mobile networks to further the city’s digital transformation.

The energy hub will develop and commercialize advanced nuclear energy and new energy storage technologies. Shanghai plans to have 70 hydrogen refueling stations and more than 10,000 hydrogen fuel-powered autos by 2030. The hydrogen energy industrial scale will exceed CNY100 billion (USD14 billion).

As for the space industrial cluster, it will make breakthroughs in deep-sea exploration and space technologies, such as the development of deep-sea vessels and icebreakers, marine engineering equipment and polar facilities like ice-class liquid natural gas carriers, not to mention the manned vertical take-off and landing of vehicles.

Regarding the materials hub, it will focus on the R&D and commercialization of non-silicon-based core materials, high-end film materials and high-performance composite materials.

In the future, Shanghai will set up five technical colleges to nurture talent and establish around 15 industrial innovation centers.