China’s State Council and the CPC recently issued a guideline on building up its intellectual property (IP) strength between 2021 and 2035.

By 2035, China’s overall IP competitiveness will be at the forefront of the world as a world-class IP powerhouse with Chinese characteristics on six aspects:

1. China will build a comprehensive, well-structured, IP legal system and accelerate IP legislation in new fields and business forms such as big data, AI and genetic technology,

2. China will build an IP protection system that is strict, fair, open and transparent and that can sustain a world-class business environment,

3. China will establish an IP market operation mechanism that encourages innovation by cultivating patent-intensive industries and promoting the construction of trademarks and brands,

4. the country will build an IPR public service system that is convenient and beneficial to the public,

5. China will foster a cultural and social environment that helps promote high-quality IP development. It will strive to create a cultural atmosphere of respecting knowledge, valuing innovation, upholding integrity and observance of the law, and encouraging fair competition, while training of IP talents with a global vision,

6. China will deepen its participation in global IP governance, actively participate in its reform and construction, deepen pragmatic cooperation with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative on IPR, and create high-level cooperation platforms. 

People’s Daily, September 25, 2021

According to a White Paper released by the State Council, China’s R&D spending was about 370.97 billion U.S. dollars, ranking the world’s second, and the ratio of R&D to GDP reached 2.4 percent. Nearly 1.35 million utility patent applications were filed and 441,000 were granted, and 69,000 international PCT patent applications were submitted. By the end of 2020, China had established 533 key national labs, 350 national engineering research centers, 1,636 national enterprise technology centers, 1,287 national technology enterprise incubators, and many more initiatives to promote S&T.

Xinhua news release, September 28, 2021

A group around Weihong JIANG at CAS Institute of Plant Sciences in Shanghai metabolically engineered autotrophic Clostridium ljungdahlii to efficiently co-produce three important bulk chemicals, isopropanol, 3-hydroxybutyrate (3-HB), and ethanol (together, IHE), using syngas (CO2/CO). The engineered strain was further optimized to reassimilate acetic acid and synthesize 3-HB by introducing heterologous functional genes. Finally, the best-performing strain was able to produce 13.4, 3.0, and 28.4 g/L of isopropanol, 3-HB, and ethanol, respectively, in continuous gas fermentation.

https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.1c00235

The group used computational design to draft an artificial anabolic pathway from CO2 to starch.  First, CO2 is reduced to methanol by an inorganic catalyst. Next, in a cell free system with spatial and temporal segregation, methanol is covered to starch through 11 core reactions driven by hydrogen and including engineered enzymes. Reaction rates in the cell-free system were calculated to be about 8.5 times higher than stach synthesis in maize. A 1000 L bioreactor using this system could theoretically produce as  much starch as about 0.3 ha of a cornfield (energy input not considered). Corresponding author of the study published in Science Magazine is Yanhe Ma, Director General of CAS-TIB.

DOI: 10.1126/science.abh4049

Within 2 years, China has built the world’s largest 5G network. As of August 2021, there were 1.037 million 5G base stations, more than 70% of the world’s total; the number of 5G terminal users has surpassed 400 million, the largest user base in the world; more than 10,000 5G application innovations have been built in the media, medical, transportation, education and other industries.

Based on these accomplishments, China has already strengthened research on 6G basic and interdisciplinary technologies such as the use of low, medium and high frequencies, integration with non-terrestrial mobile communication networks such as satellites and high-altitude platforms, and started initiatives to make 6G a worldwide international standard. In terms of patent applications on 6G, China is presently on top of the USA.

In the future, 6G communication networks will effectively contribute to smart production and living, and ‘digital twins’ will connect humans, computers and smart robots to a giant distributed neural network, deeply integrating the physical, biological, and digital worlds.

The 6G era will integrate six major AI resources: network, terminal, business, computing power, storage, and data, and provide AI platforms for various industries.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Telecommunication/China-accounts-for-40-of-6G-patent-applications-survey

The „Future Orchard” was founded on 4 ha land by China Agricultural University and other enterprises in Pinggu, a 400,000 people township of Beijing with a population density of 438 inhabitants per km square. The peach and kiwi tree orchard has a lab for intelligent monitoring and visual diagnosis on the the fruit trees and their environment for improvement of planting efficiency, fruit yield and quality.

Xinhua news release, September 20, 2021

The satellite developed by the CAS Hefei Institute of Material Science is equipped with a total of 7 remote sensing instruments, including a main greenhouse gas monitor (GMI), an atmospheric trace gas differential absorption spectrometer (EMI), a multi-angle polarization detector (DPC) and a high-precision polarization scanner (POSP). The four payloads operate synchronously for a dynamic monitoring of China’s air pollution status and the development of air pollution prevention and control measures.

China S&T news, September 13, 2021

DENG Denghui’s group at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences wants to use hydrogen as a green energy carrier to balance peaks and troughs in power consumption. To this end, they use polysulfides as a mediator in a galvanostat, lowering the reduction potential for the formation of hydrogen to + 0.82 V at 100 mA/cm2, 60% below the value for the direct electrolysis of water. The mediator is then reduced again during nighttime operation at -1.81 V. The electrode is made of a CoNi nanoalloy encapsulated in N-doped graphene (CoNi@NGs), protecting it from sulfide corrosion. Using this “chainmail catalyst,” the researchers produced hydrogen in high space-time yields for 500 hours without poisoning the electrode.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100144

China attempts to build a nationwide carbon market, providing an impetus to phase out coal power and achieve carbon neutral targets early. At present, China’s 4540 operating coal plants generate over 1,000 GW, about half of global coal power capacity, and generate 62% of China’s electricity, contributing over 40% to the nation’s energy-related CO₂emissions. A team from China’s coal industry and academia has now investigated how carbon pricing will effect financial sustainability and lifetime change of each plant. They conclude that even with a low initial carbon price of 50 CN¥/tCO₂ (6,7 €) growing at 4%/y and the permits being fully auctioned, the average residual lifetime of all the plants will be reduced by 5.43 years, and the cumulative CO₂ emission from 2020 to 2050 will be reduced by 22.73 billion ton. With the carbon price further reaching 100 CN¥/tCO₂, the operating coal plant stock is expected to be phased out 6 years earlier – along China’s pacific coast earlier than in China’s west.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102655

According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China leads in hydroelectric, wind and solar power generation, and capacity of nuclear power plants under construction. As of the end of July 2021, the installed capacity of non-fossil energy power generation nationwide increased by 18.0% from the same period of the previous year to 1.03 billion kW, which is equivalent to more than 40 power plants such as the Three Gorges Dam. Hydropower capacity increased 4.9% year-on-year to 380 million kW, nuclear power increased 9.2% to 53.26 million kW, wind power increased 34.4% to 290 million kW, solar power increased by 23.6% to 270 million kW, and biomass power generation increased by 31.2% to 34.09 million kW. Cumulative power generation of hydroelectric power, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power increased by 10.2% in the first half of the year. The investment in clean energy such as hydropower, nuclear power, and wind power from January to July accounted for 91.7% of the investment in power sources. As of the end of last year, the installed capacity of coal-fired power generation fell below 50% for the first time, and the number of coal-fired power generators that achieved ultra-low emissions amounted to about 950 million kW. The national power supply coal consumption rate from January to July this year was 303 grams per 1kWh, a decrease of 1g per 1kWh from the same period of the previous year.

Japan JST China news, September 6, 2021

According  to the “China Science and Technology Human Resources Development Report (2020)“ published on August 27, China’s R & D population surged during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), with an average annual growth rate of more than 7%. It has increased from 3,878,000 a year in 2016 to 5,092,000 a year in 2020, and has maintained the number one position in the world for several consecutive years. The percentage of R&D personnel with a university degree increased from 50.5% in 2015 to 63.6% in 2019. The number of doctoral degree holders was 8.5%. The full-time equivalent of corporate R & D accounted for 76.4%. The 10 eastern provinces and municipalities account for 65.6% of the national R & D.

Japan JST China news, September 3, 2021

The project will focus on core scientific and technological problems of the Indian Ocean tropical environment variability in the “Belt and Road”, enhance the capability of China’s marine meteorological observation and prediction, and provide a scientific decision basis for the safety of the route.

China Science and Technology News, August 31, 2021

Carbon emissions in Anhui’s industrial sector account for about 70% of the total. As green and low carbon development of the industry is considered he most important point to achieve the goals of peaking out CO2 emissions and carbon neutrality, the province launched a carbon index system which monitors carbon emissions from four indicators of energy consumption of each company: coal, electricity, oil, and gas. The “carbon index ring” shows the carbon emission level of various energy consumption of the company, and the columnar graph shows the monthly energy consumption. Based on this system, ompanies are obliged to accelerate the construction of energy-saving and low-carbon green production systems.

Japan JST China news, August 31, 2021

According to the China Internet Information Center (CNNC), about 35% of all 38,000 patent applications related to 6G mobile communication come from China.

Japan JST China news, August 30, 2021

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6) is widely applied in pharmaceutical and food industries, and the algae Aurantiochytrium has become a representative strains for DHA production due to its high biomass and lipid content. Researchers from the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) have applied metabolic engineering strategy to prepare DHA in high purity and yield. 

Their strategy included partial deactivation of the competing pathway of DHA biosynthesis, by disrupting one copy of the fatty acid synthase gene, and strengthening of substrate supply and triacylglycerol synthesis, by the overexpression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and diacylglycerol acyltransferase.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c03781

WANG Liangbao and colleagues at the Hefei Institute of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences were able to use surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of ethanol extracts to determine poisons in an oily matrix with high sensitivity. Using a portable Raman spectrometer, they detected paraquat and diquat in kitchen waste with a detection limit of 10 – 100 ppb, with a standard deviation of 7%.

CAS news release, August 25, 2021

A research team at CAS Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences has systematically analyzed the photosynthetic efficiency, nutrient uptake, inter-root carbon secretion and inter-root bacterial community of a  3-year-old Mongolian oak and its ectomycorrhizal environment. The results showed that the phosphorus uptake of Mongolian oak was significantly increased by the mycorrhiza, while the potassium uptake was inhibited; the photosynthetic carbon fixation in the aboveground part and the total organic carbon secretion in the belowground part were significantly enhanced, however, the secretion of organic acid was reduced by about 50%. During growth, the inter-root bacterial community changed significantly, actinomycetes were enriched, and the abundance of some bacterial communities showed some correlation with inter-root carbon secretion. The study is considered a theoretical basis for the artificial cultivation and plantation management of European black truffle.

http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2021/8/463653.shtm