Civil-military integration speeds up in Mianyang

Mianyang of Sichuan province in western China, the only science and technology city approved by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, is pressing ahead on the road to civil-military integration (CMI).

It has set up the country's first CMI dual-use technology trading center, first large-scale platform for sharing of CMI scientific instrument and is planning to establish 10 industrial parks featuring military-civilian integration.  

Gathering superior resources and striving to become a bellwether in CMI  

Mianyang is the birthplace of the Chinese atomic and hydrogen bombs, as well as artificial satellites, and is an important national defense military and scientific research and production base with great potential in CMI development through its abundant scientific and technological resources and talent pool. 

It is home to 18 State-level research institutes, 14 colleges and universities, nine national key laboratories, 28 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as more than 230,000 professional workers and technicians. 

In recent years, Mianyang has made use of its advantages to promote scientific and technological innovation and CMI development with outstanding results in institutional innovation, transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and development of innovative industries. This is creating a "Mianyang Path" for CMI development.

In 2017, there were 321 CMI enterprises based in Mianyang Science and Technology City, with the annual output value of 150 billion yuan, accounting for more than 50 percent of total industrial output value.

Fueled by the rapid development of CMI, Mianyang witnessed a GDP of 207.48 billion yuan last year. Liu Chao, secretary of Mianyang Municipal CPC Committee, said it was the first prefecture-level city in Sichuan with an economic aggregate exceeding 200 billion yuan.

This created a solid foundation for "innovation-driven development" and CMI development in China's western regions. 

Strengthening IPR protection for further CMI development

This year, the National Intellectual Property Administration of the PRC and the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission jointly carried out pilot work on IPR in regard to civil-military integration, in which Sichuan is among the first batch of pilot provinces.

Zhao Hui, party secretary of the Sichuan Intellectual Property Bureau said, "Mianyang boasts abundant national defense and military resources. Civil-military integration in intellectual property rights caters to the needs of the times and entails the co-development of national defense and the local economy."

Mianyang is totally committed to promoting civil-military integration of intellectual property rights. It has been recognized as a National Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Demonstration City for its efforts to facilitate the application and protection of intellectual property rights. 

Statistics show the city in the past two years applied for over 10,000 patents annually. The number of patent applications and authorizations ranks second in Sichuan province, amounting to 59,176 and 30,979 respectively.

In statistical terms, in Mianyang last year, the patents granted for every 10,000 of its population reached 9.45. A total of 1,997 patent-based projects were implemented, with an output value of 21.82 billion yuan (US$3.19 billion).

Civil-military integration highlighted in the High-tech Expo

Civil-military integration has been an enduring theme of China (Mianyang) Science & Technology City International High-Tech Expo (hereinafter referred to as the High-Tech Expo) since its debut in 2013. The 6th High-Tech Expo further highlights this theme, with the establishment of a 10,000-square-meter civil-military integration exhibition pavilion. 

For the first time in the Expo, a Beidou technology application pavilion, an aerospace exhibition area, and a nuclear technology exhibition area were set up.

A display of projects winning National Science and Technology Awards and new technologies is another feature of the Expo.

Firms and research institutes in the military sector have been invited and a number of forums focusing on the innovative development of civil-military integration are being staged during the Expo, including the International Forum for the Innovative Development of Civil-Military Integration, the 2018 China Financial Summit on Civil-Military Integration of Intellectual Property Rights and the Forum on the Application of New Technologies in Civil-Military Integration.