Quality Life in Xinyang: Develop the National Technological and Innovative Highland of Living Technology
-Develop the Industry of Living Technology, and Build Future Living Sci-Tech City
Introduction
Accelerating scientific and technological innovation is necessary for people to live a high-quality life, and we must release more scientific and technological innovations related to people’s livelihood.
-----Speech by General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Symposium of Scientists in September 2020
Living technology is core area of technologies for people’s livelihood, which is what people need and what innovation is for, and it is directly related to the quality of people’s life and the quality of urban development.
Relevant Background
In September 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Henan Province, and his first stop was Xinyang, an old revolutionary base area. The general secretary cared about the construction of this area and the people there, and clearly demanded that “the old revolutionary base area should be built better, so that the people in the area could live a better life”. “Two better” had become the goal of Xinyang’s development.
In August 2021, in order to accelerate the implementation of the “two better” and comprehensively promote the construction of “Better life in Xinyang”, the Xinyang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government decided to “vigorously develop the living technology industry, accelerate the construction of urban and rural future communities, and jointly build the future living sci-tech city”. As an important strategy for urban transformation and development, the Sustainable Urban and Community Development Institute of China International Association for Promotion of Science and Technology has been entrusted to compile the “Strategic Development Plan on the Construction of Xinyang Future Living Sci-Tech City”.
The Municipal People’s Government of Xinyang and the Sustainable Urban and Community Development Institute of China International Association for Promotion of Science and Technology held the “China (Xinyang) Living Technology and Better Life Seminar” in December 2021, with the main contents of the “Strategic Development Plan on the Construction of Xinyang Future Living Sci-Tech City” being released for the first time. “Round Table Conference on the Construction of Xinyang Living Technology City” was held in parallel.
Living Technologies and Industries
Living technology is a general term for science and technology that serves the ultimate goal of “better living for human beings”, which originates from “Ekistics” proposed by Professor Constantinos Apostolos Doxiadis, a Greek architect, and the system of “living science” proposed by Academician Wu Liangyong of Tsinghua University. It is based on architecture, urban and rural planning and garden environment, covering global level, regional level, urban and rural level, community level and architecture level. Living technology is the application and transformation of scientific research results of living science.
Over the past decade, with the rapid advancement of global digitalization, climate change response and ecological civilization construction, and the wide application and upgrading of new technologies, the development of living technology has evolved significantly, being comprehensively expanded to green buildings, smart homes, smart security, biomedicine, green energy, new materials, garden technology, intelligent transportation, geological technology, disaster prevention and mitigation, space remote sensing, future communities, smart cities and many other fields, for which it has increasingly become an important supporting force for promoting high-quality urban development and people’s high-quality life. The living technology has also entered an unprecedented period of rapid development, forming an important growth point for the future economy.
Key Areas of Xinyang Living Technology Industry Development
Xinyang is an important birthplace of Chinese living civilization and one of the most livable cities in China. As an important hub of the city cluster in Central China and China’s “geographic center of the north-south region”, Xinyang has outstanding advantages in terms of ecology, policy and geological location. Xinyang city could reach 6 provinces within a radius of 300 kilometers, including Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Hunan, Shandong and Jiangsu, covering a population of over 250 million. Vigorously developing the living technology industry in Xinyang will take the lead in providing major support and guarantee for the realization of “two better” in the old revolutionary areas of Hubei, Henan and Anhui, and will directly help the city cluster with the largest population in China to quickly improve the living quality and realize a better life, for which it is typical indeed and rich in market potentials.
Xinyang has a profound background of scientific research and industrial development to build a highland for scientific and technological innovation of living technology. Existing relevant industries cover various fields including green furniture, green building materials, electronic information, healthy food, green energy, equipment manufacturing, modern logistics, prefabricated buildings, smart home, smart security, biomedicine, digital industry, e-commerce and so on.
Existing Relevant Industries
Distribution Planning on Living Technology Industrial Structure in Xinyang
• Yangshan New District: the core start-up area of the Future Living Sci-Tech City - an industrial cluster area for future building and future home
• Shangtianti: an industrial cluster area for green construction of human settlements and emergency response industries
• Nanwan - Jigongshan: a cluster area for human settlement digital industries and life & health industries
•Gaoxin - Pingqiao - Luihe - Luoshan: a cluster area for electronic Information and equipment manufacturing of smart human settlements
•Huangchuan - Guangshan - Huangkai District: a cluster area for green food, equipment manufacturing, modern logistics of human settlements
• Gushi County: a cluster area for home textile and electronic information of human settlements
• Xi County and Huaibin County: a cluster area for home textiles of human settlements
• Xinxian: a cluster area for life and health of human settlements
• Shangcheng: a cluster area for equipment manufacturing of human settlements
International Living Technology Forum
The International Living Technology and Urban-Rural Development Forum is the first international exchange platform for the development of China’s living technology industry. With the theme of “Living Technology, Leading a Better life”, the forum is focused on the future development direction of the living technology industry and advocates “to develop living technology, promote technologies to benefit people and enhance the international cooperation”. The forum is one of the 2022 World Young Scientists Summit Series Events, which aims at accelerating the construction of ecological innovation chain of living technology in all respects, covering “basic research, technological breakthroughs, industrialization of achievements, and talent support”, providing scientific and technological support for the high-quality development of China’s urban and rural areas and people’s high-quality life, promoting the development of living technology industry, building future living sci-tech city and creating a national highland for living technology innovation, so as to fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s expectations on Xinyang that “the old revolutionary base area should be built better, so that the people in the area could live a better life” and realize specific goals set for Henan Province to build a national highland for innovation. The forum will become an annual high-profile, high-level and international event for living technology industry held in China.
Cooperation Institution
Sustainable Urban and Community Development Institute of China International Association for Promotion of Science and Technology (for whole-process advisory support)
Mechanism and Policy
An expert committee for Future Living Sci-Tech and Innovation New City in Xinyang has been established, which is led by the Science and Technology Bureau at the municipal level and the Yangshan New District at the project level (starting area and core area of Xinyang Future Living Sci-Tech City).
In 2022, we will focus on the following eight aspects:
The first is to work hard to strengthen the innovation framework, and to create a highland for scientific and technological innovation of future living technology.
The second is to seek breakthroughs in strengthening the main role of enterprises in innovation, and implement the Program Sprout for small and medium-sized technology-based enterprises.
The third is to work on the establishment of a high-level innovation platform, make every effort to make it work, and speed up the construction of a technological innovation system.
The fourth is to make more efforts to promote the research on core technologies, and establish scientific research project organizations and project approving mechanism which are centered on the demands from enterprises and market.
The fifth is to work harder on attracting innovative talents, pooling talents through innovative measures, platforms and policies.
The sixth is to make practical moves in the reproduction and transformation of achievements, promote the collaborative innovation of government and enterprises, strengthen the cultivation and management of scientific and technological achievements, and improve the construction of technology transfer service institutions.
The seventh is to further improve the scientific and technological support for rural revitalization, and accelerate the construction of the scientific and technological service system for high-quality agricultural development.
The eighth is to make more practical achievements in deepening reform and innovation, further enhance the activity of innovation and entrepreneurship, and comprehensively improve the enterprises’ satisfaction.
