"High technology should be transformed into productive forces to serve the society." This is the philosophy that my father taught me from a young age, and it is also the principle that I have always pursued on the road of entrepreneurship.
In the 30 years since graduating from university, I have experienced various roles from IoT technical worker to marketing manager, from general manager to chairman, from business manager to scientist, all of which are my precious life wealth.
1. It is difficult to start a business
In the 70s of the 20th century, my father spent 8 years following Mr. Hua Luogeng to promote the optimization method across the country, applying mathematics to field and enterprise management, and bringing practical benefits to workers and farmers.
Influenced by my family environment, I have been determined to pursue my dream since I was a child: to grow up to be like my father, learn technology well, become a scientist useful to society, and do practical things for society.
In 2003, I returned to my motherland to start a business and founded Taiyuan Luoke Jiahua Industrial Co., Ltd.
When I think back to the difficulties of starting a business: huge investment in infrastructure, dealing with earthworks all day, waiting for the product to roll off the production line, having to face extremely low profit margins, and being asked to dismantle the factory when it was about to be built, I was deeply shocked. But I never had the word "give up" in my dictionary, and when I was encouraged by my friends, my heart was filled with hope.
In the face of the differences at home and abroad, I encouraged myself to overcome many difficulties, muster up courage, and face pressure calmly, which made me greatly improve myself in a short period of time.
I think it's all worth it. The call of the motherland, the sense of social responsibility and the support of my family have made my heart stronger. I often use my office and laboratory as my home, busy with research, discussions, and experiments. I often had a flash of inspiration in my mind, and I was just about to go to bed in the wee hours of the morning, but as soon as I rolled over, put on my clothes, and returned to the lab.
Over the years, I have adhered to the belief that "high-tech should go deep into the grassroots and be application-oriented", created an innovative model of "Internet of Things + blockchain + big data", and created the "Internet of Things Cloud Chain Platform" which has been widely used and highly recognized in the industry.
In order to cultivate high-end talents in the Internet of Things and big data technology and improve the overall level of the industry, in 2012, with the strong support of the government, I introduced two academicians, established an academician workstation, and set up a scientific research team with the participation of many experts and doctoral students. Academician Luo Kejiahua workstation focuses on major projects and technical problems related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and jointly carries out technical research.
2. Two innovations
In the 20 years since its establishment, the scientific research team and I have continued to work hard to innovate and create, from the comprehensive integration of automation and informatization, to the platform construction of big data of the Internet of Things cloud chain, and then to the deepening service of artificial intelligence big data. It has made great achievements in the introduction of talents, high-tech research and development, and transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and has been widely recognized by the society.
The first innovation is that we have shifted from a manufacturer of intelligent control products to a provider of intelligent mining solutions.
In 2004, as a manufacturer of intelligent control products, we have an annual output of 5,000 sets of high and low voltage products exported to overseas, and the white paper inspection method is well-known in the industry. It was also at this time that we in Shanxi saw that the ruthless mining disasters took so many lives, and families were torn apart.
As the general manager, I proposed to carry out the research and development of mine intelligence, but the board of directors opposed it. Mine safety is a huge responsibility, and stepping out of the "comfort zone" will be more challenging and responsible, so many on the board voted against it. To this end, I made a military order, overrode public opinion, and led the R&D personnel to go deep into the front line of the mine to engage in R&D.
"Intelligent control system should be applied in the field of coal mine safety!" This voice guides us. One by one, Kochi R&D personnel began to go deep into the depths of various mines, and when they were hungry and thirsty, they insisted on it for several years. With the tenacity of not admitting defeat, we gritted our teeth and persevered.
The difficulties come not only from the harsh working environment, but also from the ironclad rules of the mining industry. In order to realize the intelligence of the mine, the remote control of the equipment must be realized, and the control signal transmission needs to rely on optical fiber, and the mining industry stipulates that optical fiber is not allowed to be used in the mine, because the maintenance of optical fiber requires hot melt construction, underground gas gathering, and the maintenance and construction of optical fiber is absolutely not allowed to be carried out underground.
In order to solve this problem, we propose a solution of double ring network into the well, in which the dual networks are backed up by each other, and a broken fiber is replaced with a spare optical fiber, and the broken optical fiber is repaired and maintained uphole. After a rigorous review by industry experts, we unanimously approved the plan, and we have since broken the industry rule that optical fibers do not go well.
With our hard work, we have realized the automatic control of underground equipment, completed the comprehensive intelligent transformation of underground wind and hydropower, mining and transportation personnel management and gas monitoring, and created an "unmanned" mine.
Since then, we have undertaken projects such as the National Industrial Upgrading and Technological Progress Special Mine Automation Control Center, the Ministry of Science and Technology's R&D of Major Mine Disaster Early Warning System, and provided Internet of Things services for nearly 100 large coal mining groups across the country to build digital mines.
There is no precedent for the application of the Internet of Things to coal mines, from the deployment of sensors to information transmission and signal processing, everything has to be done from scratch, and the difficulty can be imagined. From the company's senior leaders, down to hardware developers and software designers, going down the mine is an essential task. Many mines require a two- to three-hour walk from the entrance to the fully mechanized face. In order to meet the deadline, they often brought their own dry food and worked in the well for more than ten hours.
When we are busy, we are really "shameless". "Don't die" means that it rotates day and night; "Shameless" means not caring about washing your face. The next morning, everyone's white face turned black, and the person would fall down as soon as his hands were raised. This kind of "no life, no shame" work momentum, and the benefits of the Internet of Things can be seen and touched, so that we have won the trust of customers, and many people also take the initiative to help us do publicity.
The second innovation is to develop the core Internet of Things technology from the field of coal mine safety to the field of energy conservation and environmental protection.
In 2006, Shanxi's environmental problems were extremely severe, and the water environment and air quality index were both lowest in the country. In order to make the sky bluer and the water greener, my team and I went to the most polluted places to conduct all-round research on the production process, technical equipment, pollution control process, emission concentration and so on of 14 industries and more than 1,100 key supervision enterprises in the province, and came up with the monitoring plan of each industry, deployed monitoring points, and created an environmental protection monitoring model of "monitoring the results and monitoring the process, both monitoring and controlling", changing the original end monitoring to process monitoring, leading the change of the supervision mode of the national environmental protection industry.
In order to solve the stubborn problem that pollution control facilities cannot operate normally, in the summer of 2006, Luo Ke Jiahua mobilized elite soldiers in technology research and development, engineering management, etc., and went to various prefecture-level cities in Shanxi Province to carry out environmental protection research. The researchers' blood is boiling, but what awaits them is frost, rain and snow: installing the Internet of Things on polluting enterprises is tantamount to putting a "tight spell" on them, which one will be happy? During that time, it was really unbearable.
First of all, "the door is difficult to enter, the face is ugly", when going to investigate, the company came up with various reasons to make it difficult to block, and the researchers could only enter the factory for half a day.
The second is "unpleasant smell and unstoppable ash", and after entering the factory, it is faced with pungent smell, unpleasant stench, and dust scattered everywhere. At the end of the day, the researchers were all gray and sweaty. After a year and a half of solid research, we have found out the environmental protection background of 14 industries and thousands of heavily polluting enterprises in the province, from the production process, technical equipment of each industry, to the pollution control process and emission concentration of each enterprise, all recorded.
Through the "collective consultation", we first come up with the overall industry monitoring plan, and then "prescribe the right medicine" to formulate the technical route of each enterprise.
In the winter of 2008, we started to install monitoring equipment in various enterprises. The people of the enterprise looked at each other coldly, and some even scolded. We can endure hardships, we can be scolded, and we can rush forward regardless of ourselves.
In the past few years, Shanxi's heavily polluting enterprises have all been put on a "tight spell", and the blue sky of the land of Sanjin has reappeared and the white clouds have returned.
3. The road is under your feet
High-tech should go deep into the grassroots and be application-oriented, which is the concept that our team has always pursued. Focusing on domestic independent and controllable technology research and development, Rock Jiahua has more than 900 intellectual property rights, undertakes more than 50 national special projects, and is a participating unit in the preparation of a number of national standards and industry standards.
In 2012, we undertook the World Bank's China Energy Conservation Financing Project, an online monitoring system for energy use by key energy-using units, to compile energy consumption and carbon emission measurement standards and technical specifications for energy-intensive industries. Later, he undertook the pilot work of the National Development and Reform Commission's national energy consumption monitoring project in Beijing, Shaanxi and Henan. This also allows us to have database technology with independent intellectual property rights, which has laid a solid industry and technical foundation for the construction and promotion of the technical system in the work of carbon peak and carbon neutrality more than ten years later.
In 2013, smog broke out in a large area across the country, and under the dome, it was gray. With the courage and profound technical accumulation of "daring to be the first in the world", we put forward the concept of "grid" monitoring of environmental protection for the first time at the National Atmospheric Monitoring Conference, and took the lead in carrying out a pilot project in Tongzhou District, Beijing, to help Tongzhou form a complete air quality monitoring network. The following year, Tongzhou became the fastest improving district in Beijing's air quality.
This innovation not only allowed us to successfully enter the national science and technology environmental protection market, but also helped Tongzhou Environmental Protection Bureau to create a nationally renowned "Tongzhou model" of environmental protection.
At present, our environmental protection operation services cover Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Anhui, Shandong, Hainan, Guangdong and other provinces, autonomous regions and cities.
In 2021, "carbon" has re-emerged as the focus of social attention. The state has set carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 as strategic goals.
As an Internet of Things big data enterprise, with more than 10 years of industry and technology accumulation, with deep technical accumulation and massive data resources, we have quickly built a "double carbon cloud map of ecological environment".
On this basis, we have developed a safe and reliable "dual carbon" big data system, and established a "dual carbon management platform" at multiple levels in provinces, cities and counties, which can provide "carbon monitoring data" services for 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, more than 600 cities, more than 3,000 counties (cities and districts) and hundreds of thousands of enterprises across the country. In terms of digitalization of carbon management, we have independently developed the "Government Carbon Ledger" and "Digital Carbon Meter" to provide carbon data services for key emitting enterprises and clean energy units across the country, and help governments and enterprises manage carbon assets.
Data valorization is the key to the development of the digital economy, and at present, we have a large number of data resources, deeply tap the potential of data assets, land the country's first data asset pledge financing loan, and successively promote the company's data asset evaluation, which plays an exemplary role in the national "data valorization". At the same time, as a national data economy pilot unit, we have obtained the country's first data asset registration certificate. As a member of the Big Data Standards Working Group of the National Beacon Committee, we also participate in 6 data thematic groups and participate in the formulation of national big data standards.
At present, we have worked closely with the People's Bank of China, Bank of Beijing, Beijing Green Exchange, Beijing International Big Data Exchange, etc., to accelerate the rapid formation of the data element market and drive the national trillion-dollar data value market.
As a marathon enthusiast, looking back on my own entrepreneurship and growth experience, I deeply realized that entrepreneurship, like marathons, requires strong tenacity and perseverance to reach the finish line. I'm just a runner towards the finish line. As a runner, once you get on the track, you must learn to adjust your condition, whether it is fatigue or injury, you must not stop the pace of progress, and you must always be full of confidence and positive energy. The same is true of life.
There is a goal in mind, and the road is under your feet.
(This article is excerpted from "Decoding the Polytechnic Man", with the title added by the editor.) Minor changes to the original text, not reviewed by the author. Thanks for the authorization)
Recommended Books
Title: Decoding the Polytechnic Man
Author: Wang Zhe Chen Dong
Publisher: Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press
Publication date: May 2024
Introduction:
This book takes "strengthening the country with science and technology and serving the country by industry" as the main line, and actively explores the code for the success of 15 outstanding male representatives of science and technology of China University of Science and Technology, such as Huang Li, Ma Xinqiang, Zhou Yunjie, Yu Peng, Huang Xiaoqing, Huang Pei, Li Jun, Chai Zaixi, Zhang Xiaolong, Ba Shusong, Li Wei, Yang Yongzhi, Yao Xin, Li Tong, and Lei Binyi.
This is a large version of the "When the Stars Shine", behind the shining stars is to cultivate the feelings of scientists and promote the entrepreneurial spirit.
This is an ordinary student's "chasing the light and chasing the dream", behind the chasing the light and chasing the dream is the innovation and entrepreneurship quality that dares to compete and is good at transformation.
To promote the construction of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation, we urgently need batch after batch of bright stars with the ideal ambition of "strengthening the country with science and technology and serving the country with industry". Their pride and fighting spirit will always inspire, motivate and lead everyone who is unwilling to be ordinary and live up to your youth.