Chinese sensor developers have seen growing interdisciplinary talent buildup with orchestrated hybridity of talents hailing from universities, enterprises and research institutes, pursuing the unified goal of developing cutting-edge sensor technology.
A new model with hiring talented personnel of various backgrounds plus more technical support in China's sensor industry are now remarkably improving product efficiency and reduce costs, injecting strong impetus into the innovation and advancement of sensor technology.
At the Research Institute for Industry of Intelligent Sensor in Zhengzhou, the capital city of central China's Henan Province, despite in the same uniforms, the staff there are actually employees from various sensor companies, universities, IoT firms, and industry associations.
According to Chen Haiyong, deputy director of the institute, the research and development model employed in this case has been compared to the culinary concept of Henan stewed dishes, which combine various ingredients and flavors.
Despite their varied career backgrounds, these individuals are leveraging their diverse expertise and perspectives to foster innovation and synergy at their work.
"In fact, the exploration of a research and development institution that is linked to stewed dishes is driven by market demand. Just like the laser gas sensor we completed in the first quarter, it involves various aspects, such as optical paths, structures, circuits, processes, as well as program algorithms, etc. We gather different people to do different parts to better meet the market need," explained Chen.
Researchers added that the development of sensors is characterized by slow iteration speed and long research and development cycle. As sensors become more intelligent, they span across a wide spectrum of disciplines, and in some cases, these disciplines even overlap with each other. Depending solely on one organization would further extend the development cycle. However, cross-domain collaboration ultimately maximizes outcomes and market value.
"By pooling various efforts, we finally achieved an improvement in device sensitivity from one part per million to one part per billion, while reducing the product's price from over 2 million yuan (around 281.790 U.S. dollars) to within 1 million yuan (around 140,890 U.S. dollars). The leap in technology expands the market potential," said Ren Hongjun, vice chairman of China Sensor and Internet of Things Industry Alliance.
Meanwhile, in addition to employing more talents, the sensor industry has been a surge of new research institutions which aim to swiftly transforming technological breakthroughs into tangible innovation opportunities and production capabilities. The Zhengzhou Zhongke Integrated Circuit and System Application Research Institute, for instance, has expedited the business in the first quarter of this year.
"We mainly focus on the research and development of key technologies, new product development, and production line operations. Relying on our own advantages, we can enable sensor companies here to better keep up with the global research and development trends," said Jia Kai, head of the industrialization department of the organization.
Germany's leading statistics company Statista reported that in 2022, the size of the Chinese smart sensor market amounted to around 120 billion yuan (roughly 16.91 billion U.S. dollars). According to forecasts, the market was projected to increase to 164 billion yuan (about 23.11 billion U.S. dollars) by 2024.
Chinese sensor developers see growing interdisciplinary talent buildup
