By Rui Hu, EDITOR

Knives made in Longshui Town, Dazu District, boast millennium-old forging technique and the honor of the “quality artwork of Chinese techniques.” How can they innovate this craft? On September 3, Chongqing saw the opening ceremony of the 8th China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition – Chongqing Dazu Innovation & Design Competition of Knife Forging.

It is supported by the Organizing Committee of China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, co-sponsored by Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau, Chongqing Dazu District People’s Government, and jointly guided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, and All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Themed on “achieving great achievements with scientific and technological innovation,” this high-standard and professional event aims to push regional featured industries to a new high. Dazu District will also take this opportunity to intensify its cooperation and exchanges with enterprises in the design sector. This will promote the in-depth combination of industrial design and development and accelerating the quality growth of the knife industry in its region. A director said, “We will search for talent in knife innovation, build a Chongqing Dazu Forging Knife Brand, and improve the core competitiveness and innovation & entrepreneurship vitality of the hardware industry.”

Dazu District is known as the home to hardware industry, enjoying a thousand-year culture in this field. Hardware is a mainstay industry in this District, and there are over 20,000 hardware enterprises and individual businesses, with more than 100,000 employees. To normalize the brands and better support the industrial development of the hardware industry in Longshui Town, the government has invested a lot to build Dazu Longshui Hardware Industrial Park, set up development funds, and boosted the brand construction of “Longshui Hardware.” As there are over 1,900 companies based outside the park, it will open small and micro-businesses to support their development. Besides, Dazu District Government is drafting an opinion to develop the hardware industry and holds the China International Hardware Fair to expand its influence to the world. The 9th session will be held in 2020. This nationwide design competition also invites teachers and students, thus facilitating achievement transformation, encouraging enterprises to adopt the achievements and attracting governmental subsidy. It will also ask venture capital to finance for hardware and S&T enterprises and help them apply for interest subsidies from the government.

In 2018, Dazu introduced six integrators of the intelligent manufacturing system and witnessed the smart transformation of 37 enterprises, involving the total investment capital of about RMB 70 million. By 2020, it will support 120 enterprises to replace human labor with robots, build one smart plant, five digital workshops, and 30 digital production lines.

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