Major projects and cutting-edge issues in engineering technology of major countries in the world

Preface

The development of scientific and technological innovation is an important factor that profoundly affects the direction and progress of human civilization. In a sense, it determines the rise and fall and destiny of a country and a nation. In today's world, waves of scientific and technological innovation are rising one after another. Major countries in the world are vigorously promoting medium- and long-term scientific and technological strategic planning, aiming to accurately grasp and timely lay out the direction and focus of scientific and technological innovation in order to seize the initiative in competition and development.

This article sorts out the major strategic plans and measures in the field of engineering technology in major countries in the world in recent years, briefly analyzes the current development status and level of major fields of engineering technology, and conducts a comparative analysis of the goals, paths and contents of major strategic plans in the field of engineering technology in major countries in the world, and puts forward the cutting-edge issues and development trends in the current major fields of engineering technology.

Major strategic plans in the field of engineering technology in major countries around the world

Concentrating superior forces to deploy major engineering science and technology strategic plans is an important means for major countries in the world to promote technological and industrial innovation, and provides strong support for achieving national strategic goals. This article sorts out the major strategic plans in the field of engineering science and technology released by major countries in the world in recent years, and analyzes the frontier hotspots and main technical directions they focus on.

1. United States

Part of the United States' major science and technology strategic plan comes from the national level, and the other part comes from advisory reports and suggestions put forward by various think tanks. Together, the two support the introduction of a series of science and technology plans that reflect the country's strategic intentions.

In recent years, relevant national departments such as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), the Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and consulting firms such as McKinsey have successively released various major science and technology strategic plans and science and technology strategic research reports. Their main focus areas and technical directions are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Fields and technical directions focused on by major US science and technology strategic plans

In addition to the above comprehensive major science and technology strategic plans, the United States has also released many field and industry development plans, such as "Advanced Manufacturing: Overview of Federal Government Priority Technology Fields", "Four-Year Technology Assessment", "Promoting Innovative Neurotechnology Brain Research Program", "Materials Genome Program", "US Vision 2050: National Integrated Transportation System", etc. In general, the United States has deployed science and technology strategic plans at different levels in various fields of engineering technology, among which advanced manufacturing, clean energy, precision medicine, big data and advanced computing technology are highly concerned.

2. Europe

In 2013, the EU launched the EU 2020 Strategy at the same time as the Lisbon Strategy came to an end. As the main operational tool for implementing the EU development strategy, the new research and innovation framework program, Horizon 2020, was officially launched on December 11, 2013 for a period of 7 years (2014-2020), in order to achieve a "smart, inclusive and sustainable" growth model through scientific and technological innovation. Horizon 2020 focuses on three strategic goals: creating excellent science, becoming a global industrial leader, and successfully responding to social challenges. Among them, the deployment plan for engineering technology-related fields is shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Projects in the fields of engineering and technology deployed by the EU's Horizon 2020

In summary, the EU's entire science, technology and innovation framework system covers all areas of innovation, including population health, food safety, sustainable agriculture, ocean and maritime research, safe, clean and efficient energy, smart, green and integrated transportation systems, climate change and social security, among which the focus on industrial technology-related fields is relatively high.

RAND Corporation (Europe) believes that digital technology and economic and social development are becoming increasingly closely related in all aspects. The study proposes 10 digital technology-related topics that play a key role in shaping and improving the EU's R&D and innovation capabilities in the "Horizon 2020" plan, and analyzes future trends, as shown in Table 3.

Table 3 The 10 major themes and trends of digital technology proposed by RAND Corporation

The UK started the third round of technology foresight in 2002 and published “Technology and Innovation for the Future: UK Growth Opportunities to 2030” in 2010, which systematically forecasted the UK’s technological development towards 2030 and proposed 53 critical technologies in four major areas, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Technologies that are critical to the UK by 2030

Germany has also launched a number of research and innovation programs in recent years, including the Copernicus program for energy transformation, the IT security research program, and the research program on the social impact of new genome editing methods. In 2010, the "Germany 2020 High-Tech Strategy - Ideas, Innovation, Growth" was launched, and in 2013, a new high-tech strategic plan - "Industry 4.0" was proposed to support the research and development and innovation of a new generation of revolutionary technologies in the industrial field and seize the initiative of a new round of industrial revolution.

In May 2015, France proposed the "Industry of the Future" strategy, which includes nine projects: new logistics, new energy, sustainable cities, ecological travel and future transportation, future medical care, data economy, smart objects, familiar safety and smart diet. In July of the same year, it issued the "Green Conversion Energy Act", which proposed to limit nuclear power generation, reduce fossil energy consumption, increase the proportion of renewable energy in total energy consumption, and reduce energy consumption by half by 2050.

3. Japan

Japan organized the world's first large-scale technology forecast in 1971, and has conducted it every five years since then. The results of each technology forecast are used to support the formulation of different major science and technology strategic plans in Japan. In 2015, Japan conducted the 10th science and technology forecast survey, which provided a basis for Japan to deploy the fifth basic science and technology plan. The Japanese Cabinet reviewed and approved the "Fifth Basic Science and Technology Plan (2016-2020)" on January 22, 2016, proposing that Japan will vigorously promote and implement science and technology innovation policies in the next 10 years to build Japan into "the most innovative country in the world", mainly including the following aspects.

1. Super Intelligent Society

As the world welcomes the background of the fourth industrial revolution, Japan will take manufacturing as the core, flexibly utilize information and communication technology, and build a world-leading "super-intelligent society (5.0 society)" based on the Internet or the Internet of Things. Japan will give priority to the construction of 11 systems identified in the "Comprehensive Strategy for Science and Technology Innovation 2015": energy value chain optimization system, earth environment information platform, maintenance and management and update system of efficient infrastructure, social system for preventing and resisting natural disasters, high-speed road traffic system, new manufacturing system, comprehensive material development system, local governance system, workflow management system, intelligent food chain system and intelligent production system.

2. Generic technology research and development

The Japanese government has proposed that it will continue to improve its intellectual property and international standardization strategies, promote network security, Internet of Things system construction, big data analysis, artificial intelligence and other service platforms, carry out essential common technology research and development, and at the same time, set challenging medium- and long-term development goals and work hard for core advantageous technologies that can create new value, such as robots, sensors, biotechnology, nanotechnology, materials, photons, etc., to enhance Japan's international competitiveness.

3. Actively respond to challenges facing economic and social development

In order to address the economic and social development challenges facing Japan and the world as soon as possible, the Japanese government has pre-selected 13 key policy issues to be addressed through scientific and technological innovation, as shown in Table 5.

Table 5: 13 key policy issues that Japan will address through technological innovation

In April 2016, the Cabinet Office of Japan and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) jointly proposed a comprehensive science and technology innovation plan covering 16 fields, the Japan Innovation Program for Disruptive Technologies (ImPACT)[8]. In June of the same year, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan released the Research Strategy 2030, which proposed the key development directions of Japan's industrial and scientific and technological innovation. The main contents are shown in Table 6.