Where did Wuhan China Optics Valley come from? How far is it from zero to the world's first?

The speed of data transmission depends on optical fiber ribbons. Tiny optical fibers transmit convenient life and also weave a huge network power.

When talking about optical fiber, we have to mention Wuhan East Lake Hi-Tech Zone in Hubei. 43 years ago, my country's first optical fiber was born here. Starting from one optical fiber, the National Optoelectronics Industry Base was established in Wuhan in 2001, and Wuhan China Optics Valley (abbreviated as Optics Valley) came into being.

In recent years, cloud computing , big data, mobile Internet, and Internet of Things applications have emerged rapidly. How to solve the problem of "explosive growth" of network data flow has become a competitive highland in the global information and communication field. As the core R&D base in China's optical communication field, Optics Valley continues to make major scientific and technological breakthroughs in the field of "ultra-large capacity, ultra-high speed, and ultra-long distance" optical communication transmission.

In 2014, the 100.3Tb/s capacity transmission experiment in the C+L band of an ordinary standard single-mode optical fiber was realized for the first time; in 2015, the transmission capacity exceeded 200Tb/s, and the "three super" technology was commercialized in the same year; in 2017, the 560Tb/s ultra-large capacity wavelength division multiplexing and space division multiplexing optical transmission system experiment was realized, which allowed 13.5 billion people to talk simultaneously on one optical fiber; in 2019, the transmission speed has reached 1.06Pbit/s, enabling nearly 30 billion people to talk simultaneously on one optical fiber.

Boldly innovate and take big steps forward, this beam of light has witnessed the development process of Optics Valley and demonstrated the "Optics Valley speed". It is a true portrayal of Hubei's scientific and technological innovation, and it is also the driving force behind China's Optics Valley's march toward the world's Optics Valley.

From zero to world number one

Without innovation and courage to take risks, there will be no Guanggu.

"How can glass fibers be used for communication? Zhao Zisen, don't talk nonsense!" Zhao Zisen, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the "Father of Chinese Optical Fiber", recalled that at that time most researchers in the communications field were studying "electricity", but he turned to studying "light", which puzzled many people.

It is easy to have an idea, but difficult to implement it. With no money, no people, no projects, and no place to do experiments, Zhao Zisen chose fiber optic communications, overcame the difficulties, and took the first step in innovation.

Zhao Zisen lobbied for help and renovated a laboratory next to the toilet on the first floor of the office building. He asked young colleagues to help him. He used simple experimental equipment such as electric furnaces, test tubes, alcohol lamps, and adopted the simplest process and the most basic raw materials. He repeated thousands of experiments over more than a year and finally obtained high-purity quartz glass. He made his own equipment and built an optical fiber drawing machine using old lathes and scrap machine parts.

After three years of hard work, Zhao Zisen made my country's first optical fiber in 1976. Subsequently, optical fiber communication became a national key research project, and my country's optical fiber communication technology entered the "fast lane", and Optics Valley gradually started its journey of chasing light.

A beam of light creates an innovative city. Optics Valley has inherited the gene of innovation, started from scratch, and strived to become the world's number one. Now, Optics Valley has become the world's largest optical fiber and cable research and development base, the country's largest optical device research and development and production base, and the country's largest laser industry base. Optics Valley's optical fiber and cable account for 66% of the national market and 25% of the international market, with the world's largest sales volume, and has cultivated world-renowned industry leaders such as China Information and Communications Technology, Changfei Optical Fiber, HGTECH, and HGLASER.

Globalization of technology supply

Optics Valley dared to be the first to take the lead in daring to enter the "forbidden zone", promote institutional and mechanism reform, release policy dividends, and gather scientific and technological production capacity.

In 2012, Wuhan East Lake High-tech Zone issued the "Golden Ten", which was the first in the country to propose that 70% of the income from the transformation of scientific and technological achievements belong to the R&D team, breaking the state's restrictions on the right to dispose of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. In 2013, Wuhan Optoelectronics Research Institute promoted the Microscopic Optical Section Tomography System (MOST) intellectual property group to be listed for trading at a price of 10 million yuan, setting two records in the country for the largest base price for the transfer of scientific and technological achievements and the highest proportion of individual and team allocations, becoming the first case of a ministry-affiliated university listing and transforming scientific and technological achievements.

Wuhan Optoelectronics Research Institute relies on the research and development resources of Wuhan Optoelectronics National Research Center, and gathers industrial fields such as health optoelectronics, energy optoelectronics, information optoelectronics and industrial optoelectronics, aiming to implement national strategies and build "national heavy equipment". The institute summarizes the practical experience of MOST cases and finds out the bottlenecks and obstacles in the transformation of achievements. In the past six years, it has promoted 34 scientific and technological achievements transfer and transformation projects, with the amount of achievement transformation exceeding 290 million yuan, and cultivated more than 110 enterprises, half of which are from university research teams.

"Break down talent barriers, enhance the enthusiasm of scientific researchers, and improve the effective supply of science and technology." Han Dao, general manager of Wuhan Optoelectronics Research Institute, said that Optics Valley will inevitably be international in the future. He believes that the source of science and technology, scientific and technological talents, and scientific and technological markets all have global attributes, and more and more top international scientific research institutions and scientific and technological talents are choosing Optics Valley. To this end, the Institute will strive to serve as a good service provider for scientific and technological innovation and industrial development, establish a global innovation network for optoelectronics, utilize global talent and intellectual resources to land and transform in Optics Valley, and at the same time, promote the two-way flow of high-end talents between enterprises and scientific research institutions.

Trillion-dollar industrial chain gathers

Along the way, Optics Valley has been "chasing light and pursuing chips". It has been developing optoelectronic information for 30 years and focusing on chips for 10 years .

In 2018, Optics Valley launched the "New Golden Ten" to allow teachers and universities to share the ownership of their work achievements. The reform focused on the more sensitive "ownership of achievements". The overlapping reform measures directly promoted the development of Optics Valley's characteristic industrial clusters. Last year alone, Optics Valley had promoted 35 "bottleneck" technology research projects to be approved as major national projects, held 17 scientific and technological achievement transformation docking activities, and the transaction volume of technology contracts exceeded 27 billion yuan.

At the end of last year, based on Hubei Province’s strategic layout of “one core driving, two belts supporting, and three zones coordinating”, the East Lake High-tech Zone established a strategic arrangement of “planning 2049, planning 2035, and planning 2021” in “three steps” towards becoming the “World Optical Valley”.

"Anything is allowed unless prohibited by law." Chen Ping, director of the Wuhan East Lake High-tech Zone Management Committee, said that we should adhere to independent innovation, boldly try first, and drive the reform of systems and mechanisms and scientific and technological innovation. By 2021, we will basically build a trillion-dollar industrial cluster of "chips, screens, terminals and networks" with global influence. By 2035, we will be among the top high-tech parks in the world. By the middle of this century, we will fully build a "World Optical Valley".

The tide is surging, and it will hit the water for three thousand miles. Optics Valley, which has "established itself at the age of thirty", has embarked on a new journey in the new era.