Henan Daily News: A smartphone requires dozens of sensors, and a new energy vehicle may require hundreds of sensors... Today, sensors have permeated all aspects of people's production and life.

What is the future prospect of the sensor industry? What cutting-edge "black technology" is changing our lives? On December 1, the 2024 Sensor Conference was held in Zhengzhou, where scientists and entrepreneurs with influence in the global sensor field gathered here to give speeches and have high-level dialogues around the technical frontier, industrial trends and hot issues in the sensor field.

Local "seizing the beachhead" layout

The sensor market is booming

Sensors, known as the "eyes of the Internet of Things," are the source of data collection and the key foundation supporting the interconnection and intelligence of all things.

What is the current scale of the sensor market? At the opening ceremony, Li Ke, Vice President of CEC Consulting Co., Ltd., released the "Top Ten Sensor Parks Development Report 2024" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report").

Data shows that in 2023, the global sensor market size reached $192.97 billion, with a CAGR of 6.3% from 2021 to 2023; among them, the market size of intelligent sensors accounted for about 1/4 of the overall sensor market, with a growth rate higher than the overall sensor market, with a CAGR of 11.2% from 2021 to 2023. At the same time, the level and market size of China's sensor technology are also rapidly improving, reaching 364.47 billion yuan in 2023, with a three-year growth rate of 13.6%. China's growth rate has been higher than the global level for many years, showing vigorous development momentum.

As the market size continues to expand, all parts of the country are also "competing for beachheads". In terms of regional layout, China has formed four major sensor industry agglomerations in the central and western regions, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta. Among them, the sensor industry base in the central and western regions is better in key cities, benefiting from the good industrial base and has great development potential, mainly in Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an and other cities, adopting a close combination of industry, education and research.

The report determines the top ten sensor parks in China in 2024 as: Suzhou Industrial Park, Zhangjiang High-tech Zone Jiading Park, Wuxi High-tech Zone, Zhengzhou High-tech Zone, Changzhou High-tech Zone, Guangzhou Economic Development Zone, Beijing Economic Development Zone, Shaoxing Binhai New District, Donghu High-tech Zone, Bengbu Economic Development Zone. It is worth mentioning that Zhengzhou High-tech Zone ranks fourth in the country and is the only one in the central region.

"In recent years, the booming development of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and big data has endowed sensor technology with unprecedented opportunities and challenges. The new generation of sensors not only has higher sensitivity and precision but can also operate stably under extreme conditions, meeting a wide range of complex and diverse application scenarios," said Qian Feng, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Instrument and Meter, Deputy Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Professor at East China University of Science and Technology, and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

In Qian Feng's view, as technology advances rapidly, we are also facing many challenges. On the one hand, as the application scenarios continue to expand, the requirements for sensors in terms of accuracy, stability, and reliability are becoming increasingly stringent. On the other hand, the emergence of new technologies and new materials has brought infinite possibilities to the innovation of sensor technology. "Therefore, we must further strengthen basic research, continuously promote technological innovation, and comprehensively enhance the core competitiveness of the sensor industry," he said.

"Black technology" debuts

See sensors changing people's lives

As an important window for the world to understand the development of China's intelligent sensor industry, the conference is an important platform for gathering global industry wisdom and resources. What new products and technologies will make their debut at this year's sensor conference?

The human skin's perception ability is second only to the brain. What "surprises" would arise if "electronic skin" were implanted in a robot's hand? In the innovation display area of the conference, a flexible pressure sensor in the shape of a palm attracted a lot of attention. "For example, in the past, without force control, robots would break eggs when picking them up. But now, robots have 'dexterous hands' that can control the force of the grip more precisely," said He ChuanTao, director of the strategic marketing department of Hanwei Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd.

It is introduced that the "electronic skin" composed of an array of flexible tactile sensors integrates 100 sensing points in a small area, with high sensitivity and a response speed of about 1 millisecond. Even if a feather gently brushes, the sensor will immediately respond. The traditional robot附with "electronic skin" has higher sensitivity and can become a bionic, anthropomorphic, interactive, smooth movement, and autonomous task completion embodied intelligent machine, which is widely used in strategic emerging industries such as consumer electronics, health care, and IOT.

Just one drop of blood needs to be dropped on the instrument to immediately detect whether the patient's heart and kidneys are damaged and whether there are acute diseases. The list of winners of the 8th China (International) Sensor Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition was announced at the opening ceremony, in which the "one drop of blood" blood potassium creatinine palm-sized POCT detection system won the first prize.

"The current similar products on the market can only detect potassium or creatinine separately, and they are monopolized by foreign companies, which are very expensive," Tianjin University's MEMS research group student Tian Haijing introduced. Their product can detect potassium and creatinine simultaneously, has complete independent intellectual property rights, has passed the three-party appraisal of the national authoritative institutions, and is also much cheaper than the similar products abroad.

Building a "win-win chain"

Share the benefits of technology

Promoting industrial development and creating a "win-win chain" is the key move.

It is understood that this conference revolves around the extension, supplement and strengthening of the intelligent sensor industry chain, effectively promoting a batch of innovative platforms and industrial fund investment projects to be implemented, which will add new momentum to Henan Province in terms of core devices, industrial applications and scientific and technological achievements transformation in the sensor industry. Zhengzhou High-tech Zone signed 42 "big orders" in one breath, with a total amount of 28.4 billion yuan, including 30 projects signed on the spot.

Guangdong Jinpeng Technology Co., Ltd. is one of the companies to sign the contract on the spot. The company has invested 500 million yuan in Zhengzhou High-tech Zone to build an Internet of Things industrial base project. "We turn wires into network cables, which can be applied to the field of Internet of Things," said Li Juelin, director and executive vice president of the company. "We will carry out pilot projects in some large hotels and residential areas in Zhengzhou, and at the same time, we will carry out extensive application implementation with Zhengzhou High-tech Zone, and create an Internet of Things intelligent manufacturing industry demonstration park."

At present, with the continuous development of terminal products and application scenarios such as intelligent networked automobiles, humanoid robots, commercial aerospace, virtual reality, digital twin, and metaverse, the global sensor industry has entered a period of major adjustment and transformation. At the opening ceremony, Zhengzhou will issue the "Zhengzhou Declaration" to the public, proposing the concept of "strengthening technology research and development, integrated development; emphasizing applications, leading coordinated development; insisting on mutual benefit and win-win development, open development; promoting industrial integration, sustainable development; accelerating low-carbon transformation, green development", advocating the industry to join hands in promoting technology innovation cooperation, industrial chain and supply chain security and stability, and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the global sensor industry and social and economic development, and accelerating the process of interconnection of all things.

François Claudel, head of global business of Telemetrik, said that the "Zhengzhou Declaration" issued by Zhengzhou to the public society can see Zhengzhou's determination to improve the complete industry chain of sensors, and Zhengzhou's sensor industry will enter the fast lane, which makes them more confident in the development of Zhengzhou's sensors. The scientific research institutions and university resources in Zhengzhou High-tech Zone have also been favored by François Claudel. In his opinion, the deep integration of Zhengzhou sensor industry with teaching and research meets the development needs of Telemetrik. "We are very looking forward to Zhengzhou's industry and talent environment," he said.

"The sensor industry is a global industry that requires cooperation and synergy among countries. We should make full use of the international platform to deepen technological exchanges and cooperation, and share the benefits brought by the development of science and technology," said Qian Feng. (Guo Xuuru/Writing; Tian Jianing/Video)