China will Become a Leader of the Global Innovation Industry
Author： Source： Date：2017-09-01
Thank you very much! I would like to apologize first. Although my parents are Chinese, they studied in the US, and did not communicate with their children in Chinese at home, which was a pity in the process of our growth. What we heard more often was English. They would say “if we talk to you in both English and Chinese, you may be confused.” So we learned everything in English when growing up. Of course, there has been a lot of confusion.
I am very happy to be here at the Second Dameisha China Innovation Forum. I am a professor in the Physics Department and Medical School of Stanford University. Stanford itself is a very special place for the innovation industry. I can say that Stanford actually represents a lot of companies. Over the past 50 or 60 years, we have promoted the innovation of different companies, including the predecessor of Intel, the medical industry and Apple. The founders of companies like Google, Facebook and Yahoo, as well as their footprints, have grown in the Silicon Valley. Many of these companies recruit graduates from Stanford, and some students are even able to start businesses without graduating from Stanford. What they pursue is not only to become a college graduate.
Here I would like to share the road of innovation with you. Tomorrow, I will share more at the innovation conference. I am a teacher with 45 years of experience. Most of my students have become professionals or professors. Two of my students, who are the age of my children, have become professors, and some students who are the age of my grandchildren have successfully become teachers at Stanford. They are professors in these disciplines, and some of them also work for many professional companies, and have established many new companies. Did my parents make a mistake by telling me that the best thing I could do was to become a scholar? We didn’t talk about money. Although our family was not well-off at that time, we didn’t talk about money much. Perhaps we needed money, but they said, if you could become a scholar, you can become a very successful part of your life. I have always been wondering if they misled me. And I have always been proud because I have a number of outstanding students and representatives at the age of children and grandchildren, who have made remarkable achievements in the scientific and technological field, and started their own families. Many of them are also innovative people, who have played a part in the constant emergence of innovations and new industries. They may not make achievements as successful as Google, Apple or Intel, but anyway, they are constantly bringing new job opportunities and innovative ideas for our society. I am also sharing my experience with them. In the process of establishing a great company and a great innovative enterprise, we also have to try doing things which can make the world a better place. I previously engaged in research and development at Stanford. We also started to think about some new ideas. Stanford is now applying for five new patents. In 2013, I returned to the campus from the US government, and I also began to build a company with a friend. I had never thought about building a new company before, and this meant a lot to me. It involves the filtration of small particles in micromolecule air, which are known in China as particles similar to PM2.5, and are very small substances with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers. In China and other developing countries, the PM2.5 problem is getting more and more serious. In the past 5 years, we have discovered in the pharmaceutical and medical industries that PM2.5 is very dangerous. Its effect is equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, or even worse. As we already know that PM2.5 is very dangerous, I take delight in finding a good solution in this industry with respect to PM2.5. We hope to give ordinary people in China, as well as in India and other regions in the world, the opportunity to breathe better air, and we also hope to continuously rise like the beautiful and great country of China, which has achieved huge success in the past decades. I believe what we have gained here is not just the ability to create wealth. We have been able to give birth to a lot of great leaders in scientific and technological innovation, which has been proved in the long history of China in the past thousands of years. I believe that in the next few years, China will be able to become a leader of the global innovation industry once again.
Innovation is very important to a small company, and there are some important driving factors behind innovation. As you know, I saw demand in the area of clean air. In Shanghai, Beijing or Harbin in particular, the air needs to be effectively cleaned in almost 1/4 or 1/3 of the year. Whether in the outdoor environment, in buildings and schools, or at home, better air is needed. This is a part of innovation, the driving force behind which is to enable what you innovate to bring welfare and protection to people. I don’t care how much money it can make. I just hope that fewer people will be affected by PM2.5 and related problems. I also support the Chinese leaders and China’s changes. We not only wish for prosperity of the national economy, but also hope to control the emission of carbon dioxides, and make the water and air cleaner. I have seen the numerous efforts made by the Chinese government, including the efforts in the field of clean air. I am glad to be here in Shenzhen to share my lifetime experience with you. The places that mark my growth include UC Berkeley, Stanford and the Silicon Valley. They are the landmarks in the path of my life. I also served as the head of the US Department of Energy for several years. I am very happy to share my life experience with you, and hope that it can be of help to China. Thank you again for listening!
I am very happy to be here at the Second Dameisha China Innovation Forum. I am a professor in the Physics Department and Medical School of Stanford University. Stanford itself is a very special place for the innovation industry. I can say that Stanford actually represents a lot of companies. Over the past 50 or 60 years, we have promoted the innovation of different companies, including the predecessor of Intel, the medical industry and Apple. The founders of companies like Google, Facebook and Yahoo, as well as their footprints, have grown in the Silicon Valley. Many of these companies recruit graduates from Stanford, and some students are even able to start businesses without graduating from Stanford. What they pursue is not only to become a college graduate.
Here I would like to share the road of innovation with you. Tomorrow, I will share more at the innovation conference. I am a teacher with 45 years of experience. Most of my students have become professionals or professors. Two of my students, who are the age of my children, have become professors, and some students who are the age of my grandchildren have successfully become teachers at Stanford. They are professors in these disciplines, and some of them also work for many professional companies, and have established many new companies. Did my parents make a mistake by telling me that the best thing I could do was to become a scholar? We didn’t talk about money. Although our family was not well-off at that time, we didn’t talk about money much. Perhaps we needed money, but they said, if you could become a scholar, you can become a very successful part of your life. I have always been wondering if they misled me. And I have always been proud because I have a number of outstanding students and representatives at the age of children and grandchildren, who have made remarkable achievements in the scientific and technological field, and started their own families. Many of them are also innovative people, who have played a part in the constant emergence of innovations and new industries. They may not make achievements as successful as Google, Apple or Intel, but anyway, they are constantly bringing new job opportunities and innovative ideas for our society. I am also sharing my experience with them. In the process of establishing a great company and a great innovative enterprise, we also have to try doing things which can make the world a better place. I previously engaged in research and development at Stanford. We also started to think about some new ideas. Stanford is now applying for five new patents. In 2013, I returned to the campus from the US government, and I also began to build a company with a friend. I had never thought about building a new company before, and this meant a lot to me. It involves the filtration of small particles in micromolecule air, which are known in China as particles similar to PM2.5, and are very small substances with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers. In China and other developing countries, the PM2.5 problem is getting more and more serious. In the past 5 years, we have discovered in the pharmaceutical and medical industries that PM2.5 is very dangerous. Its effect is equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, or even worse. As we already know that PM2.5 is very dangerous, I take delight in finding a good solution in this industry with respect to PM2.5. We hope to give ordinary people in China, as well as in India and other regions in the world, the opportunity to breathe better air, and we also hope to continuously rise like the beautiful and great country of China, which has achieved huge success in the past decades. I believe what we have gained here is not just the ability to create wealth. We have been able to give birth to a lot of great leaders in scientific and technological innovation, which has been proved in the long history of China in the past thousands of years. I believe that in the next few years, China will be able to become a leader of the global innovation industry once again.
Innovation is very important to a small company, and there are some important driving factors behind innovation. As you know, I saw demand in the area of clean air. In Shanghai, Beijing or Harbin in particular, the air needs to be effectively cleaned in almost 1/4 or 1/3 of the year. Whether in the outdoor environment, in buildings and schools, or at home, better air is needed. This is a part of innovation, the driving force behind which is to enable what you innovate to bring welfare and protection to people. I don’t care how much money it can make. I just hope that fewer people will be affected by PM2.5 and related problems. I also support the Chinese leaders and China’s changes. We not only wish for prosperity of the national economy, but also hope to control the emission of carbon dioxides, and make the water and air cleaner. I have seen the numerous efforts made by the Chinese government, including the efforts in the field of clean air. I am glad to be here in Shenzhen to share my lifetime experience with you. The places that mark my growth include UC Berkeley, Stanford and the Silicon Valley. They are the landmarks in the path of my life. I also served as the head of the US Department of Energy for several years. I am very happy to share my life experience with you, and hope that it can be of help to China. Thank you again for listening!
