Environmental Incubator
A Proposed Hub of Emerging Technologies for Sustainable Development in China
Running along nearly 100 miles of Yellow Sea coastline in the sprawling municipality of Tianjin in northeast China, the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) has taken on a pivotal role in China’s national economic strategy. An arid and undeveloped area until the late 1970s, TBNA has since become home to 1.4 million people, northern China’s largest container port, and a broad base of modern industry and manufacturing.
In 2006, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China gave TBNA an ambitious mandate to become the country’s next regional engine for economic growth. Reporting directly to the central government and benefiting from a host of favorable policies and tax incentives designed to attract investment and to stimulate trade, TBNA is expected to emerge as China’s next economic powerhouse, invigorating the economy of the northeastern Bohai Rim region in the same manner as Shanghai and Suzhou did in the Yangtze River delta area and Guangzhou and Shenzhen did in the Pearl River delta area.
Simultaneously, the state council wants TBNA to lead the way in addressing many of China’s most urgent national problems, among them steadily rising energy demands, a growing scarcity of usable water supplies, and gravely escalating urban pollution. The goal of TBNA is to present an alternative to the traditional industrial economy, offering China a model of sustainable development and eco-friendly industry. Innovation in science and technology lies at the core of this vision of economic and environmental development.
At the forefront of this effort will be the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), a geographic zone that predates and overlaps TBNA but has now become a core component of the larger TBNA mandate. TEDA already contains a bustling manufacturing base, with pillars in electronics, automobiles, automotive parts, food processing, and biopharmaceuticals. Many of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, top Chinese firms, and other multinationals — notably Motorola, Samsung, and Toyota — have strong presences in the area. RAND was asked by TEDA to suggest an investment strategy to help the area evolve from an industrial hub into a state-of-the-art science and engineering center for emerging technologies that meet international standards and position TBNA as a global technology leader.
To help the area’s managers develop their action plans, a RAND team considered the missions of TBNA and TEDA, China’s national needs, the drivers and barriers to technological innovation in China generally and TBNA specifically, and the capacity for innovation available to TBNA and TEDA. From this analysis, seven innovative technology applications emerged as particularly promising for TBNA to pursue as it endeavors to fulfill its mandate:
- cheap solar energy: solar-energy systems inexpensive enough to be widely available to developing and undeveloped countries and to disadvantaged populations
- advanced mobile communications and radio-frequency identification (RFID): platforms for sensing, processing, storing, and communicating multiple types of data
- rapid bioassays: tests to quickly detect the presence or absence of specific biological substances
- membranes, fabrics, and catalysts for water purification: novel, highly reliable materials to desalinate, disinfect, decontaminate, and detect potentially harmful water
- molecular-scale drug design, development, and delivery: the abilities to design, develop, and deliver drug therapies at the nanoscale to enhance diagnostics and to attack specific tumors or pathogens without harming healthy tissues and cells
- electric and hybrid vehicles: automobiles, available to the mass market, with either purely electric power systems or hybrid power systems that combine internal combustion and other power sources
- green manufacturing: manufacturing processes that minimize waste and environmental pollution and optimize the use and reuse of resources.
These seven applications build on two highly influential global trends in technology and industry. The first is microscale and nanoscale technology; six of the proposed applications involve technologies in this domain. The second is green processes and technologies; four of the proposed applications focus on using energy, water, and other resources much more efficiently than ever before.
AP IMAGES. Photographers (clockwise from left): GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, STANLEY LEARY; SHUJI KAJIYAMA; SCOTT M. LIEBERMAN; ImagineChina; BRAD DOHERTY; ImagineChina; THE OAKLAND PRESS, TIM THOMPSON.
Clockwise from left:
An experimental array of 400 microneedles, which cause no pain when used to inject drugs into the body, is shown on the tip of a finger. Microneedles penetrate only the outermost layer of skin that contains no nerve endings.Using green manufacturing, a Toyota Motor plant in Japan has solar panels, grass on the roof, ivy on the walls, and photocatalytic technology to cut discoloring from pollution.A Hurricane Gustav evacuee shows his radio-frequency identification wristband. Sensors read the wristbands, and computers allow emergency workers to track evacuees. |
A Nissan Nuvu electric concept car is on display in Shanghai, China, on April 20, 2009.At a desalination project in Brownsville, Texas, Joe del Rio holds a section of pipe showing the membrane through which seawater is forced for removing impurities.Visitors view a model of a solar power farm in Beijing, China, on January 7, 2009.John Zhou, 17, an exchange student in Michigan, won the Inter-national BioGenius Challenge for having created a biosensor that can detect pathogens. |
Promising Applications
Global companies are competing to make solar-energy systems less expensive and more efficient. There are three generations of solar-electric technologies. The first, based primarily on polycrystalline silicon, now accounts for more than 90 percent of global sales. The emerging second- and third-generation systems are based on thin-film materials and nanoscale technologies, respectively. They have the potential to transform the industry, offering lower costs and greater efficiency. The growth of global market demand depends on them.
China already has a well-developed first-generation solar-electricity industry. Consequently, an outstanding opportunity for TBNA and TEDA may lie not in entering the first-generation market but rather in becoming a research, development, and manufacturing center for second- and third-generation systems. The initial focus should be the global export market and, in the longer term, the domestic Chinese market as it develops.
Second, advanced mobile-communication and RFID systems could streamline cargo logistics, reduce the cost of port operations, and increase shipping security — all pressing needs for TBNA. These systems are composed of many component technologies, such as screen displays, memory, batteries, power storage, sensors, and antennas. Each of these constitutes an industry in itself and will determine the future of wireless computing platforms. As global demand grows for the integrated systems, the market for the component technologies will strengthen in kind.
Already, TEDA produces about 10 percent of the mobile phones sold worldwide. Two groups at Tianjin University are doing leading-edge work on display technologies, and a TEDA firm manufactures the smallest hydrogen-power storage canister in the world (the size of an AA battery). TBNA could now develop state-of-the-art displays and power sources, focusing initially on the domestic Chinese market and then broadening to the global market as part of a larger effort to become a research, development, and manufacturing center for mobile-communication devices and RFID systems.
Biochips to detect and to analyze genes and proteins are enabling very fast tests for diseases and pathogens.
Third, global markets are emerging for better means of testing personal and public health and for monitoring the environment, and China has a particular need for state-of-the-art technology to meet public-health and environmental challenges. Biochips to detect and to analyze genes and proteins are enabling very fast tests for diseases and pathogens. These rapid bioassays could identify or eliminate public health threats, significantly improve patient outcomes, and detect pathogens in the environment and the food supply.
A long-term strategy might be for TBNA to become a leading player in the global marketplace for rapid bioassays. To pursue this goal, an initial focus could be on using licensing and partnership agreements to attract leading companies to TBNA and TEDA. During this period, TBNA could build capabilities as a reseller of bioassay disposables and equipment. Eventually, TBNA companies would manufacture the products themselves. The Chinese domestic market should be the first target, followed by the global market.
Fourth, ensuring affordable access to clean water is a major global challenge, an acute one for China, and an especially weighty one for the Tianjin region, where usable water supplies are scarce. Current purification systems can be improved and made less costly using an array of nanomaterials, such as thin-film nanocomposite membranes for desalination, biomimetic membranes that mimic the function of kidneys, filters with nanoscale porosity for removing pathogens from water, nanoscale catalysts for removing heavy metals and other toxins from water, and DNA-nanoparticle composites that use fluorescent sensors to detect trace contaminants.
Research institutes and private companies in Tianjin have a track record of manufacturing water-filtration membranes for industrial, personal, water-utility, and medical uses; of designing, fabricating, and testing nanoscale filters and catalysts; and of recognizing nanoscale water-purification filters as key candidates for commercialization. TBNA can become a world leader in these areas, but it is vital for TBNA to foster close relationships between research labs and private companies to expedite this commercialization.
Fifth, the demand is growing in China and globally for better medical treatments, with lower doses and fewer adverse side effects. The very promising field of nanomedicine — molecular-scale drug therapies and diagnostics derived from recent developments at the intersection of nanotechnology and biotechnology — could yield four vital applications: targeted carriers for capturing cancer images and delivering improved cancer treatments; controlled-release mechanisms for activating drugs at advantageous times and doses; new drug administration methods (such as microneedles, nasal delivery, and pulmonary delivery); and nanocrystals for increasing the solubility of drugs in the bloodstream.
TBNA could aim to become a center for developing drugs through bionanotechnology, focusing initially on attracting investment from foreign enterprises while aggressively building a homegrown research and development capacity. Eventually, TBNA could direct these activities toward commercializing novel medical treatments and techniques.
Sixth, global market trends, including concerns about the price of oil and global warming, suggest that vehicles using electric and hybrid technologies will draw increasing market shares. At the same time, China faces a severe problem with urban pollution, and among the national priorities are reducing automobile pollution and lowering demand for oil.
Hybrid vehicles are not currently manufactured in TBNA, but extensive capacity to make electric vehicles does exist there. TBNA could develop and expand the capacity to manufacture hybrid vehicles and the components for hybrid and electric vehicles, including advanced batteries, power electronics and electrical machines, power trains, internal combustion engines, and emission controls. TBNA might target the global market first and the Chinese market later.
Seventh, multinationals, consumers, and governments worldwide are embracing green manufacturing, aimed at reducing waste streams and the use of toxic materials or eliminating them altogether. China is no exception: Green manufacturing plants are appearing in the country, clean-technology venture capital has started to flow in, and the state council has mandated that TBNA establish a circular economy — one that uses energy, water, and raw materials in sustained cycles to minimize waste and pollution.
Several TBNA-based companies have experience with green manufacturing, and TEDA could become China’s center for green manufacturing. If the initial focus were to be on attracting companies at the leading edge of green chemistry and engineering, then TBNA could conduct its own research on green manufacturing processes, especially those that offer cost savings, for implementation throughout TEDA and TBNA.
Global Markets Await
All seven applications above align with global trends, support Chinese government priorities, and build on existing capacities in Tianjin, TBNA, and TEDA. To promote commercialization of these applications, the strategic plan for TBNA and TEDA could also include initiatives aimed at ensuring that the manufacturing plants and processes meet global standards.
For instance, the strategic plan might stipulate mandatory compliance with certifications, such as the International Standards Organization standard 14001, a globally recognized criterion for environmental management. Other requirements might insist that products tested and approved in TBNA also be on par with accepted practices and standards in targeted global markets. Electric and hybrid vehicles, for example, would have to meet the most restrictive U.S. and European Union (EU) standards for emissions and mileage performance, and TBNA bioassays would need to satisfy U.S. and EU standards for demonstrated levels of pathogen detection in food and water.
TBNA should routinely use the Tianjin market as an initial testing ground for products that could be sold elsewhere in China and throughout the world. The existence of test markets, an emphasis on a green environment, the presence of research institutions, and a trained workforce would all complement efforts to attract foreign companies to the region. In return, developing the new applications outlined here will offer nations with all levels of science and technology capacity the opportunity to engage with China productively in three important ways: as collaborators in research, development, and commercialization of emerging technologies; as sources of technological know-how; and as consumers of China’s products. 
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