If you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, you don't know how expensive they are Engaging in industry is really a money-burning thing, and Feng Xiaochen now deeply understands it.

Feng Xiaochen in the previous life has not seen a lot of money, the country is engaged in large aircraft, and it is more than 100 billion yuan in one investment, and it is more than 100 billion yuan in integrated circuits. At that time, the amount of billions was just a "small amount of money" for the country, and even if any city engaged in an industrial revitalization plan, the investment was calculated in terms of tens of billions.

But in the early 90s of the 20th century, China was not so rich. The GDP of the whole country is more than 2 trillion yuan, and the fiscal revenue is 350 billion yuan, which should be sprinkled like pepper noodles in national defense, education, health, agricultural support, poverty alleviation, public security, administration, etc., and the final investment in science and technology is less than 20 billion yuan. And the 20 billion yuan is not all that can be used for experiments and research, but to pay for the capitation fees and administrative expenses of the entire scientific research system.

The financial department could not come up with the money, so it could only encourage all units to "generate income"; schools held various training courses to make money, hospitals contracted out departments to make money, and scientific research institutes had no means to make money, so they took an office building and rented it to an outside company to collect some rent to improve the lives of the workers. Some critics in later generations stood on the moral high ground and accused the departments at all levels of the year of "industrialization" of various livelihood undertakings. There is no doubt that the reasons for such accusations are very lofty, but unfortunately they lack a little historical common sense. In 1992, if China did not engage in industrialized management, I am afraid that the teachers in schools and doctors in hospitals would have gone to the sea to make a living, and how could there be any talents.

The same is true for equipment industry companies. As an institution undertaking major equipment research and development tasks, the equipment industry company should organize enterprises and scientific research institutions across the country to carry out various technical breakthroughs, which do not require massive investment. The research and development of the equipment industry often takes more than ten years or even decades to see results, who can afford such a long-term investment?

Feng Xiaochen's most outstanding feature in the equipment company is that he is good at making money. In Wu Shican's joking words, Feng Xiaochen almost got into the eyes of money. In the past, when the Heavy Equipment Office issued R&D projects to scientific research units, it basically threw away the money and didn't care about it, and did not consider any costs and benefits at all. Since Feng Xiaochen proposed the establishment of the Equipment Industry Fund, scientific research has become an activity that needs to calculate profits in the Heavy Equipment Office and later in the Equipment Industry Company. Feng Xiaochen asked the technical department to emphasize that the research of the topic must be able to be transformed into productive forces and form patented technology when issuing each topic. He also specifically required researchers not to publish academic papers without authorization after breaking through a theoretical difficulty, and they must first submit an application for a patent formed by research before making their conclusions public.

In the early years, many of China's scientific research achievements made this kind of mistake, that is, researchers lacked economic consciousness and rushed to write articles and publish new discoveries, and Western companies were inspired by these articles to develop practical technologies and apply for patents. When the Chinese wanted to use the technology, they found that they were no longer the owners of the technology and had to pay high patent fees abroad.

Of course, this situation cannot be attributed to the fact that China's scientific researchers do not have enough IQ, and it is impossible for people with low IQ to produce innovative results. The reason why Chinese researchers do not attach importance to scientific research patents is that there is no economic connection between scientific research institutes and enterprises. Researchers don't understand the needs of enterprises, and companies don't know what researchers are doing. Finally, if an achievement can be applied in the enterprise, the relevant scientific researchers not only cannot get paid, but also have to undertake the work of guiding the application of technology in the enterprise, which is equivalent to adding a lot of trouble out of thin air.

In this case, why do researchers need to care about what patents are not patented, and quickly publish their own results, and mix a few high-level articles in order to evaluate a professor, which is the most affordable thing.

Feng Xiaochen understands these problems, and after he graduated from the Academy of Social Sciences and joined the equipment company, he vigorously promoted the combination of scientific research and production. He has the experience of the previous life, can point out the direction of scientific research, let the relevant scientific researchers work in these directions, and all the results, and have good application prospects, once a breakthrough, can quickly form productivity, into profits. It is precisely because of this operation that the equipment industry company has been able to continuously promote scientific and technological innovation without the constraints of funds over the years.

This time, Feng Xiaochen seized the handle of Xiando Steel and forced Xiando Steel and Iketani Manufacturing to transfer some of the core technology to China, and the transferee of the technology was naturally up to Feng Xiaochen. His consideration is that the equipment industry company will transfer these technologies, and then transfer them to Jiangcheng Iron and Steel Plant and several enterprises that undertake ethylene equipment manufacturing tasks to obtain a profit.

In fact, the technology transfer fees paid by these companies to the equipment industry companies are not out of their own pockets, but are the state's investment in the construction of large-scale ethylene plants. The money is allocated by the state treasury to the Equipment Industry Corporation, which then pays the enterprises in the name of equipment subcontracting fees, and then the company has to recover a part of it in the name of patent royalties.

There is no way to go back and forth like this, and the relationship between responsibilities and rights must be clarified. If, as in the past, people think that money belongs to the state and it doesn't matter whose pocket it is, in the end, it will not be possible to mobilize the enthusiasm of individual companies. The so-called use of economic means to manage economic problems is, to put it in layman's terms, "brothers and clear accounts"; the state recognizes the autonomy of state-owned enterprises and allows state-owned enterprises to have profits, but these profits must be earned by themselves, and they do not expect to take benefits from the state for nothing.

Such a management method is very unsuitable for an old man like Luo Xiangfei, and even younger cadres such as Wu Shican and Wang Genji feel a little disobedient. However, after several years of practice, everyone has to admit that such an approach is indeed much more effective than the use of executive orders in the past. In the past, administrative orders were used for management, and subordinate units did good and bad work, and it was difficult for a higher-level department to favor one over the other. Some departments don't get the job done, and they emphasize a whole bunch of objective reasons to their superiors that you can't punish them.

After the use of economic means, the relationship between superiors and subordinates is a simple contractual relationship, responsibilities and rights are written on paper, and when the time comes, it is how to talk about things with the contract. Equipment companies have the state's equipment orders in their hands, and if they want to make money and live a good life, they must obediently obey the orders of the equipment companies and complete their requirements.

Luo Xiangfei saw this change, and he no longer interfered with Feng Xiaochen's various actions. As he grew older, Luo Xiangfei gradually felt that his energy was low, especially when it came to fighting wits and courage with his subordinate enterprises, he couldn't cope with it, so he just handed it all over to Feng Xiaochen to deal with. This time, Feng Xiaochen blackmailed two Japanese companies, and planned to convert the obtained technology into the company's profits, and then invest in research and development, Luo Xiangfei only asked about this, and did not plan to vote against it.

"600,000 tons of ethylene is a key project of the national Eighth Five-Year Plan, and our equipment company has made a package ticket to the central government, ensuring that the construction of this project will be completed before the end of the century, and all core technologies will be localized. Now, although we have obtained some of the technologies from the two companies of Xiando and Iketani, it is still very difficult to digest and absorb these technologies, so you must be fully mentally prepared. The transfer of technology to various enterprises must be implemented as soon as possible, and we must not delay time because of bargaining, understand?" Luo Xiangfei told Feng Xiaochen.

Feng Xiaochen responded: "Director Luo, don't worry, although I am greedy for money, I also know how to measure." At Jiangcheng Iron and Steel Plant, I have already talked to them on the phone, and we have roughly discussed a cooperation intention. The technology I got from Xiando Steel this time is not only low-temperature steel, but also several other types of steel, which cannot be smelted in China at present, and needs to be imported from abroad in large quantities. If Jianggang gets these technologies, it will be able to quickly fill the gap, and the market prospect is very broad, and they will not be unmoved.

However, the technology of the third ethylene machine is still a bit troublesome, and Iketani Manufacturing has transferred some of the core technology, and it will take some effort to transform it into our own design. Only by mobilizing their enthusiasm and allowing them to complete the absorption and transformation of technology at the fastest speed and come up with design drawings, several enterprises such as Beihua Machinery and Xinyang Erhua can start trial production. ”

"Have you been in contact with the Petrochemical Design Institute?" Luo Xiangfei asked.

Feng Xiaochen said: "Since last year, we have been in contact with them. Director Wu has a good relationship with them, so he has always been in charge of the relevant work. I just talked to Director Wu and learned that the progress of the work there is not very optimistic. Although Director Wu didn't say it explicitly, I could feel that the other party seemed to be not very active about the task we had entrusted us.

Originally, we did not obtain the core technology of ethylene three machines from abroad, and the work of the petrochemical design institute was delayed. Now that we have received the technology from Iketani, it would be a pity if we were delayed because the petrochemical design institute could not cooperate. ”

Luo Xiangfei knew that Director Wu that Feng Xiaochen was referring to the company's technical director Wu Shican, who was a rigorous scientist, but his ability to coordinate interests was really lacking. Luo Xiangfei said: "Xiao Feng, Lao Wu is not very good at this kind of coordination work, I think, you should take some time to come out, go to the Petrochemical Design Institute, and feel the situation." ”

"That's right, that's exactly what I mean. Feng Xiaochen responded.