In the 70s, it was the era when all kinds of science and technology began to come out of the laboratory, and many of the best-selling products after 30 years were derived from this era, such as the most famous liquid crystal display, which had just begun to be commercialized in the 70s.

But the liquid crystal was not invented in Japan, the invention of the liquid crystal, is the famous American TV production brand RCA, this company discovered liquid crystal technology in the laboratory at the end of the 60s, but was identified as a failed project by RCA, because the original intention of RCA research and development was to invent a new technology that can replace the picture tube, but the liquid crystal that had just come out of the laboratory at that time was naturally not.

But the whole RCA didn't know how to use this luminous transparent "glass" for commercial use, so it could only be put aside, and on the other hand, the Japanese company that had developed an idea watch and wanted to rely on this to replace the monopoly of several small European countries in the global mechanical watch industry, encountered a problem that did not know what materials to use to solve the display problem, and finally heard about RCA's liquid crystal technology, so he bought it.

A few years later, LCD electronic watches swept the world in a devastating way, and although Hong Kong was a mecca for assembly, most of the profits were made by Japanese LCD companies, and RCA regretted it, but it was too late.

Before the rise of Korean Samsung, the world's liquid crystal was decided by Japan.

In addition to liquid crystal, another great achievement is the birth of digital cameras, which, like liquid crystal technology, were born in Kodak, the world's largest film company.

Unlike RCA, however, Kodak's executives soon discovered that it threatened their core business, the market for film and film cameras, and asked Steve Chasson, the scientist who invented him, to hide his digital camera from anyone.

Naturally, everyone knows the ending later, Kodak completely lost the market for digital cameras and eventually went bankrupt.

Steve Shassen had no choice but to obey the company's arrangement and hide the digital camera he had developed, until two months ago, a headhunter contacted him and invited him to become a Hong Kong company with a permanent team in the United States, specializing in the development of the company's digital camera business.

At first, he thought it was a joke, but after the headhunter showed enough evidence many times, Steve Sharson had to believe the fact that a large company with a market value of hundreds of millions of dollars invited him to become the head of the business, and the salary offered was 3 times that of Kodak.

After two months of exchanges, Steve Sarson came to Hong Kong as promised, and in the face of a pioneer in the industry of 100 billion US dollars, Chen Zhiwen naturally gave enough face and personally invited him to live in the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel.

"Mr. Chen, why should you invest in a digital camera? Are you optimistic about this new thing? Steve Sarson asked.

"Yes, I am very optimistic, because I think the ultimate goal of any product is to give enough convenience to the people." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Let's talk about cars, he can easily save people a lot of time to travel, and your digital camera can save many people the trouble of changing film, as well as washing film, professional and tired, digital camera, take pictures directly, the camera you just invented, you can also take photos directly, right?" ”

"Yes, but now digital cameras, it takes 24 seconds to take a photo, and the photo is also very blurry, I don't know the future market of digital cameras, but now there is absolutely no room for survival." Steve Shasen said with a wry smile and shook his head.

"The time preparation for taking pictures can be shortened with the development of technology, and the blurry photos can also be clearer with the development of technology." Chen Zhiwen continued: "But the upper limit of the film camera has been fixed, and there is no room for improvement except for the shortcomings. ”

This thing is actually somewhat similar to the replacement of fuel vehicles by electric vehicles in later generations, even if many advantages of fuel vehicles in the early stage have exploded electric vehicles, but electric vehicles have been developing, various new technologies have emerged in an endless stream, energy supplement, safety, and battery life problems are slowly improving over time.

Although digital cameras are very garbage now, they can always develop, and there is almost no upper limit to the definition in theory, and there is no problem in exceeding the limit of the human eye, while the film camera is already the limit, and the requirements for people when shooting, the degree of care in replacing the film, and the trouble and cost of washing the film have all led to the inevitability of digital cameras replacing film.

Steven Shasen stared at Chen Zhiwen and asked, "Even if this time is in 10 years, Mr. Chen doesn't care?" ”

"Of course I don't care, I will continue to invest in research and development, so I need Mr. Sharson's team to complete this task, I believe that in the future digital cameras will definitely replace film, Kodak found this technology, but because of the profit of film, I don't want to develop new technology, sooner or later it will be eliminated by history." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Digital cameras, the first products of various brands, began to appear after about 5 years, Sony, Canon, Hitachi and other brands have launched their own digital cameras, but these are all in the nature of testing the waters, belonging to the luxury toys of the rich, in terms of clarity is far inferior to mature film cameras.

The digital camera market began to explode in Europe, America and Japan, and it reached its peak in the 90s after 85 years, especially when computers can obtain photos on digital cameras, which is more convenient for the versatility of digital cameras. It will take a decade to invest in this, but it will be worth it.

Digital camera, in fact, is only one of the most direct products of digital photography technology, to the era of feature phones, digital technology has become a necessary configuration of mobile phones, smart phones are even more so, and in another huge automobile industry, all kinds of car cameras are also derived from digital technology, the market is large, but also in hundreds of billions of dollars, not less than smart phones.

"So how much R&D funding can our team get?" Steven Sarson asked again.

"For the first three years, $5 million per year, and for the next three years. At least $10 million a year, and if you have any results, it's okay to increase the funds. Chen Zhiwen agreed heartily.

With the current rate of making money in Midea's arcades, millions of dollars are nothing, and the most important thing is to be able to hoard patents on digital camera technology in the early days.

"So my team needs to come to Hong Kong?" Steve Sarson asked.

"No, I don't." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "You just stay in the United States, you choose the place by yourself, I will be responsible for buying the property, it has nothing to do with your research and development funds, and you will decide on research and recruitment in the United States in the future, I will only arrange one person to supervise the finances." But I'm going to send some university students from Hong Kong to study with you, or help you with some of the most basic jobs. ”

This kind of future high-tech, Hong Kong or even Southeast Asia does not have any talent reserves, and the only thing that Asia may have is Japan.

The rate of return in the field of high technology, the sensitivity to labor costs is not high, efficiency is more important, especially in Japan at this time is also accumulating original patents, for Chen Zhiwen, the most important thing is to obtain all aspects of patented technology as soon as possible, although it is basically impossible to beat the existing Japanese counterparts in technology or the market, but as long as you have your own patents, you can keep a part of the market.

For non-creative products, Chen Zhiwen never thought about monopolizing them, and it was enough to be one of the players.

Steven Shassen thought it was very good, but said: "There is another problem, the technology I invented before and the DC-16 camera, the patents belong to Kodak. ”

"Can you buy these patents?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and asked.

"It is estimated that it will not work, Kodak is not short of money, as far as I know, Kodak's account is lying on 1 billion US dollars, and some of Kodak's senior executives can also recognize the value of digital cameras, they have repeatedly warned me not to disclose the existence of this technology to the outside world, and even at the beginning of the year, Japan began to develop digital cameras, and the executives were very angry, thinking that it was revealed by our R&D department." Steven Sarson shook his head and said helplessly.

"Forget it, just re-study, it's just getting started anyway." Chen Zhiwen said that in the field of digital cameras, everyone in the world is on the same starting line, and the competition is to spend money, confidence in the industry, and related professional talent reserves and industrial chains.

Among them, Chen Zhiwen is absolutely weak, in addition to the future of this industry, however, as long as the research base is placed in the United States, these weaknesses can also be compensated, as for the ZZ reason, Chen Zhiwen is not worried for the time being, the digital camera industry in the United States has not risen, and naturally there is no need to protect "local enterprises".

"Okay, then I'll agree to Chen Sheng's invitation." Steven Shassen said contentedly, he really couldn't find a boss who better met his requirements.

"Then on behalf of Midea, I very much welcome the arrival of Mr. Chassen, as for the salary of your team, all on the basis of the previous Kodak, an increase of 60%, and the year-end bonus is calculated separately, it depends on the results you achieve every year." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "As long as you can develop the corresponding technology and products, I can guarantee that in ten years, your team will be millionaires." ”

One million dollars is still very attractive in the United States today, in this era, the average waiter is only $1,000 a month, and the average Silicon Valley technician is only three or five thousand dollars.

The annual investment of several million dollars is just a drop in the bucket for Midea in the arcade market, but it is more important to be able to lay out digital technology in the earliest period and have the opportunity to obtain a large number of patents in the early stage. After all, it is impossible for Midea to always eat the old book of the prophet's golden finger, and the research and development in the field of technology is the foundation of the enterprise.

You know, although the history of digital cameras is not long, after the emergence of smart phones were quickly eliminated, but digital technology is not, smart phones need digital photography technology, all kinds of digital camera technology is also from digital technology, this is an infinite market in the future, it is worth investing in research from now on.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Steven Sarson said with a smile.

(End of chapter)