On October 16th, the 29th Midea Group Science and Technology Month Conference and Award Ceremony was held at the Global Innovation Center of Foshan Midea, with the theme of "Innovation Glocalization Transformation", which demonstrated Midea's firm determination and layout to promote the leading strategy of science and technology, as well as a series of innovation activities based on this.
This year's Midea Science and Technology Month has been carefully laid out around the future industrial upgrading and transformation, focusing on the outstanding achievements of basic common technologies, key core technologies, diversified industries, and OBM (private brand) breakthroughs. These technological achievements demonstrate Midea's forward-looking and leading nature in scientific and technological innovation, and lay a solid technical foundation for industrial upgrading and transformation.
As in previous years, Midea commended individuals, projects and units that have made outstanding contributions to scientific and technological innovation. In terms of individual awards, there are 15 science and technology stars, 10 science and technology rising stars and 2 outstanding technical contribution talent awards. In terms of project awards, 15 projects, including "RF Technology Breakthrough and Industrialization" of the Microwave and Cleaning Division, "Key Technology of Next-Generation Heat Pumps" of the Building Technology Division, and "Key Technology of CO? Environmental Protection Refrigerant" of the Industrial Technology Business Group, won the "Technology Breakthrough Award". Six products were awarded the "Product Contribution Award", including the North American cold-climate heat pump of the Household Air Conditioning Division, the high-safety and high-performance next-generation household storage all-in-one unit of the Industrial Technology Business Group, and the next-generation AMR (Autonomous Mobile Robot) of KUKA China.
Scientific research breakthroughs have blossomed in many ways, and the award-winning lineup is strong
The project award represents Midea's great progress in product competitiveness, globalization, and greening. For example, the "North American Cold Climate Heat Pump Series" technology of Midea's home air conditioning division has accelerated the decarbonization of houses in New York, and expanded to Boston, Chicago and other cities under the promotion of the American Energy Efficiency Alliance. The key technologies such as the "Research on Key Technologies ofCO2 Environmentally Friendly Refrigerant" of the Industrial Technology Business Group and the "Long-term Energy-saving Technology of Broadband Drive" of the Household Air Conditioning Division reflect Midea's determination to transform into a green environment and fulfill its social responsibilities.
In terms of individual awards, the first is the "science and technology star" that attracts the most attention during Midea's science and technology month every year. The team led by David Leezer of the North American Institute of Residential Air Conditioning has made several breakthroughs in heat pump technology, hot water product lines, and inverter technology. Dr. Wu Wenjing of the Institute of Robotics of the Academia Sinica has helped to enhance the product competitiveness of industrial robots, industrial technology, smart home, medical and other industries based on various component technologies and next-generation machine technologies incubated by the design platform. Dr. Xu Peilin of the Institute of Motor Technology of the Industrial Technology Research Institute is mainly committed to the research of motor drive control software technology, and its core achievements have been widely used in drum washing, air conditioning fans, industrial inverters, servo drives, new energy thermal management systems and many other products.
"Technology Rising Star" is a new award established last year to encourage the next generation of R&D talents. Dr. Cao Haoqiang of the Washing Machine Division has developed the industry's first "Global Pass" water electrolysis device that adapts to global water quality, Dr. Wang Ying of the Academia Sinica has researched the "Diamond series high-temperature, high-hardness and easy-to-clean coating technology" to solve the problem of easy-to-clean coating of household appliances, etc., and the technology led by Dr. Wang Yajie of Wandong Medical, such as the application of advanced imaging of magnetic resonance cardiac and multi-contrast accurate quantitative imaging technology, has enhanced the market competitiveness of Wandong magnetic resonance.
The "Outstanding Technical Contribution Talent Award" is the highest individual award of Midea's Science and Technology Month, and the two won the award this year. Among them, the "dual-mode and dual-rotor inverter variable capacity air conditioning system" led by Zhang Hao, an expert in Midea's household central air conditioning refrigeration technology, has improved the energy efficiency of the product, and the "zoning no wind feeling" solution has promoted the revision of industry energy efficiency standards, empowering the technology depth of Midea's air conditioning products. The technological breakthroughs brought by the individual award winners not only help Yimei's product and strategic layout, but also provide reference and promotion for the technological progress of the corresponding industries.
As of 2024, Midea's monthly rewards for science and technology have exceeded 500 million yuan, and the rewards for awards such as "Science and Technology Star" this year have also been greatly increased compared with previous years.
Continue to increase R&D investment and introduce leading talents
Fang Hongbo, Chairman and President of Midea Group, emphasized at the award ceremony of Science and Technology Month that the technology leadership strategy is the core strategy of Midea Group, and to achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to maintain technological leadership. For the implementation of the leading technology strategy, Midea will continue to increase R&D investment more firmly, seek breakthroughs in basic research and disruptive technologies, and at the same time, the research system will continue to strengthen the introduction of global leading experts and high-quality doctoral talents, and make great changes in the organizational mechanism.
In recent years, Midea has always maintained a high investment in R&D, investing nearly 60 billion yuan in the past five years, and investing more than 14.5 billion yuan in R&D in 2023, and setting up 33 R&D centers around the world. At the same time, it has strengthened the construction of talent echelon, with more than 23,000 R&D personnel, including more than 7,000 master's and doctoral degrees. By building a global R&D system, establishing a mechanism for introducing global top talents, introducing dozens of strategic cooperation experts, and establishing a number of academician workstations to jointly conduct scientific and technological research.
Midea Science and Technology Month has been held for 29 consecutive sessions, and each session has witnessed the growth and progress of Midea in terms of R&D investment and achievements, and demonstrated Midea's strong strength in R&D investment and achievements. The R&D achievements of this year's Science and Technology Month have strongly supported Midea's technology leadership strategy, and at the same time, it has also continued to provide impetus for Midea on the road of global localization transformation and maintain its leading position in the global market competition.