As a professional interview column of Oceanology Asia (referred to as “OA Ocean Expo”), OA Talk is dedicated to build up an interdisciplinary, cross-field and cross-industry interactive communication platform for the industry, where experts and scholars from marine science and technology industries gather together to share cutting-edge views, capture high-quality information and collide with cooperation opportunities, Experts and scholars from well-known enterprises, universities and research institutes gather together to share cutting-edge views, capture high-quality information and collide with cooperation opportunities.
This is the tenth issue of OA Talk's face-to-face interview with industry experts, focusing on the localization of marine equipment and the linkage between industry, academia and research.
Practice Promotes Development
Industry-University-Research Linkage for the Future
With the progress of science and technology, the localization of marine instrumentation has been a significant trend in the development of the industry. As a comprehensive high-tech enterprise integrating product research and development, production, sales and technical service, Hangzhou Shallow Sea Technology Co., Ltd. ploughs into the fields of ocean, meteorology and environmental protection, devotes itself to the independent research and development of localization of instrumentation and equipment, and focuses on providing customers with leading technical application services and intelligent solutions. Through continuous practice, the company continues to optimize the development path, and proposed to give full play to the advantages of industry, academia and research to help China's marine equipment localization to a new height.
Guests of this issue:
Fan Jianye, Deputy General Manager, Hangzhou Shallow Sea Technology Co.
Keywords for this issue:
Localization of Marine Equipment
Industry-academia-research linkage
Q:What was the opportunity that drove your company to transform from an import agent of marine equipment to a domestic research company?
At the beginning of the company's establishment, the company focused on importing marine instruments and equipments. However, during the import business, the company found a series of shortcomings of imported products. First, the price barrier is significant. Imported products are generally higher prices, especially in recent years, the price and cost of instruments and equipment continue to rise for sea-related enterprises to bring enormous cost pressure. Second, after-sales maintenance time is not good. In response to failures, domestic equipment with local advantages to respond quickly, usually about a month to solve the problem; on the contrary, the imported equipment, after-sales process is complex, the maintenance cycle up to 3-6 months, affecting the timely use of customers. Third, the policy guidance has become a key turning point. At present, the state vigorously support the localization process of marine instrumentation, the introduction of a series of favorable policies to create a superior development environment. Therefore, the company has started the localization process in light of the overall situation of the industry.
Q: Can you talk specifically about what new challenges the company has encountered after the transition? What corresponding initiatives have been taken?
The marine industry is characterized by a large scale of investment and a long return cycle. Especially in the process of product development to business application, the initial investment cost is large. For example, the deployment of marine equipment often takes months or even a year. Each technology upgrade and new application launch, also need to take half a year to a year to get results. In addition, it takes a long time to gain users' trust in the market. Therefore, in the process of independent research and development, it is only through continuous application, practice and feedback that potential pitfalls and problems can be exposed, so that solutions and optimization measures can be taken.
Q:Where is the breakthrough point for domestic instrument and equipment enterprises?
From the practical experience of enterprises, we should strengthen the in-depth cooperation between enterprises and scientific research institutes, so as to effectively promote the innovation of products and technologies. In the early stage of product development and experimentation, we can rely on the professional strength of scientific research institutes to give full play to their scientific research advantages; in the later stage of product implementation, we can improve its engineering and application by enterprises. Through the synergistic cooperation between the two sides, both sides can give full play to their advantages and help the overall upgrading of domestic marine instruments and equipment.
OA 2025 Ocean Expo will be held on October 22-24, 2025 at Shanghai International Sourcing Convention & Exhibition Center. As an exhibition for the marine technology industry, OA 2025 Ocean Expo will continue to focus on industry hotspots and trends, and build an efficient communication platform for industry insiders.