Frank Pitzer, general manager of Roche Diagnostics' factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province When Frank Pitzer first visited China, in 2000, he could tell the country was developing rapidly by looking at the infrastructure being built. Two years ago, when he officially relocated to the country as general manager of Swiss healthcare giant Roche Diagnostics' new factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, development was still the theme, but with tremendous changes due to a new focus on research and development. Pitzer joined in the Suzhou project in October 2013. He flew regularly to China for preparatory work in 2015 and moved to the city in early 2016 to break ground on the project. He said the new position was exciting, because very few people have the privilege to build a factory from scratch. Roche Diagnostics Suzhou, the company's first production base in the Asia-Pacific region, is scheduled to roll out its first products for sale in Asia this year. The investment in the new factory, covering some 48,000 square meters in the 24-year-old China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, was about 450 million Swiss francs ($472 million). When completed, it is expected to employ about 400 local people. In the long-run, production of 102 products for the Asian market, targeting metabolic, cardiovascular and hepatic diseases, among others, will be transferred from Germany to the Suzhou factory. Pitzer has established a five-person R&D team in Suzhou that is likely to expand. The facility is already cooperating with local universities and professors in other parts of the world in the hope of building up Roche's R&D strength in China. We want to make sure that the interests of Chinese patients will be better reflected within the global development framework, Pitzer said. He said he had noticed a significant improvement in the quality of Chinese academic studies and the output of China's universities over the past three years, laying a solid foundation for good R&D work. However, while innovation was happening in China, it was doing so in a spotty, uncoordinated manner, Pitzer said. But things will change given all the investments that China has made in universities and institutions, and in industries such as healthcare and life science. Former science and technology minister Wan Gang said early this year that China's investment in R&D last year rose 14 percent year-on-year to 1.76 trillion yuan ($279 billion) - which was 2.1 percent of the country's GDP. According to World Bank statistics, spending on R&D in the United States in 2015 equaled 2.8 percent of that country's GDP, compared with 2.9 percent in Germany and 3.3 percent in Japan. China should become one of the leading countries in terms of innovation, and grow into a major technology driving force worldwide by 2050, Wan said. While China may have begun focusing on innovation later than some other countries, Pitzer said there is no significant gap between China and those countries in terms of infrastructure and critical thinking. For science practitioners, critical thinking is vital, he said. I do see that among the employees in our facility. They can make their own decisions and apply knowledge when necessary. China is doing everything right. A lot of innovation will come from the country in the future. It won't take long. custom wristbands ukcustom wrist sweatbandscustom silicone bandsrubber bracelets custom cheap24 hour wristbands
Primary school students take a Chinese class in a tent in Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region last month. ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY Construction teams rush to finish new, safer dwellings for displaced residents before temperatures plunge Although it is the middle of summer, Baygenmu Hanjar is already being awakened by the cold at least once a night as the temperature begins to fall on the Pamir Plateau in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Baygenmu, 68, has been living in a disaster relief tent since her house in the village of Waerxidie collapsed on May 11 during a magnitude-5.5 earthquake that rocked Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county in Kashar prefecture, the home of people from the Tajik ethnic group. The temblor struck at 5:58 am, when most people were asleep. Eight people died and 31 were injured, according to the local government. More than 4,750 houses were destroyed, and about 80 percent of the county's population of more than 33,000 has been affected. About 800 livestock perished, and the county government estimates that the direct economic loss amounts to 800 million yuan ($118 million). Last year, the county, officially designated as poverty-stricken, generated GDP of just 670 million yuan. Winter will come soon on the Pamir Plateau. It has already started snowing in the mountainous areas, Baygenmu said as she leaned on the wooden door frame of her old house in Waerxidie, near Tashkurgan, the county seat. The door frame is the only visible sign of the stone-and-mud house that took the family years to build. Even the low stone wall that is traditional around Tajik dwellings has disappeared. At a June 6 meeting to discuss reconstruction projects for Tashkurgan, the Xinjiang government pledged to build new, earthquake-resistant houses for all the families that lost their homes, and to ensure that they can move in by the end of August, before the harshest cold starts to arrive. Sitting at an altitude of 3,090 meters, Tashkurgan, close to China's borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, is also known as the town of stones. Large and small stones are scattered across the nearby Gobi Desert and buried in the grassland. The locals have been using the stones, which they believe can actually grow, to build houses for thousands of years. The county landmark is the remains of a Puli Kingdom fortress, initially built with the stones during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220). The ruins, which stand on a small hill, escaped damage in the earthquake. Baygenmu's tent is situated in a temporary settlement for Waerxidie residents, established the day after the quake. Although no one from the village was badly injured, 14 families lost their homes and are now living in the tent village. It's one of 12 such sites across Tashkurgan, all equipped with kitchens and medical centers. Baygenmu said that it was lucky her family was staying away from home when the quake struck: Thankfully, I spent the night at a relative's house not far away. The house shook so badly that I was very frightened. However, there wasn't a single crack in the walls because it's one of those earthquake-resistant houses.
