The sensor industry urgently needs to break free from import dependence; the development of the domestic sensor industry awaits breakthroughs

"Without sensing, intelligence is out of the question. Sensing is not only the starting point of the Internet of Things, but also the starting point for moving toward the intelligent era and high-quality development." Recently, Yang Xueshan, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, pointed this out at the 2018 International (Xuzhou) Sensor and IoT Industry Summit.

Since last year, China's IoT market has entered a stage of substantive development. The annual market size exceeded 1 trillion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of over 25%. A McKinsey report indicates that by 2025, the economic benefits brought by the IoT will range between 2.7 trillion USD and 6.2 trillion USD.

Sensors are key components for data acquisition in the IoT. According to incomplete statistics, China currently possesses more than 1.2 ten thousand types of sensitive elements and sensors resulting from scientific achievements, technologies, and products, with approximately 7000 types of conventional categories and varieties. With the development of the IoT, the sensor industry is poised for explosive growth. In the next 5 years, the compound annual growth rate of China's sensor industry will reach 30%, far exceeding the global average.

However, the majority of sensors mainly applied in the Chinese market still rely on imports, with reliance on foreign supporting products being particularly prominent in the mainstream market. "Compared with foreign countries, there is still a significant gap in product quality, process level, production equipment, enterprise scale, market share, and comprehensive competitiveness for domestic sensors. Compared with international advanced levels, the development of new sensor products lags by 5 to 10 years, while industrial-scale production technology and processes lag by 10 to 15 years," said Guo Yuansheng, Vice Chairman of the China Sensor and IoT Industry Alliance.

According to reports, among nearly 5000 instrument and meter enterprises in China, more than 1600 manufacture sensitive elements and sensors to varying degrees. Universities of science and engineering as well as research institutions across various provinces and cities in China also engage in the research and development of sensors and small-batch production of sensitive elements and sensors to varying extents. However, due to the high proportion of non-specialized enterprises, sensors are merely ancillary products within these companies, resulting in relatively low output value and insufficient attention. Currently, enterprises with sensor production output exceeding one hundred million yuan account for only 13% of the total number of enterprises, numbering fewer than 200 nationwide, while specialized manufacturers with complete product ranges account for less than 3%.

Guo Yuansheng believes that domestic sensor enterprises lack profound understanding and participation capabilities regarding product technology and industrial scale status, hold biased and one-sided views on sensors, and lack entrepreneurs with strong strength and strategic vision. Secondly, since sensors are a high-tech polymer involving multiple disciplines, product varieties are numerous but batches are small, and the number of enterprises is large but their scale is small. Furthermore, domestic sensor enterprises generally lack core technologies and independent intellectual property rights, as well as high-end talent, especially international leading talent.

In view of the current status and existing problems in the development of the domestic sensor industry, Guo Yuansheng believes that future sensors should achieve breakthroughs focusing on two major directions: process technology and applications. He suggests that the sensor industry should combine regional characteristics and advantages to build a "dual-ecosystem" industrial chain, forming an International Sensor Industrial Park—Sensor Valley. Utilizing 5 to 10 years, gather more than 100 companies and research institutes to form characteristic industrial clusters or bases, design professional sensor products with outstanding industrial advantages, and create a competitive international industrial park. At the same time, build a six-in-one dual-ecosystem system integrating government, industry, academia, research, application, and service, to achieve clustered development of sensor industrialization and industry revitalization.