(May 17, 2026) In order to solve the industry dilemma, domestic enterprises, universities, and scientific research institutes have accelerated the construction of an industry-university-research collaborative innovation system, and promoted the silica industry to achieve technological iteration and product upgrading through joint technical research, talent co-education, and achievement transformation, injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of the industry.
The reporter learned from industry associations and relevant scientific research institutions that as of May 17, 8 silica industry-university-research collaborative innovation consortia have been established in China, covering more than 20 leading enterprises, 12 universities and 5 scientific research institutes, and a total of 36 technical research projects have been carried out, breaking through 11 core technical problems, promoting the industrialization of 8 scientific research achievements, driving the overall improvement of the technical level of the industry, and effectively solving the pain points and difficult problems that have long restricted the development of the industry.
The collaborative innovation between industry, university and research focuses on the core bottlenecks of the industry, focusing on three major directions to carry out joint research. First, high-end product preparation technology, for key technologies such as purity control and surface modification of fumed silicate, enterprises and universities jointly set up a special R&D team to optimize the production process, improve product performance, and break the monopoly of overseas technology; The second is resource recycling technology, focusing on the recycling of silica slag, wastewater and other wastes in the production process of silica, developing efficient recycling processes, and promoting the green and circular development of the industry. The third is customized product research and development, combined with the needs of different downstream fields, to jointly develop functional silica products with stronger adaptability to enhance the added value of products.
The collaborative innovation model of industry, university and research allows scientific research achievements to be quickly transformed into industrial competitiveness, and has become a key support for enterprises to break through the bottleneck of development. The reporter visited a silica enterprise participating in collaborative innovation and learned that the "nano-scale modified silica preparation technology" developed by the enterprise and universities has completed the transformation from laboratory research and development to industrial production in only 18 months, and the key indicators such as product dispersion and reinforcement have reached the international advanced level, which can be widely used in new energy, high-end sealing materials and other fields, and the company's revenue increased by 32% year-on-year after production, and the product market share increased by 8 percentage points.
"It is difficult to break through the bottleneck of core technology alone, and the collaborative innovation of industry, university and research has saved enterprises a lot of detours." The company's R&D director said that through cooperation with universities and scientific research institutes, the company has not only obtained advanced technical support, but also introduced professional talents and built a complete R&D system. In addition, the company also jointly builds a talent training base with universities to deliver professional and technical talents in a targeted manner to provide talent guarantee for the sustainable development of the industry.
The relevant person in charge of the industry association said that collaborative innovation between industry, university and research is an important path to promote the high-quality development of the silica industry, and the current collaborative innovation system has been initially formed, and the efficiency of achievement transformation has continued to improve. It is expected that by the end of 2026, through the collaborative innovation model, the self-sufficiency rate of domestic high-end silica products will increase from the current 65% to 80%, the resource recycling rate will exceed 85%, and the overall innovation ability and core competitiveness of the industry will be significantly enhanced. At the same time, collaborative innovation will also promote the industry to form a virtuous circle of "R&D-transformation-industrialization", helping the industry get rid of the dilemma of homogeneous competition.
Industry experts pointed out that the collaborative innovation of industry, university and research has solved multiple bottlenecks such as technology, talents, and achievement transformation in the silica industry, and pointed out the direction for the development of the industry. In the short term, the implementation of collaborative innovation achievements will continue to drive product upgrading and efficiency improvement in the industry; In the long run, with the continuous improvement of the collaborative innovation system, it will promote the silica industry to continue to move towards high-end, functional and green. Experts suggest that the main position of enterprises should be further strengthened, the cooperation mechanism between industry, university and research should be improved, investment in scientific research should be increased, and the efficient integration of innovation resources should be promoted, so that more scientific research achievements can be transformed into industrial development momentum and help the silica industry achieve high-quality development.
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