The Industrial Giant Reborn

In the 1970s, all kinds of technologies began to emerge from the laboratory. Many of the best-selling products of later generations came from this era. For example, the most famous liquid crystal display was just started to be commercialized in the 1970s. Japan Several major electronics companies have monopolized the screens of global electronic watches by virtue of this business, and in a few years, they will slowly radiate to small game consoles.

But liquid crystal was not invented in Japan. It was RCA, a famous American TV manufacturer, who invented liquid crystal. This company discovered liquid crystal technology in the laboratory in the late 1960s, but it was recognized as a failed project by RCA because RCA The original intention of research and development was to invent a new technology that could replace the picture tube, but the liquid crystal that had just come out of the laboratory at that time was naturally not good.

However, the entire RCA does not know how to commercialize this kind of luminous transparent "glass", so it can only be put aside, and on the other side, it has developed an idea watch to replace the mechanical watch industry monopolized by several small European countries. A Japanese company in China encountered the problem of not knowing what material to use to solve the display problem, and finally heard about RCA's liquid crystal technology by chance, so they bought it.

A few years later, LCD electronic watches swept the world in a devastating manner. Although Hong Kong is a holy place for assembly, most of the profits have been obtained by Japanese LCD companies. RCA regretted it, but it was too late.

Before the rise of Korean Samsung, Japan had the final say on global LCD production.

In addition to liquid crystals, another great achievement is the birth of digital cameras. Like liquid crystal technology, digital cameras were born in Kodak, the world's largest film company.

However, unlike RCA, Kodak's executives quickly discovered that this thing would threaten their core business-the market for film and film cameras, so they asked the scientist who invented him, Steve Sassen, to hide the invented digital camera. do not tell anyone.

Naturally, everyone knows the ending. Kodak completely lost the digital camera market and eventually went bankrupt.

Steve Sassen could only obey the company's arrangement and hide the digital camera he developed until two months ago, a headhunting company contacted him and invited him to become a Hong Kong company with a permanent team in the United States , responsible for the company's digital camera business development.

At first, he thought it was a joke, but after the headhunters showed enough evidence many times, Steve Sassen had to believe the fact that a large company with a market value of hundreds of millions of dollars invited him to be the head of a business. People, and the salary given is 3 times that of Kodak.

After two months of exchanges, Steve Sassen came to Hong Kong as scheduled. Facing a pioneer in a $100 billion industry, Chen Zhiwen naturally gave him enough face and personally invited him to live in the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel.

"Mr. Chen, why do you want to invest in digital cameras? You are very optimistic about this new thing?" Steve Sassen asked.

"Yes, I am very optimistic, because I think the ultimate goal of any product is to provide enough convenience to the public." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Talking about cars, they can easily save people a lot of travel time, and your A digital camera can save a lot of people the trouble of changing film, as well as developing film, which is professional and tiring, while a digital camera can take pictures directly, and the camera you just invented can also take pictures directly, right?"

"Yes, but with today's digital cameras, it takes 24 seconds to prepare for taking a photo, and the photos are also very blurry. I don't know the future market of digital cameras, but there is absolutely no room for survival now." Steve Sassen smiled wryly. He shook his head and said.

"The preparation time for taking pictures can be gradually shortened with the development of technology, and blurred photos can also be made clearer with the development of technology." Chen Zhiwen continued: "But the upper limit of film cameras has been fixed. Apart from the shortcomings, There is no room for improvement.”

This thing is actually somewhat similar to the replacement of fuel vehicles by electric vehicles in later generations. Even though many advantages of fuel vehicles have been exhausted in the early stage, electric vehicles have been developing, and various new technologies are emerging one after another. It is slowly perfected over time. In contrast to fuel vehicles, many century-old car companies can't adjust the gearbox well, and the combustion efficiency of the engine has reached the limit, and there is no room for improvement.

Although digital cameras are rubbish now, they can continue to develop. In theory, there is almost no upper limit for sharpness, and it is no problem to exceed the limit of human eyes. However, film cameras are already at the limit. The degree of trouble and the cost of washing film have led to the inevitable replacement of film by digital cameras.

Steven Sassen stared at Chen Zhiwen and asked, "Even if this time is in units of 10 years, Mr. Chen doesn't care?"

"Of course I don't care. I will continue to invest in research and development, so I need Mr. Sassen's team to complete this task. I believe that digital cameras will definitely replace film in the future. Kodak discovered this technology, but because of the profit of film, they don't want to develop new technology. Technology will be eliminated by history sooner or later." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Digital cameras, the first products of various brands, began to appear about 5 years later. Brands such as Sony, Canon, and Hitachi launched their own digital cameras one after another. , far inferior to mature film cameras in terms of sharpness.

The digital camera market began to explode in Europe, America and Japan, and reached its peak in the 1990s after 1985. In particular, computers can obtain photos from digital cameras, which facilitates the versatility of digital cameras. It does take ten years to invest in this area, but it is all worth it.

Digital cameras are actually just one of the most direct products of digital photography technology. In the era of feature phones, digital technology has also become a necessary configuration for mobile phones, especially smart phones. In another huge automobile industry, various types of car cameras are also It also comes from digital technology, and the market is huge, also in units of hundreds of billions of dollars, no less than a smartphone.

"Then how much R\u0026D funding can our team get?" Steven Sassen asked again.

"For the first 3 years, 5 million US dollars per year, and for the next 3 years, at least 10 million US dollars per year. If you have any achievements, it is no problem to increase the funds." Chen Zhiwen promised boldly.

With Midea's arcade machines earning money now, a few million dollars is nothing at all. The most important thing is to be able to hoard patents on digital camera technology in the early days.

"So my team needs to come to Hong Kong?" Steve Sassen asked.

"No need." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "You stay in the United States. You choose the place yourself. I will be responsible for buying the property. It has nothing to do with your R\u0026D funds. In the future, you will decide on research and recruitment in the United States. I will only arrange one person to supervise the finances. But I will send some college students from Hong Kong to study with you, or help you do some basic work."

For this kind of future high-tech, there is no talent pool in Hong Kong or even in Southeast Asia. The only possibility in Asia is Japan.

The rate of return in the high-tech field is actually not very sensitive to labor costs, but efficiency is more important, especially at this time when Japan is also accumulating original patents. For Chen Zhiwen, early access to various patented technologies is the most important , although it is basically impossible to beat the existing Japanese counterparts technically or in the market, as long as you have your own patents, you can keep a part of the market.

For non-creative products, Chen Zhiwen never thought of monopolizing them, and being one of the players is enough.

Steven Sassen felt very good in his heart, but he said: "There is another problem. The technology I invented before and the DC-16 camera, the patents belong to Kodak."

"Can you buy these patents?" Chen Zhiwen asked after thinking about it.

"I don't think it will work. Kodak is not short of money. As far as I know, Kodak has 1 billion US dollars in its account. Moreover, some senior executives of Kodak can also recognize the value of digital cameras. They have repeatedly warned me not to disclose this to the outside world. The existence of this kind of technology, and even when Japan began to develop digital cameras at the beginning of the year, the high-level executives were very angry, thinking that our R\u0026D department revealed it." Steven Sassen shook his head and said helplessly.

"Forget it, just re-study, anyway, it's just the beginning." Chen Zhiwen said, in the field of digital cameras, everyone in the world is on the same starting line, and the competition is about spending money, confidence in this industry, and related majors. talent pool and industry chain.

Among them, Chen Zhiwen is absolutely weak. In addition to being full of enthusiasm for the future of this industry, but as long as the research base is located in the United States, these weaknesses can also be made up for. As for the ZZ reason, Chen Zhiwen is not worried for the time being. The digital camera industry The United States has never risen, and naturally there is no need to protect "local enterprises."

"Okay, then I agree to Chen Sheng's invitation." Steven Sassen said contentedly. He really couldn't find a boss who could better meet his requirements.

"Then, on behalf of Midea, I welcome Mr. Sassen very much. As for the salary of your team, it will be increased by 60% on the basis of the previous Kodak. The year-end bonus will be calculated separately, depending on your achievements every year." Chen Zhiwen smiled. He said with a smile: "As long as you can develop the corresponding technology and products, I can guarantee that your team will be millionaires in ten years."

A million dollars is still very attractive in the United States today. In this era, the average waiter is only $1,000 a month, and the Silicon Valley technician is generally only three to five thousand dollars.

The annual investment of millions of dollars is nothing more than a drop in the bucket for Midea in the arcade market, but it is more important to be able to deploy digital technology at the earliest stage, so as to have the opportunity to obtain a large number of early patents. After all, it is impossible for Midea to rely on the fortune of the Prophet Goldfinger all the time. Research and development in the field of technology is the foundation of the enterprise.

You must know that although the history of digital cameras is not long, they were quickly eliminated after the emergence of smart phones, but digital technology is not available. Smart phones need digital photography technology. The technical foundation of various digital cameras also comes from digital technology. This is a The infinite market in the future is worth investing in research from now on.

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Steven Sassen said with a smile.