“Entering the 14th Five Year Plan period, Maotai Group is also thinking about how to move towards a more brilliant tomorrow and how to move towards the future more sustainably.” Ding Xiongjun, party secretary and chairman of Maotai Group, said that there are thousands of roads, and scientific and technological innovation is the most important one.
On March 19, after signing a strategic cooperation agreement with the Department of science and technology of Guizhou Province, Maotai Group signed a “cloud contract” with three “national team” scientific research institutions, namely, the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences. The expansion of the “circle of friends” of science and technology shows the determination of Maotai Group to introduce “strategic force” to increase scientific and technological innovation, and further highlights the scientific and creative momentum of the transformation and upgrading of traditional enterprises. Ding Xiongjun revealed that in the future, Maotai Group’s investment in scientific and technological innovation will not be capped and will be supported as long as necessary.
Baijiu is a traditional dominant industry in Guizhou. Moutai River Basin, located in Chishui, is the origin and core area of Baijiu flavor liquor industry in the world. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, Guizhou plans to build a sauce and wine industry cluster with an output value of 250 billion yuan. This is the new journey of Baijiu development in Guizhou under the background of new industrialization, and scientific and technological innovation will play an important role in it. As the industry leader, Maotai’s layout in scientific and technological innovation has naturally attracted much attention from the outside world.
In fact, since 1956, Maotai has the earliest scientific research record since the establishment of the factory. From Baijiu Baijiu standard, the development and industrialization of the new technology of integrated brewing of solid liquor, the research and demonstration of the key technology of Guizhou Maotai Baijiu liquor quality upgrading and the efficient utilization of distilled grains, the technological innovation runs through every key historical period of Moutai group, which plays a vital role in Moutai’s traditional technology and excellent quality. Baijiu Baijiu liquor has been developing a lot of research and development in recent decades, including Moutai’s microorganism, technology, liquor design, flavor quality and food safety. It reveals the technical codes behind China’s traditional Maotai flavor liquor and also achieves a revolutionary breakthrough in traditional brewing technology.
According to the strategic cooperation agreement, in the future, the Department of science and technology of Guizhou Province will give resources preference to Maotai Group in the setting of science and technology projects in the direction of brewing raw materials, intelligent brewing, intelligent sensory evaluation, bioengineering technology and waste resource utilization, and will support the Maotai Group in preparing to build an integrated science and technology innovation platform such as Maotai Technology Research Institute, national key laboratories and technology innovation centers, Help Maotai Group carry out the reform of scientific and technological innovation system and mechanism of state-owned enterprises.
In the field of Microbiology, Maotai Group will work with the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry out in-depth cooperation in the fields of talent training, academic exchange and achievement transformation, so as to jointly promote the research on microbial ecology, traceability of core strains, core microbial functions, mining of microbial material sources and applications, preservation of microbial strains for Maotai liquor brewing, etc, Strive to make new development and breakthroughs in the research field of brewing microorganisms.
On the ecological protection of Chishui River, Maotai Group has carried out a series of studies and hopes to further cooperate with the Institute of aquatic biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the fields of Chishui River environmental monitoring, water microbial research and ecological assessment, so as to protect the river of life of Maotai with practical actions.
In the field of ecological environment, Maotai Group will make use of the advantages of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences in environmental protection talents, technology and scientific research platform to carry out in-depth research in the ecological protection of Chishui River Basin, ecological environment restoration, cleaner production and circular economy, industrial green standards, etc. Maotai Group will set up a science and innovation fund funded by Maotai Group to jointly carry out the research and development of “neck” technology in the field of ecological environment protection in the brewing industry, Jointly build an integrated scientific and technological innovation center of “industry, University, research and application”, and promote and transform scientific and technological achievements.
Data show that as of 2020, China’s Baijiu Enterprises above Designated Size reached a total sales income of 583 billion 639 million yuan. The Chinese Baijiu quality and brand upgrading are constantly run parallel to the huge volume, so that we can make technological innovation and stick to inheritance, and constantly satisfy the people’s yearning for a better life. In Ding Xiongjun’s words, what Maotai Group is doing is a “proof problem”. In a sense, Maotai Group’s overweight scientific and technological innovation has the significance of a wind vane in the industry.
