At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is booming, and scientific and technological innovation has become a key variable, bringing new opportunities to industrial development. In this context, the 2023 4th International Distilled Spirits Technology Summit Forum (hereinafter referred to as the "Forum") was held in Yibin, Sichuan Province on December 18, with participants focusing on the development trend of the distilled spirits industry, exchanging consensus on technological innovation of distilled spirits, and helping to build a community with a shared future for the distilled spirits industry.
As the exclusive organizer of the forum, Wuliangye has built a scientific research and exchange platform for top experts and scholars at home and abroad in the field of distilled spirits, as well as world-renowned distilled spirits enterprises, to share technological innovation achievements, and to empower the high-quality development of the liquor industry with the exploration and practice of scientific and technological innovation.
Exclusive undertaking to build a scientific research exchange platform
The distilled spirits industry, represented by liquor, is an important pillar industry of China's national economy, and has increasingly become a cultural business card for China's brewing and fermentation field to the world.
In order to help the better development of the distilled spirits industry, the forum takes "Innovation Driven by Brewing the Future Together" as the theme, with the sub-forum themes of "Industry Development and Internationalization", "Perception and Consumption Science", "Brewing Technology and Innovation" and "Brewing Ecology and Sustainable Development".
At the forum, Jiang Lei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Jinghong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sun Baoguo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chen Jian, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Lucas Noldus, academician of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and Xu Yan, former vice president of Jiangnan University, respectively discussed the scientific basis of alcohol content, bioanalytical chemistry for life and health, the development trend of Chinese liquor, the cutting-edge technology of the liquor industry, sensory science and consumer behavior, Brewing microbiology and other topics made academic reports, sharing the most cutting-edge innovative technological achievements in the distilled spirits industry.
Chen Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Jiangnan University, said that this forum is not only a vivid practice of building a strong country in science and technology and achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, but also a specific action to promote the high-quality development of China's distilled spirits industry, which is of great significance for promoting the healthy and rapid development of China's liquor industry. Jiangnan University has always adhered to industry-university-research cooperation to jointly promote the high-quality development of China's wine industry. For a long time, it has established a deep cooperative relationship with Wuliangye Group. The two sides jointly built the "Jiangnan University-Wuliangye Microbiome and Ecological Fermentation Technology Collaborative Innovation Laboratory", jointly promoted the joint research on brewing mechanism, pagged trolzyme and microbial analysis, dynamic flavor perception analysis, etc., achieved major breakthroughs in scientific and technological achievements, penetrated the cultivation mode of new technical and skilled talents, and injected strong impetus into the innovation vitality of both schools and enterprises.
Sun Baoguo believes that "flavor and health dual orientation" is the trend of the development of liquor products in the future, and the trend of the development of the liquor industry is "production modernization and market internationalization". Wuliangye can join hands with "Sichuan cuisine" to build an experience hall overseas, taste Chinese liquor through Chinese catering culture, and promote the internationalization of Chinese liquor. At the same time, he said that it is necessary to do a good job in the popularization of liquor science, advocate moderate drinking, and promote the excellent Chinese liquor culture.
Integrity and innovation lead the high-quality development of the industry
Science and technology have increasingly become the fundamental driving force for the prosperity and development of the industry. International distilled spirits are all traditional liquors, and the integration of traditional brewing art and modern technology is particularly important for the development of distilled spirits.
*The picture shows Zeng Congqin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Wuliangye Group (Co., Ltd.), delivering a speech at the forum.
The high-quality development of Chinese liquor is the accumulation of 'inheritance' and 'innovation', and the interweaving of 'change' and 'unchanged'. 'Unchanged' supports quality, and 'change' leads development. Zeng Congqin, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Wuliangye Group (Co., Ltd.), said that Wuliangye adheres to the guidance of the platform, focuses on scientific and technological research, deepens production, education and research, and always insists on seeking new development in integrity and seeking new breakthroughs in innovation.
It is understood that since the 60s of the 20th century, "integrity and innovation" have continued to empower the high-quality development of Wuliangye. In recent years, Wuliangye's "integrity and innovation" has taken a strong pace and achieved remarkable results. In terms of platform construction, it has built a scientific and technological innovation platform system with the national enterprise technology center as the overall control, and has built 7 national innovation platforms and 6 provincial and ministerial innovation platformsIn terms of scientific and technological research, aiming at the core bottleneck problems of scientific and technological frontiers in the field of liquor brewing, we actively participate in and co-create a number of scientific research projects with international influenceIn terms of production, education and research, it has promoted joint research in the direction of brewing mechanism research and dynamic flavor perception analysis with Jiangnan University, Beijing Technology and Business University, Sichuan University of Light Chemical Industry and other universities, and has successively won 13 international leading level achievements, more than 20 scientific and technological progress awards at the provincial and ministerial level, more than 30 major scientific and technological innovation achievements, and more than 1,800 patents. In 2022 alone, 4 scientific research achievements of Wuliangye have passed the appraisal of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Light Industry Federation, reaching the "international leading" level.
Professor Xu Yan, who has been engaged in the study of the flavor of liquor for a long time, shared the results of the scientific research project of the leading team and Wuliangye - "Research and Application of the New Species of Caproic Acid Bacterium "JNU-WLY1368" in the Old Cellar Mud of Strong Aroma Liquor", explaining the microbiological basis of the excellent quality of Wuliangye strong aroma liquor, and analyzing the contribution of flavor substances to the ancient cellar mud of Wuliangye. He said that the scientific research results have expanded the public's scientific understanding of caproic acid bacteria, uncovered the mystery of the formation mechanism of strong aroma and aroma, and contributed to the scientific and technological progress and the improvement of the quality rate of strong flavor liquor.
Industry professionals said that enterprises, as the main body of scientific and technological innovation, are the main force to promote the development of distilled spirits. As a typical representative of China's strong flavor liquor and a leader in the industry, Wuliangye's exploration and practice of integrity and innovation have made useful attempts and leading demonstrations for the high-quality development of the distilled spirits industry.
Seize the opportunities of the times and share a new future of harmony
With the continuous advancement of a higher level of opening up and the acceleration of the construction of a new development pattern, the development of distilled spirits enjoys dual development opportunities in both domestic and foreign markets. Song Shuyu, chairman of the China Liquor Industry Association, said that China is the world's largest producer and consumer of alcohol. China's international distilled spirits market has huge potential and development space, and the international market is also a new blue ocean for China's liquor and liqueur.
For the distilled spirits industry to seize the opportunities of the times and move towards a prosperous future, the guests at the meeting offered suggestions.
Development is not only about technological innovation, but also about the renewal of ideas and concepts." Song Shuyu said that the development of distilled spirits needs to break the boundary, rationally understand the advantages and disadvantages between the development of Chinese liquor and the world's distilled spirits, and learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses with the principle of "respect, cooperation and win-win", gather international wisdom, and promote exchanges and cooperation on a global scale.
Xu Yan said that keeping up with the wave of industrial revolution in the new era and making every effort to promote the transformation of the distilled spirits industry from traditional brewing to high-quality, low-consumption, and green sustainable development is the key to seizing opportunities. For distilled spirits enterprises, it is necessary to pay close attention to the issue of "how to innovate and develop in inheritance".
Only the innovator advances, only the innovator is strong, and only the innovator wins. Zeng Congqin said that Wuliangye will continue to work with academicians and experts to innovate the system and mechanism of industry-university-research-application cooperation, and jointly tackle key problems in key directions such as green ecology, cellar cognition, liquor cognition, flavor and old liquor cognition, drinking and health, reshape the value system of liquor, and empower the high-quality development of the industry with scientific and technological innovation. Together with colleagues in the distilled spirits industry, we will achieve the "five models" in terms of "ecology, quality, culture, health, and social responsibility", innovate the exchange and cooperation mechanism, and jointly build a community with a shared future for the distilled spirits industry, and share the future of harmony and beauty.