Although we often emphasize the need to treat everyone equally, in reality, we tend to look at people who have been in prison with prejudice. However, there are also those who, after they have made mistakes, are able to make outstanding contributions to the country and society after they are released from prison.
For such people, we should give them a fair evaluation and corresponding honor. One of them is the founder of SUPCON Group, Ho Jian, who served as the vice president of Zhejiang University and founded SUPCON Technology Group.
Although he was once sentenced to prison for crimes such as **, after being released from prison, because his research and development projects in the field of science and technology were supported by more than 27 million yuan of financial funds, we can see his contribution to the country and society.
Therefore, for people like hoe jian, we should respect their efforts and contributions with "clear rewards and punishments".
Born in 1963, Chu Jian's experience before 2012 can be said to be very outstanding, and some people even praised him as "a gift from God, with the best of everything".
As the child of an intellectual family on the shore of Chun'an Qiandao Lake, Chu Jian has shown superhuman talent since he was a child. In 1978, at the age of 15, he was admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering of Zhejiang University, specializing in automation.
The following year, he obtained the qualification to study abroad on public assignment and went to Kyoto University in Japan to study under Professor Goshiro Takamatsu, the highest authority in the field of automatic control in Japan, and finally obtained a doctorate.
At the same time, this is also the first time that the automation major of Zhejiang University and Kyoto University in Japan have jointly conducted doctoral training, making Chu Jian the "first Sino-Japanese joint training person" in the automation major of Zhejiang University.
During his study in Japan, he witnessed the rapid development of Japan's economy and the world's leading industrial technology, and was deeply inspired and determined to serve the country through industry.
After returning to China, Chu Jian continued his academic research and teaching work at Zhejiang University. In 1992, Zhejiang University set up the first national engineering research center for industrial automation in domestic universities, and he was elected as the deputy director.
In 1993, he became the youngest professor at Zhejiang University, and one year later he began to work as a doctoral supervisor. In 1999, he was appointed Director of the State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control Technology, and in 2005, he was promoted to Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Zhejiang University, a position he held until 2012.
Chu Jian is a scientist who is engaged in both scientific research and entrepreneurship. However, for a long time, the domestic automation control system was in the hands of foreign companies, and it can even be said that the lifeblood of China's industrial safety was completely controlled by foreign companies such as Honeywell, Yokogawa, Emerson, and Siemens.
After realizing this, Chu Jian decided to devote himself to serving the country by industry. In 1992, in order to promote the integration of production, education and research, Zhejiang University decided to establish a number of disciplinary companies.
Chu Jian was authorized to found Zhejiang University Industrial Automation Company, which was the predecessor of the later SUPCON Technology Group. He practiced the concept of "serving the country with science and technology" with practical actions.
In 1993, Chu Jian registered a nationally owned company, Zhejiang University Automation Company, with a check of 200,000 yuan issued by Zhejiang University, and officially set foot in the automation control system industry.
It is worth mentioning that the school did not invest funds at that time, and the 200,000 yuan was actually borrowed by Chu Jian himself. In the same year, Wu Xiaobo, who was still working as a financial reporter, interviewed Chu Jian, and wrote an interview with the theme of "Is it cost-effective to have one less scientist and one more entrepreneur?"
However, reality has proven that China is not "one less" scientist. Because in the 20 years of entrepreneurship, Chu Jian has never abandoned his academics because of entrepreneurship, but because of the existence of SUPCON Group, he has truly become an outstanding scientist.
The name of ZPCON carries the grand vision of Chu Jian when he founded the company - to build the company into the first brand of China's automation control technology, and to build "China's Honeywell".
From day one, he was determined to work towards this goal.
In the face of the doubts of peers and the pressure of the market, Chu Jian insisted on independent research and development and was determined to build a national brand. He is well aware that although foreign products can bring profits in the short term, they cannot establish their own brands.
Therefore, he decided to "starve to death and not be a foreign leader" with firm determination and perseverance, leading the Central Control Group on a challenging road. After 10 years of unremitting efforts, SUPCON has successfully promoted the automatic control system with independent intellectual property rights, and developed new system architecture and network technology, and finally won the recognition and trust of large domestic enterprises.
All this stems from Chu Jian's strong feelings of serving the country through industry and his love for national brands.
After 20 years of hard work, SUPCON has finally broken the monopoly of foreign enterprises in the field of industrial automation in China and has become a leader in the field of science and technology.
Today, the market share of SUPCON Group's products in China has reached nearly 25%, ranking first in China, and large domestic oil companies are its loyal customers. Like other industries, the emergence of the central control group has reduced the cost of China's automation control system to the original 1 3, which not only maintains the safety of China's industrial field, but also saves at least 40 billion yuan of equipment introduction funds for the country.
Before 2013, SUPCON has always been a model of the combination of production, education and research, and Chu Jian has become a leader in the field of automation in China, undertaking a number of national projects and winning many national honors.
In 2013, Chu Jian's fortunes changed dramatically. He was suddenly charged with four crimes: hundreds of millions of yuan in state-owned assets, transfer of overseas assets, embezzlement of state-owned assets, and improper relationship between men and women.
These charges have him being held in detention for investigation. This incident has attracted widespread attention from the society and has become a hot topic after dinner, and has even been called "China's first science and technology case".
However, before that, his name had just been included in the list of candidates for academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and he had the opportunity to be elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. However, because he was imprisoned, he missed the academician defense and missed this honor.
In August 2014, the procuratorate formally launched a public prosecution in Chu Jian's case, and only one charge was retained in the prosecution opinion, namely the alleged embezzlement of state-owned assets during the separation of the company from Zhejiang University in 2003.
In fact, after investigation, the accusations against Chu Jian** hundreds of millions of yuan were proved to be false. In this indictment, the procuratorate accused Chu Jian of taking advantage of his position to embezzle and defraud nearly 70 million yuan in the process of the withdrawal of the central control from Zhejiang Haina, and was suspected of more than 1,400 yuan in scientific research funds.
Although Chu Jian has only one charge left, there are still a large number of people who are holding grievances against him. It has been confirmed that four academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, more than 800 professors, teachers and students of Zhejiang University, and employees of the Central Control Group have vouched for him, and many scholars have conducted special discussions on the common issues involved in the Chu Jian case.
In general, experts and scholars believe that although Chu Jian had some "behavioral problems" in this case, this was largely due to the historical environment and the ambiguity of relevant policies at the time.
In that period of trial and error, the reform of the property rights of science and technology enterprises, the use of scientific research funds, and the ownership of intellectual property rights were all unknown. The problem with Chu Jian's case is that if scientists in the university system want to industrialize their new technologies and maintain their personal property rights, the more successful their careers are, the higher the risk of committing crimes, and the greater the fines they may face in the end.
Not only Chu Jian may face such a predicament, which is also the reason why hundreds of people support him after him.
After two returns for supplementary investigation and seven adjournments"The first case of science and technology in China"On January 16, 2017, it was finally heard. At this time, more than three years have passed since Chu Jian was detained.
The court found that Chu Jian's ** amount was more than 2 million yuan. In the end, Chu Jian was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months in prison for ** and deliberately destroying accounting vouchers and accounting books.
On January 18 of the same year, he was officially released from prison and regained his freedom. The trial was full of twists and turns, but in the end justice was served.
The day after his release, Chu Jian returned to the Central Control Group, even though the company had been nearly dismembered by then. However, he did not give up, but started the "Agni Plan", announcing that he would completely change the central control group in the three years from 2017 to 2019 and make it greater.
Although he lost his stake in the nominee, he was not discouraged by it. On the contrary, he received the support of Ningbo City** and established the Industrial Internet Research Institute in May 2018.
Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, also attended the unveiling ceremony, indicating that the academic community welcomed his return. Despite the difficulties, Chu Jian's determination and courage inspired him and helped him find a way out of the difficult situation.
Chu Jian's life experience is full of twists and turns, but it is worth mentioning that the "Industrial Control System Security Protection Technology Application Demonstration" project he is now responsible for has been shortlisted for the national key special project, and is expected to receive 27.58 million yuan in financial funds.
This is the first time he has received a major national scientific research project since he was released from prison, and it seems to herald his official return. He once became the "first person" of China's industrial automation from a genius boy, and then became a prisoner for some historical reasons, but now, he is once again at the forefront of major scientific research projects.
Although his imprisonment is partly due to policy ambiguity and historical reasons, the law cannot be violated, and there is a price to pay for the mistakes he makes. Fortunately, with the progress of the times and the improvement of the legal system, Chu Jian once again ushered in a good era.
In the context of the new era, scientific and technological innovation has become an important driving force for national development. In order to transform the achievements of scientific and technological innovation into productivity, colleges and universities across the country have begun to reform the backward management methods of scientific research, providing more legal guarantees for scientists to start their own businesses.
At the same time, with the boom of industrial intelligence in the field of industrial automation around 2017, this may be the best era that Chu Jian has ever encountered. Because in the era of industrial Internet, Chu Jian and ZPCON Group have ushered in better development opportunities.
After 3 years, Chu Jian has fulfilled his commitment, and the net profit of ZKTeco has increased from 1700 million yuan has grown rapidly to 3700 million yuan, to achieve a reborn change.
In November 2020, SUPCON Technology was officially listed, and Chu Jian created the "myth of wealth" as a scientist, which people talked about. However, for Chu Jian, his focus is still on technology, independent intellectual property rights and industry to serve the country.
In an interview in 2021, Chu Jian expressed his vision for Chinese industrial enterprises: he hopes that SUPCON can accompany Chinese enterprises to Industry 40, to achieve a broader stage.
In order to achieve this goal, he stressed the need for SUPCON to strengthen its technological innovation capabilities. Although in 2020, the proportion of central control technology research and development has reached 1146 percent, but he still doesn't think it's enough.
He believes that innovation needs unlimited support in order to achieve technological breakthroughs from 0 to 1, as well as technological innovation that is ahead of global peers. With his persistence and efforts, SUPCON has broken the monopoly of foreign countries, gone abroad, and established good cooperative relations with other enterprises around the world.
For example, in 2020, ZKTeco signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil producer, to start a business cooperation.
Looking forward to the future, SUPCON firmly believes that it will make more technological breakthroughs and aim to be a global leader in science and technology. Regarding his wealth of US$1.3 billion, Chu Jian once emphasized that he has never regarded himself as an entrepreneur, but is committed to building a bridge between technology and industry, with a view to closely integrating scientific research results with industry and transforming them into products that can benefit more people and meet the needs of more customers.
Chu Jian's regret is that he missed the opportunity to become an academician of the Academy of Engineering because of his overstepping behavior. Wu Xiaobo once said that if he exchanged 4 billion yuan for the status of an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, he might not hesitate to agree.
However, it is now more important to think about whether the issue of Chu Jian's case has been completely resolved, and whether there will be people who will repeat his mistakes in the future.