Chinese engineers have vast innovation potential but demand support from enterprises
TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE: TEL), a world leader in connectivity, and the Electronic Technology Information Research Institute (ETIRI), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, have jointly released the "Chinese Engineers' Innovation Motivation Survey Report." This is the first report that focuses on Chinese engineers' innovation capability, examining the challenges they face in innovation and engineering. The report also identifies what engineers need to innovate, how organizations can foster innovation, and the role of innovation incentive programs.
"Widely found in industrial and manufacturing enterprises, engineers are masters of the most advanced and sophisticated products and technology," said Wan Pengyuan, deputy director, ETIRI. "Their contributions to China's innovation are vast. We intend to help engineers realize additional innovation achievements, and provide insight into creating a strong innovation system for enterprises, industries and the government by realizing engineers' capabilities, understanding their needs and helping them explore new innovation methods. Focusing on the realization of the potential of engineers is essentially attending to the future innovation development of the country," said Pengyuan.
Launched in Summer 2014, the survey questioned 1,107 engineers in 31 provinces and cities throughout China, covering more than 20 industries including automotive, telecommunications, chemicals and information technology. According to the survey, Chinese engineers are enthusiastic about innovation and have substantial innovation experience. However, they need formalized help to enable more innovation. Significantly, most engineers hope to further stimulate their own innovation potential with support from enterprises.
"As a global innovation leader, TE has always valued engineers and encourages the innovation-driven engineering spirit," said Zhang Chao, acting president of TE Connectivity China and vice president of Human Resources. "In conjunction with ETIRI, we are sharing the survey results to help other regions understand how to advance and harness their local engineering talent. We hope this survey will help raise public awareness of engineers and their career and innovation needs, as well as enhance efforts by all parties to accelerate the innovation capability of China."
Innovation has become an integral part of Chinese engineers' daily work
According to respondents, three important capabilities that an engineer should possess are technical ability, innovation application ability and innovative thinking ability. Among these capabilities, innovation-related capabilities are the most dominant. More than half of the respondents stated that they chose engineering as a profession because of a passion for invention and creation. The proportion among engineers born after 1990s is even higher, reaching 65 percent.
Nearly 90 percent of Chinese engineers want more innovation opportunities
Although most respondents claimed to have participated in or led innovation exercises, 87 percent said that some of their innovative ideas have not had a chance to be put into practice. In addition, the results of their innovations have had only limited industrial impact at present. More than 60 percent of innovations that Chinese engineers claimed to have participated in achieved breakthroughs at the product level, but only 11 percent have helped improve industrial production processes or achieved breakthroughs at the industrial or technology levels. Clearly, disruptive innovations still have a way to go.
Enterprise support is critical to be more innovative
The survey shows that as much as 60 percent of respondents hope to overcome their innovation challenges with support from enterprises, which is far greater than their need for support from industry associations (8 percent) and government policy (5 percent). Enterprises play an important role in managing and training engineers, and such support has a significant influence on improving engineers' innovation capability.
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