"It's not easy to be the first to launch the transformation, but I think when it's done, others can learn from our experience," Sichuan Daily quoted Liu.

He told Sichuan Daily the institute, which has 40 years of history in automation and information, invented sensor technology in the late 1990s while developing military robots.

"We realized this technology has great potential in the market. But funding was a problem at the time," said Liu.

The institute founded Mianyang Weibo Electronics, a shareholding company, in 2000 to manufacture products used in railways, communications and petrochemical engineering industries, he said.

Weibo Electronics' per capita output value reached 800,000 yuan in 2016, he added.

Hao Yungang, the institute's head of development planning, said a company survey shows that employees were longing for the civil-military integration transformation because they expected it to result in better benefits.

"In addition to the rise of salaries, employees could also get profits from the dividends in the future. It's no surprise they look forward to the transformation," said Hao.

According to the Sichuan government, the province has established research institutes and technological trading centers for civil-military integration in the past year and will provide more financial support and continue to hold promotional events this year.

Tian Yulong, engineer-in-chief of the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, said entities should follow up business related to services-providing and maintenance when pushing forward the integration.

chenmeiling@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/09/2017 page18)