Science and technology are the primers of productivity. This widely cited slogan often attributed to Deng Xiaoping is the key to the survival of many private companies in Fujian Province. Many feel the approaching fifth China Fujian Technology and Project Fair on June 18 is an event they cannot afford to miss.

The fair, organized each year by the Fujian Development and Reform Commission (FDRC), bridges the supply and demand gap between research institutions and enterprises, and promotes the formation of a new market-oriented scientific and technological innovation system involving enterprises and research institutions. The connections developed at the fair enable enterprises to innovate themselves.

“Many companies in Fujian, where the private economy is burgeoning, were developed from small workshops,” said Lin Wenbin of the FDRC.

“The biggest obstacle they have encountered has been their weakness in research and development. If not for this fair, many wouldn’t have found solutions and grown into heavyweights in their industries.”

Sanming Jiansheng Food Co. Ltd., located in northwestern Fujian Province, is a good example. The company has grown from merely a workshop into the second largest enterprise in Fujian. It is now seeking larger international market shares, thanks to the second annual fair in 2004 where they discovered the technologies they needed.

“We feel grateful to the government for providing us with such a useful platform,” said Huang Dongqing, Multifunctional Department Director of Sanming Jiansheng.

Yan Yaojun, General Manager and Board Chairman of Sanming Jiansheng, invested 3.2 million yuan in building a bamboo shoot processing factory in picturesque Sanming City in July 2000.

Bamboo shoots are known as a “first-class vegetable” in China and have become a nice choice for people pursuing healthy foods as well as a healthy lifestyle. Yan’s canned bamboo shoots soon entered the global market.

Huang said that the company had entrusted a trading company with the overseas sales of their products, which were first welcomed in Japan. Later, sales began to nosedive.

“Simple and even crude processing and packing technologies were the major reason for this,” said Huang. “We used to put our bamboo shoots into large cans, but supermarkets liked smaller [cans]. Besides, the too simple processing made our products have a shorter shelf life and Japan puts high demands on this aspect.”

The only way out was improved technology, said Huang.

“We were very lucky to have our problems fixed at the second Fujian Technology and Project Fair,” he said. Despite a large number of colleges and research institutions in Fujian, Huang didn’t know how to find the technology he needed, since he was unfamiliar with most of the projects underway in these colleges and institutions. At the fair, the Fijian Government provides a platform for their research achievements and makes it easy for businesses to find the technologies they need, and facilitate in-depth cooperation between enterprises and institutions.

Sanming Jiansheng soon found what they needed and introduced a technology to optimize bamboo shoot processing--without fermentation before sterilizing raw materials, the workshop is able to retain the original flavor and nutrition of their products. The improvement cost the company a total of 32 million yuan.

“The international market opened again to us,” said Huang. “After visiting our factory, Japanese enterprises felt satisfied with both the processing and products and resumed their orders.”

The revenue of Sanming Jiansheng soared from 27 million yuan in 2004 to 130 million yuan in 2006, with 80 percent of their products exported to Japan and some European countries and the United States. The rest of the supply is sold on the domestic market.

The fair brought Sanming Jiansheng a big surprise. After that, the company established close contacts with the fair and has attended the fair for three consecutive years (2004-06) to purchase technologies and establish relationships with agricultural colleges.

No longer satisfied with buying ready-made projects, Yan said, “We know what our market is and will develop technologies that suit us most.”

With the help of a research academy recommended by the fair, Sanming Jianshen fixed a series of problems with salted bamboo shoots earlier this year, and their innovations top others in this industry in China.