The threshold for textile industry technological innovation is sharply rising. The approval rate for the 2024 China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) Science and Technology Awards plummeted to 28.0%, down 8.8 percentage points from 2023, meaning nearly three-quarters of all applications were rejected. Among the 59 final award-winning projects, only 19 received first prizes, making competition the fiercest since the award's inception.
The Logic Behind Quality Over Quantity
The tightening of the approval rate is no coincidence. Li Lingshen, Vice President of CNTAC, explicitly stated at the ceremony that the adjustment aims to enhance the awards' prestige. For the textile industry, science awards are shifting from 'inclusive encouragement' to 'elite selection,' aligning closely with the current policy emphasis on 'new quality productive forces.'
Looking at the award structure, only 8 projects won in the high-tech categories of Natural Science and Technological Invention, while the majority—51—were in the Science and Technology Progress category. This reflects the industry's persistent weakness in basic research and original innovation, with most breakthroughs concentrated in applied technology and process improvement. He Yaqiong, Director of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also admitted that China's textile industry still needs breakthroughs in high-end materials, key equipment, core technologies, and brand building.
Young Scientists and Enterprises as Dual Engines
The profile of award winners reveals a structural shift in the industry's innovation drivers. Young scientists under 45 accounted for 67.8% of all recipients, making them the absolute core of textile technological innovation. Among the Sangma Scholar Award winners, figures like Professor Hu Xudong from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University and Professor Wang Hongzhi from Donghua University are long-standing frontline researchers.
Enterprises' leading role is equally prominent. Corporate-led projects accounted for 45.8% of all awards, with industry-university-research collaboration becoming the mainstream model. First-prize winners in Technological Invention and Science and Technology Progress generated direct sales revenue of 163.88 billion RMB and new profits of 8.66 billion RMB over the past three years—figures proving that market-oriented R&D is rapidly translating into tangible benefits.
From Follower to Leader: Key Indicators Have Turned
He Yaqiong presented a set of critical data in his speech: China's high-performance fiber production capacity now accounts for more than one-third of the global total, the self-sufficiency rate of textile machinery exceeds 75%, and the localization rate of key components for high-end equipment has surpassed 50%. These indicators signal that the textile industry is transitioning from 'following and running alongside' to 'running alongside and leading.'
More notably, high-tech value-added products such as chemical fibers, fabrics, industrial textiles, and textile machinery have achieved a fundamental shift from net imports to the world's largest exports. Behind this change lies the cumulative effect of 2,224 scientific achievements awarded by CNTAC over the past two decades, including 265 first prizes. These achievements cover high-end applications in defense, aerospace, emergency safety, marine engineering, life sciences, and daily life.
Four Future Directions: Digitalization, Integration, Greening, Branding
Despite the achievements, He Yaqiong pointed out that the industry must focus on four directions amid global technological competition. Digitalization is essential to follow the trend of industrial transformation; integration requires cross-disciplinary innovation with electronics, biotechnology, and new energy; greening is the foundation for sustainable development; and branding is key to moving up the global value chain.
CNTAC President Sun Ruizhe further proposed that future science awards should follow a path of specialization, differentiation, branding, and internationalization, strictly controlling the approval rate within 30% to ensure value. This means competition for textile science awards will only intensify in the coming years.