Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
China took scientific research very seriously.
Old Lu didn’t want to waste Lu Zhou’s time and wanted to show to his bosses that he was being diligent. The second day after the meeting, Lu Zhou received a call from Secretary Liu.
Lu Zhou felt that Secretary Liu was interesting even though he had only met him a handful of times. However, every time they met, it was like they were meeting as close friends.
After some small talk, Secretary Liu set a time and date with Lu Zhou on the phone.
In the same afternoon, Lu Zhou met Secretary Liu’s assistant Zhao Zhengye; he wore glasses and looked very gentle.
Zhao Zhengye shook hands with Lu Zhou and politely said, “Hello, Professor Lu, I am Secretary Liu’s assistant. You can call me Xiao Zhao.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “You’re older than me, I’ll just call you Assistant Zhao.”
“Sure.” Assistant Zhao pointed and said, “This way please.”
Assistant Zhao drove Lu Zhou to the high-tech development park.
Assistant Zhao found a place to park, then pulled out a map with a circle marked on it. He pointed at the circle and said to Lu Zhou, “This is the concept map of the Xianlin University high-tech development zone. The first phase of the project has been completed, and the second phase will be completed within a year. Because this project has only just begun, only 13 research units have checked into this development zone. There is a lot of room to spare.
“There are several good office buildings not far from the subway station. They are still empty right now, so feel free to tell me which one you fancy.”
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “My nanomaterial experiments have to be done with high precision equipment. Normal office buildings cannot reach these standards. I hope you can find me a piece of empty land, and I will contact an engineering contractor to build my own office.”
When Assistant Zhao heard Lu Zhou’s words, he nodded and said, “No problem. There are many pieces of land here that are yet to be sold. Tell me which one you want and I will report it to the secretary.”
Lu Zhou looked at the map for a while. He then selected a piece of land on the map. This 1.65 acres would become the research and development center.
It turned out that Lu Zhou’s intuition was quite accurate.
Assistant Zhao drove them to the site, and the land was far from traffic and had a quiet environment. It was a good place for research.
As for the specific construction plan, Lu Zhou would contact the manager of Star Sky Technology, White, to hire engineering experts and conduct project bidding. Lu Zhou didn’t have to worry about it.
Also, with the state subsidy policy, Lu Zhou was able to receive a large discount.
An acre of land here would cost up to 42 million yuan per square meter.
However, Old Lu promised that as long as Lu Zhou invested 200 million yuan, the state would subsidize 30% of the cost of the land. If Lu Zhou’s investment exceeded 400 million yuan, then the subsidy would double. Lu Zhou’s original plan was to invest US$100 million, therefore he would receive the maximum subsidy possible.
The price given by the city bureau to Lu Zhou was around 30 million yuan per acre. With the government subsidy, he would only have to pay 12 million yuan per acre.
This way, Lu Zhou would have more money to put to the experiment and pieces of equipment.
The research institute location had been decided.
Lu Zhou gave White a call, and the rest of this matter would be handled between Star Sky Technology and Jin Ling city government. Lu Zhou didn’t have to worry about these trivial things.
Before the research building was built, Lu Zhou could only use Jin Ling University’s laboratory building. Thankfully the new Jin Ling University campus had many empty laboratory buildings, so they were happy to accommodate Lu Zhou.
Dean Li, the head of the chemical department, personally took Lu Zhou to Jin University to look at the laboratories.
The two started to chat while walking on campus.
Dean Li smiled and said, “Everyone says Princeton has the smartest brains in the world. You have been working there for over a year, do you have any thoughts?”
Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he said, “I think it’s a pity.”
Dean Li said, “Oh? What kind of pity?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “In my opinion, the freshmen at Princeton aren’t smarter than students here who aced the college entrance examination. We are not falling behind in high school education. In fact, we have an advantage.”
Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, “However, from the undergrad stage, the difference between the two will start to get bigger. Once they get to the master’s level, the difference is huge.”
Dean Li said, “Professor Lu, this comparison is unfair. Princeton is a world-class education institute. Even MIT and Harvard can’t compare to them.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Yeah, this is why I said it’s a pity.”
Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said excitedly, “Actually I have an idea. We can build an Institute for Advanced Study here that is similar to Princeton’s model.”
Dean Li said, “This is a good idea, but it doesn’t seem realistic.”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “You’re right.”
Copying the success of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton wasn’t that easy.
Jin Ling University could build a building and hire some researchers, but it wouldn’t achieve the same level of success as Princeton.
The institute would only become a second school for those pursuing their master’s degree; it would be completely meaningless and a waste of resources.
Dean Li: “To be honest, if we implemented Princeton’s research institute model here, it would be difficult for it to survive. Even if it did survive, it would not be able to achieve any success.”
“We can still try. Maybe because I’m younger, I’m still very optimistic.” Lu Zhou smiled and said in a joking tone, “How about we just call the unopened research institute the Jinling Computational Materials Science Research Institute?”
Academician Li smiled and said, “Sure, we would be honored! Jin Ling University is planning on creating a computational materials department, how about you work as the department head? I’ll find some top students for you to train?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Maybe not, I might accidentally convert all of the students to mathematicians.”
“Oh no, please don’t!”
Both of them were joking, no one took this conversation seriously.
However, after hearing Dean Li’s proposal, Lu Zhou couldn’t help but take this question seriously.
The battlefield was the best training ground. The country’s energy plan wasn’t only a battlefield for lithium-sulfur batteries, but it was also an opportunity to cultivate research-oriented talents.
Lu Zhou didn’t have to copy the model of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; he could just invent a new model that would be more suitable for domestic academic research.
If this model proved to be feasible, Lu Zhou could extend it to mathematics and physics.
Even if the model wasn’t successful, it would still be something meaningful.
Lu Zhou said in a joking tone, “Then I’ll have some requirements.”
Dean Li said politely, “What do you want, say it!”
Lu Zhou only said one word.
“People!”
