Is there a "fatal trap" hidden in the transformation of Tsinghua's top scientists' anti-haze technology?

The fall of a top scientist: Why there is a "fatal trap" in the transformation of anti-haze technology.

more than a year ago, on March 18th, 216, 3 energy experts from all over China gathered in Jinan to demonstrate the core technical scheme of a local 1 billion environmental protection project. They didn't know that fu lin, the chief expert of this scheme, was detained in criminal detention in the first two days of the demonstration.

Coal is the main energy consumption in China, with huge consumption, of which 15% is used for heating in winter in the north, and a large amount of coal is burned and converted into heat energy; On the other hand, a lot of heat energy is wasted-in non-cogeneration power plants, only 4% of the heat generated by burning a standard coal can be converted into electricity, and the other 6% can be directly discharged into the atmosphere after cooling.

in p>213, this achievement of fu lin (scientific name "central heating technology based on absorption heat exchange") won the second prize of national technological invention. Datong, Shanxi Province, which was the first to use this technology, has changed from a city with severe smog to a northern city with the best air quality. According to Science and Technology Daily, in 215 and 216, the number of good weather above Grade II in Datong exceeded 3 days, and this technology can save 678, tons of standard coal for Datong every year.

In June p>217, another important achievement of fu lin was to defend the first prize of national technological invention, but the application for bail pending trial was not approved by the court. "fu lin is not harmful to society. Why can't he be released on bail pending trial?" Academician Ni Weidou didn't understand it very much, especially after the state issued many policies to encourage scientific and technological innovation.

So, what did fu lin do?

The reason is that someone wrote a tip-off letter to the Beijing Procuratorate to report his huge corruption. On March 17, 216, the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Haidian District Procuratorate took criminal detention measures against Lin. On April 1st, 216, fu lin was formally arrested. On May 19, 217, the Public Prosecution Office of Haidian Procuratorate formally sued fu lin. According to the indictment, fu lin was charged with two crimes, one was that corruption caused a loss of more than 2.2 million yuan in scientific research funds, and the other was that he misappropriated public funds of 4.39 million yuan.

Almost all professors who are engaged in the transformation of scientific research achievements like fu lin are faced with an "identity suspicion"-they are both national public officials and can make money through the transformation of scientific research achievements, and they hold two jobs at the same time, so it is easy to be suspected of holding national resources for their own use. It is this logic that fu lin was reported for corruption, and so is the "Chu Jian case of Zhejiang University" which had a great influence two years ago. "The efficiency of the transformation of scientific research achievements in our universities is far worse than that in American universities," Professor Zhou Qiren of the National Development Research Institute of Peking University said in an interview. In recent years, the state has issued a large number of policies to encourage the transformation of scientific research achievements, but there are no clear statements and institutional arrangements on some key details.

figure 1: in August 214, fu lin attended the Swedish international academic conference?

troubled technology star

On March 16th, 216, fu lin's schedule was as full as usual, and he went to work in the office after breakfast.

unlike usual, he took the luggage for business trip and prepared to go to Jinan in the afternoon. The next day, he had two important things, one was to attend the technical appraisal meeting organized by China Energy Conservation Association, and the other was to report to the leadership of Jinan Municipal Committee. Fu lin is the chief expert, and the Energy Institute of Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Planning and Design Institute Co., Ltd. (restructured from Tsinghua Urban Planning and Design Institute, hereinafter referred to as "Tsinghua Planning Institute") led by him is the planning and technical supporter of this project.

The afternoon before, fu lin received a phone call from the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Tsinghua University, asking him to go to the Haidian District Procuratorate on March 16th to explain the situation-he was reported for corruption again. At 9 o'clock in the morning, fu lin arrived at Haidian District Procuratorate with his luggage. Judging from this move, it seems that he is still thinking about going on a business trip, and he did not expect what would happen later.

At p>1 o'clock, fu lin's wife Qu Yan received a phone call from Haidian Procuratorate, asking her to deliver some materials.

At p>11 o'clock, when Qu Yan rushed to the procuratorate to hand in the materials, she heard fu lin in the next room explaining loudly and was very angry. Qu Yan remembered that two years ago, someone threatened to "send fu lin in and sentence him to more than 1 years", and she was worried. But she is still confident that as long as fu lin explains the problem clearly, she will come back soon.

This is not the first time that fu lin has been reported-in October 215, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Tsinghua University received a similar report letter, but the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Tsinghua and the Planning Institute found that there was no problem after investigating Lin. Therefore, Qu Yan thinks that it has been made clear before, and it can be made clear this time.

But what she didn't expect was that fu lin was quickly put into a detention center and his voice was never heard again.

At the Paris Climate Conference in p>215, China's promotional film was broadcast for 3 seconds to introduce this unique technology in China. In 216, this technology won the first prize of Beijing Science and Technology, and was recommended to participate in the first prize of national technological invention in 217-but fu lin has lost his freedom, and his bail pending trial has not been approved by the judicial authorities. fu lin missed the defense meeting and missed the award.

In p>25, when making heating planning for Jinan, fu lin was inspired by relevant technologies of waste heat recovery. In this technology, some very important equipment needs to be developed, and later the scientific name is "absorption heat pump". Fu lin first found Tongfang Kawasaki, a subsidiary of Tsinghua Tongfang, which is a company that can produce lithium bromide absorption refrigeration equipment, hoping that it will become a platform for the transformation of this scientific research achievement, but failed. Later, fu lin went to Jiangsu Shuangliang, Yuanda Air Conditioning and other lithium bromide absorption refrigeration equipment companies, but no one paid attention to him. At that time, fu lin was just a young associate professor, a nobody in the industry.

In p>26, when fu lin said that he decided to do it himself, Zhang Shigang didn't quite believe it. "How can I do it without money and people?"

in order to develop this technology, the first thing fu lin did was to convince his family to set up Beijing Huaneng Ruitong Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Huaneng Ruitong") in the second half of 26, and its shareholders were his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

"There is no way to set up this company," said Zhang Shigang. On the one hand, outside companies are unwilling to invest, and on the other hand, the business scope of the Energy Institute is only planning and design, and there is no qualification to develop equipment. In addition, the research and development of this equipment requires more complicated talents, such as thermal engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, etc. Professionally, both professors and technicians with low academic qualifications such as design, drawing, debugging, installation and construction are needed, and the latter cannot be placed in the energy institute, so a company can only be set up as a platform for retaining people.

soon after the company was established, the opportunity came. In 27, fu lin came across the news that the Beijing Science and Technology Commission was soliciting scientific research projects. He excitedly called Zhang Shigang and asked him to get materials to apply for the project. In the end, this project was approved by Beijing Science and Technology Commission with a fund of 8.74 million yuan. More than 2.2 million yuan that fu lin was finally prosecuted for corruption by the procuratorate came from this topic.

with the circulation of more than 2.2 million yuan, four contracts were signed by four institutions. At least on the surface, it is these contracts that have trapped fu lin.

Dangerous Contract

In September, 27, fu lin team won the project of Beijing Science and Technology Commission. The members of the research group include six units including Tsinghua University and North China Electric Power University. Huaneng Ruitong, as the equipment research and development party, is also one of the members of the research group. Among them, Tsinghua University belongs to the lead unit, and the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission will transfer the scientific research funds to the Tsinghua University account, and then Tsinghua University will allocate them to the member units according to the progress.

If it weren't for Academician Jiang Yi, the project would probably have died. Jiang Yi is the only academician in the heating field and enjoys a high reputation in the industry. When he was on a business trip in Inner Mongolia, he met his old friend Jing Shusen, the former chairman of Chifeng Fulong Group, and talked about this technology in fu lin. Jing Shusen is also a veteran in the industry. He was very interested and expressed his willingness to fund the fu lin team to complete the research and development.

finally, Chifeng fulong group decided that its subordinate Chifeng fulong thermal power co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "fulong thermal power") would build the experimental project and sponsor the scientific research expenses. As a result, fu lin and his team were able to continue their scientific research work in Chifeng.

The unexpected appearance of Fulong Thermal Power became the turning point of fu lin's project. Because Huaneng Ruitong has no factory, it can only design drawings and do local experiments, and the equipment production can only be entrusted to outside companies. With the help of Academician Jiang Yi, Tongfang Kawasaki became the equipment entrusted manufacturer of Huaneng Ruitong.

At this time, the funding of fu lin's research group has become two parts: one part comes from the longitudinal research fund of Beijing Science and Technology Commission (transferred to Tsinghua University account in advance), and the other part comes from the sponsorship of Fulong Thermal Power. According to the normal process, all the project funds should be credited to Tsinghua University account and allocated to the project member units by Tsinghua University. However, due to practical reasons, fu lin's research group did not strictly follow this process. In the process of developing equipment, Tsinghua University, Huaneng Ruitong, Fulong Thermal Power and Tongfang Kawasaki signed four contracts, which made fu lin's story very dramatic.

In August p>28, Fulong Thermal Power paid Huaneng Ruitong 3.8 million yuan as the cost of research and development equipment. However, in the contract signed by both parties, the purpose of this payment is that Fulong Thermal Power will purchase 5 sets of equipment from Huaneng Ruitong, amounting to * * * 4.2 million yuan (the final payment amount is 3.8 million yuan).

At that time, it was the most tense moment of R&D. Zhang Shigang was very surprised when he came across the contract. It was obviously the research fee sponsored by Fulong Thermal Power. How did the contract become the money to buy equipment from Huaneng Ruitong? The handler explained to Zhang Shigang that the other party's financial affairs were not good, so the sponsorship fee was compiled into another eye-catching. Zhang Shigang felt that the contract was irrelevant to Wan Li, which seemed inappropriate, but the time was tight and passed quickly.

Jing Shusen, former chairman of Chifeng Fulong Group, confirmed to the reporter that this 3.8 million yuan is indeed the scientific research expense to support fu lin's research group. However, at that time, Fulong Thermal Power was not a member of the research group, so it could not be directly credited to Tsinghua University account, so it was credited to Huaneng Ruitong. In 211, when the project was accepted, Fulong Thermal Power was included in the project member unit. Later, this achievement won the second prize of national technological invention, and Fulong Thermal Power was also one of the winners. On the audited acceptance report of this project, 3.8 million yuan paid by Fulong Thermal Power was clearly listed as research funds.

in October, 28, Huaneng Ruitong paid the equipment processing fee to the same company Kawasaki, which resulted in two contracts.

One contract is a technical service contract signed directly by Tsinghua University and Tongfang Kawasaki, and it is agreed to pay Tongfang Kawasaki 3.27 million yuan. At the same time, Huaneng Ruitong signed another contract with Tongfang Kawasaki, that is, the more detailed Product Entrusted Processing Contract, which stipulated that Huaneng Ruitong would pay all the other expenses except those directly paid by Tsinghua University.

however, the first contract has obvious defects-Tongfang Kawasaki is not a member of the research group, so Tsinghua University should first allocate research funds to Huaneng Ruitong, and then Huaneng Ruitong will pay it to Tongfang Kawasaki. This contract is easy to cause confusion. Literally, Tsinghua University entrusts the production equipment. In fact, Tsinghua University only manages the funds of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

If you look at this confusing contract together with the first contract, you should be able to find hidden problems. In 21, an employee of Huaneng Ruitong had a conflict with fu lin, and threatened to report fu lin. The reason was the above two contracts. Just look at the literal meaning: Tsinghua University paid the same party Kawasaki to make equipment, and Huaneng Ruitong sold these equipment to Fulong Thermal Power, so fu lin was suspected of making profits with public money. This report did not happen in the end, but the danger has emerged.

in August, 21, Huaneng Ruitong made a deposit of RMB 1.5 million into Tsinghua University account. Zhang Shigang said: "At that time, fu lin didn't have much money in Tsinghua University's research account, so he asked Huaneng Ruitong to support some funds." The accounting voucher of Tsinghua University Finance Department shows that the final flow of this 1.5 million yuan is that Tsinghua University collects a certain percentage of management fees and then transfers them to fu lin's scientific research account for subsequent technical research.

fig. 2: March 29, fu lin Research Group Chifeng Experimental Engineering Appraisal Meeting, Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. Second on the left is fu lin?

The indictment of Beijing Haidian District Procuratorate accuses fu lin of: "Five of the seven devices developed by Tsinghua University with Beijing financial research funds were sold to Chifeng Fulong Thermal Power Company, a member of the project, in the name of Beijing Huaneng Ruitong Co., Ltd., which was controlled by individuals, making Huaneng Ruitong a profit of 3.8 million RMB. Before the incident, Huaneng Ruitong returned 1.5 million yuan to Tsinghua University in the name of prototype and prototype equipment recycling, resulting in more than 2.2 million scientific research losses. "

It's strange that Huaneng Rui invested 1.5 million yuan into the account in Tsinghua University, and the content of the contract was just equipment recycling, which just confirmed the details of selling the equipment to Fulong Thermal Power in the first contract.

then, why did you sign such a contract? Zhang Shigang said that after fu lin was threatened by the employee, they also felt that the previous contract was ill-considered, so when signing this contract, they wanted to make up for it, and wanted to make things more clear about the equipment, so they got the so-called equipment recovery money. "But this contract is extremely vague. It doesn't say who made the equipment and who owns it, so it doesn't specify whose equipment to recycle." Zhang Shigang said, but I didn't expect that the more I said it, the more I said it, the more I didn't understand it.

However, Professor Zhu Yingxin, vice president of the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University, thinks that there is nothing to be said about this research funding in fu lin. She introduced that there are two kinds of topics for teachers in colleges and universities. One is the vertical topic established by state institutions, such as the topic applied by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Beijing Science and Technology Commission and Natural Science Foundation. One is a horizontal project, such as a project entrusted by an enterprise. The management of the vertical project is very strict, and the project was audited by a special audit institution when it was completed. In 211, this project in fu lin passed the audit and successfully completed the project.

"The vertical research funds are to be spent on projects, which should be spent according to the budget. If there is a surplus, it should be recovered according to the state regulations." Professor Zhu Yingxin asked, "According to some people's logic, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission allocated 3.27 million yuan, Huaneng Ruitong returned 1.5 million yuan, and more than 2.2 million yuan that was not returned was a loss. However, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission's total funding for this project is 8.74 million yuan. Is it a loss if other project members have not returned it? If all 8.74 million yuan is returned to the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, it is equivalent to the fact that this project should not be established at the beginning! "

Jianghu of business

The contents of the report received by Jiangyin Public Security Bureau involved a cooperative project between Energy Institute and another company in fu lin, Huaqing Taimeng, and Shanxi Branch of Jiangsu Shuangliang Group, and the basis of the report was still a contract. It is understood that Tsinghua Planning Institute has conducted a detailed investigation and sorting out of this project, and believes that the facts are clear, which is a normal economic exchange between enterprises, and there is no violation. Tsinghua Planning Institute made an explanation to Jiangyin Public Security Bureau, but the matter went away.

In August p>21, fu lin registered Qu Yan with Huaqing Taimeng as its legal representative. The background of the establishment of the company is that the fu lin team is about to win the heating renovation project of the shantytown renovation project of Datong Tongmei Group. "Before Huaneng Ruitong, there was no management at all, which led to a lot of messy things. If the Datong project can be taken down, everyone feels that there may be opportunities and hopes to have a clean platform to operate. "