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The "space journey" of a seed has opened up a high-tech journey that integrates aerospace, breeding, and genetics. "Space breeding pearls", "space breeding bird's nests", "space ketogenic coffee"... Subtle changes have occurred inside the seeds that traveled in space. Zhang Chuanjun, director of the Space Breeding Center of the New Aerospace Starry Sky Laboratory and a senior engineer of aerospace breeding, and his team of partners spent several years cultivating the "Yandan No. 1" that returned to Earth on the Shenzhou 11 manned spacecraft into an Internet celebrity product, and the large-scale launch of flowers was a success. They even opened an online store on the e-commerce platform, allowing the "new space products" in the laboratory to take root in the fertile soil of the market, and tried to customize test tubes and make deep-processed products to empower product value. From the "super laboratory" of space to the ground laboratory, new varieties have broken ground, and e-commerce has become the preferred test field for new species to break the circle.

Seeds enter the "super laboratory"

Zhang Chuanjun can still recall the excitement he felt when orders flooded into his Taobao store in March this year. At that time, the flower seed packages were quickly sold out by users in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other places soon after they were put on the "New Aerospace Starry Sky Laboratory" store.

Unlike ordinary flower seeds, these flower seed packs have traveled through space on a spacecraft, experienced the impact of the cosmic environment, and then returned to Earth with the spacecraft to be planted and cultivated in ground laboratories, including the hot-selling new space-bred Shandandan variety "Yandan No. 1" seed packs, as well as space-bred roses and carnations. It is understood that the male parent flower seeds of "Yandan No. 1" were once sent into space on the Shenzhou 11 manned spacecraft, and then formed into a new variety "Yandan No. 1" through protoplast fusion.

Space is like a "super laboratory". After a trip, seeds undergo complex and prominent mutations. Zhang Chuanjun said that because the microgravity, weak magnetic field, radiation particle impact, ultra-high vacuum, high and low temperature in the space environment are significantly different from those on the ground, the characteristics of seeds that have been baptized in the "super laboratory" have also changed. After being carried by space, the seeds will return to the ground for breeding. The experimenters will continue to breed seeds with better characteristics for about 5 generations to obtain excellent seeds.

The seed bag of "Yandan No. 1" is a new species. Compared with ordinary shandan, it is resistant to high temperature, low temperature, waterlogging, drought and stress. It is not afraid of high temperature of 40 degrees, and can survive the winter normally at minus 30 degrees. It can be planted in acidic and alkaline soil. The flowers of "Yandan No. 1" are not only brighter in color, but also have a longer flowering period and a more fragrant fragrance.

In fact, domestic space breeding technology has been developed for a long period of time. According to Xinhua News Agency, in August 1987, China's ninth recoverable satellite carried rice, pepper and other seeds for the first time, opening the space journey of Chinese crop seeds. At present, China has conducted more than 3,000 space breeding experiments, bred more than 260 staple food varieties, hundreds of new varieties of vegetables, fruits, forest grass and flowers, and increased grain production by more than 2 billion kilograms per year, creating direct economic benefits of more than 100 billion yuan.

"What our laboratory has to do is to bring these seeds back from space to the market and bring aerospace technology into daily life." Zhang Chuanjun is quite confident about the subsequent development of the laboratory. He chose to open an online store on the e-commerce platform because he saw a large number of young consumers on the e-commerce platform who are willing to try new things and are more tolerant of new things. On the consumer side, words such as "space vegetables" and "space flowers" are still full of novelty in the eyes of users. For ordinary consumers, space breeding is too far away and out of touch with reality. Zhang Chuanjun's laboratory is working hard to change this situation.

If you want to enter the market, you need a stable industrial chain

The "space flowers" going online is just the first step out of the laboratory. In order to take root and sprout in the "soil" of the market, Zhang Chuanjun and his team have been overcoming many challenges. In December 2023, the seed bags of "Yandan No. 1" were still planted in the experimental base. In March 2024, Zhang Chuanjun's Taobao online store went online, which meant that the seeds in the laboratory would enter the market; in April, the online store began to ship on time. In order to catch up with the express delivery period as much as possible, Zhang Chuanjun and his team hurried to dig the seed bags out of the thawed soil.

However, the fulfillment process was not easy. Due to the team's immature delivery experience, the built-in fillers of some seed package delivery boxes shifted during the delivery process, and the small buds on the seed packages received by some users were broken. Although there were only one or two, Zhang Chuanjun believed that this was a 100% loss for the customers who purchased it, which was not in line with the "no risk" spirit of aerospace.

Although the "Yandan No. 1" can bloom again the following year after the buds are broken, Zhang Chuanjun realized that if "space flowers" want to really enter the market and achieve scale and commercialization, they still need the support of a complete industrial chain. Damage during express transportation is only one link. If some flowers are out of the specific temperature, light, air, heat, water and fertilizer environment of the laboratory during the planting process, they can easily die.

How can "space flowers" be more adaptable to the complex environment in which customers live? "We are developing 'space flowers' grown in test tubes, which can create a suitable environment of water, fertilizer, air and heat to ensure that the flowers can survive in the test tubes for two months." Zhang Chuanjun said that this requires relying on the resources of the entire industrial chain, including finding suitable test tube production and nutrient fertilizer suppliers across the country, etc., and requires a lot of expansion in technology, products, assembly and other dimensions.

In order to drive the development of the aerospace breeding industry chain, economic benefits are an important driving force. Only when all parties in the chain can make profits can they promote emerging commodities such as space seeds to truly enter the market and reach customers. In order to more efficiently increase the production capacity of "space seeds" and achieve economies of scale, Zhang Chuanjun and his team began to try to launch some deep-processed products on e-commerce platforms in 2023, such as "space anthocyanin powder (beverage)", "space ketogenic coffee", "space amino acid blood-enriching donkey-hide gelatin", and "space breeding green wheat kernels", thereby exploring more consumption scenarios and avoiding product damage during transportation and other links.

For example, after being bred in space, the lycopene in tomatoes will be more prominent. "We extract lycopene and put it into soy milk powder. This substance is very helpful for anti-oxidation and beauty." Zhang Chuanjun said frankly: Using these vegetables and fruits with high-quality traits can open up many application scenarios and product lines.

At the same time, e-commerce's traffic marketing effect and precise targeted crowd push can also accelerate the breakthrough of new categories. Zhao Zhenying, a researcher at the National Engineering Laboratory for E-commerce Transaction Technology, pointed out that e-commerce platforms have a broad user base and strong marketing capabilities, which can quickly bring new technology products to the market and increase product awareness and sales. At the same time, companies can also collect a large amount of customer feedback data, which is of great value for the iterative optimization and continuous improvement of new technologies.

E-commerce provides a platform to help commercialization

As e-commerce consumption penetrates deeply, more and more unique and novel products are emerging. Not only "space flowers", but also new species such as "AI strawberries" and "cyber lettuce" have gained more exposure under the promotion of e-commerce companies. For the platform, novel and unique products can enrich the overall supply and add freshness to consumption. On the other hand, e-commerce can also become a test field for new technologies and new products, so that the results in the "laboratory" have the opportunity to be tested by the market, helping enterprises and academia to further optimize their products.

Take the agricultural science and technology innovation platform "Duoduo Agricultural Research and Technology Competition" as an example. The competition is a collaboration between Pinduoduo and China Agricultural University, and provides a platform for young scientists and teams from different fields to explore smart agriculture. At the end of March this year, the 2024 Guangming Duoduo Vertical Agriculture Challenge and the 4th "Duoduo Agricultural Research and Technology Competition" kicked off, requiring participating teams to transform a 20-foot standard container into a "new farmland" within the specified budget, and design a smart planting plan for lettuce production.

This means that the above competition will not only compete in hydroponic lettuce AI planting, but also in the manufacturing level of container-type plant factories, and will conduct a comprehensive skill assessment of the participating teams in terms of system design, equipment manufacturing, installation and debugging capabilities, planting level, etc. At that time, Zhu Zheng, senior vice president and chief development officer of Pinduoduo, said that although plant factories have freed agricultural production from dependence on the natural environment, if the construction and operation costs are high and the fruits and vegetables produced cannot enter the homes of ordinary people, the current situation of agriculture "relying on the weather for food" will not change.

"We need to examine the products in the laboratory from the perspective of the entire industrial chain in order to truly solve the problem of moving from the laboratory to the market." Zhang Chuanjun emphasized to the Beijing Business Daily reporter that if a scientific research product cannot be connected with the market, then from the perspective of market evaluation, it cannot be called a completely successful scientific research product.

Trying new sales channels for new categories means exploring more business model possibilities. "The flexibility and innovation of e-commerce platforms provide more impetus for the commercialization of new technologies." Zhao Zhenying believes that, for example, through pre-sales and crowdfunding, companies can verify market demand before the product is officially launched and reduce inventory risks. At the same time, e-commerce platforms have also spawned new sales models such as live streaming, providing new ways to promote new technology products.

Branding is also an important process in the commercialization of new technologies. E-commerce platforms can become an important battlefield for brand building and promotion. Zhao Zhenying mentioned that through continuous brand marketing and promotion activities on e-commerce platforms, new technology products can gradually establish a brand image and increase market awareness.

According to relevant Taobao officials, for niche new products such as "space flowers", the platform will provide 30 days of new product traffic support, providing search and recommendation traffic exposure. In addition, Tmall Little Black Box, 88vip Channel, Uxian, etc. are also committed to discovering high-quality new products in the Taobao system. At the same time, companies can also cooperate with vertical category Dabo and gardening experts to let more consumers know about new products.

"E-commerce platforms should actively guide the brand's commercialization process and formulate relevant regulatory systems to guide its development." Zhao Zhenying explained that by formulating and enforcing platform rules, e-commerce platforms can ensure the compliance of new technology products, maintain market order, and protect consumer rights.

Beijing Business Daily reporter He Qian and Qiao Xinyi