In the late 19th century, the second industrial revolution began to exert its full force, and scientific and technological innovations emerged one after another.

As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, Austria was the first to enjoy the dividends of scientific and technological progress, and the domestic economic development train directly rushed to the fast lane.

By the end of 1877, 80 percent of Austria's cities had access to electricity, and the rest were in progress.

This speed is beyond everyone's imagination, and the fundamental reason for all this is the progress of science and technology.

No one expected that power generation technology would make another breakthrough in a short period of time. The power of the generator has increased, and the coal consumption has been reduced to 450 grams ~ 630 grams / kW? Time.

The disparity is mainly due to the quality of coal. Austria's power plants are privately owned, so there is no need for the government to standardize coal standards.

Secondly, there is the gap in power generation technology. Different power plants, power generation technology has also begun to widen the gap, and a new round of survival of the fittest is about to begin.

At the same time as the cost of power generation is falling, the Austrian metallurgical industry has also made breakthroughs. The price of copper in the market has fallen sharply, resulting in a decrease in the cost of wire production.

The drastic reduction in costs has made the establishment of a power supply network no longer a dream, laying a decisive foundation for the popularization of electricity.

The spread of electricity has not only revolutionized lighting technology, but also revolutionized industry. Machines and devices that use electricity as energy sources have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

In addition to electric technology, there is also a major development in internal combustion engine technology. This epochal invention swept the steam engine directly into the garbage heap.

Of course, this will take time, and now the steam engine is still the mainstream of the times. Even Austria, which was at the forefront of the industrial revolution, was just beginning to experiment with internal combustion engines.

But the potential of the internal combustion engine has already been seen. Capital is profit-seeking, and after realizing the huge potential of internal combustion engines, the number of enterprises developing internal combustion engines has increased rapidly.

Especially for enterprises engaged in machinery and equipment manufacturing, if they do not launch new power research and development projects, they will not be able to keep up with the times.

Quantitative change leads to qualitative change, and the more people participate, there will always be results. For example, the internal combustion engine car was born ahead of schedule.

Of course, limited by power technology, internal combustion engine vehicles in this era have no practical value. A car that runs thirty or forty kilometers and needs to be maintained once obviously has no economic value.

The cars in use on the market are all steam engine-powered cars. However, because the noise is too loud, the brakes are not flexible, and it is easy to have accidents in case of emergencies, so it is forbidden to use it in the city.

Although the steam engine car is bulky, inconvenient to use, and relatively slow, the load capacity is still good. This kind of black technology equipment is usually active in mines.

Occasionally, there are local tyrants who are not afraid of death and use this steam engine version of a large car. If the size of the car is small, where will the steam engine go?

Franz has always admired these warriors. Without their spirit of death, Austria's automotive industry would not have developed so fast.

As the saying goes, there is a market, there is production. After realizing the needs of the local tycoons, automobile companies began to develop internal combustion engine vehicles.

Of course, there are deviations. As far as Franz knew, there were also people who were engaged in electric cars.

It is not to install a battery, there is no technology in this era, but to directly install a small generator, and then install a motor as a power system.

Whether it can be done or not, Franz does not know. Anyway, this kind of car, the final volume must not be small.

When the volume is large, the dead weight will also go up. If you want to run, you can only increase the power of the motor, and by the way, increase the power of the generator.

This is a vicious circle, the more powerful the machine in this year, the larger the volume, the weight of the machine increases, and the problem is fed back again.

In this respect, this kind of super-modern car has lost its market competitiveness in the research and development process.

Scientific and technological innovation is worth encouraging, and even if it fails in the end, it can also be learned.

After seeing this news on the news, Franz just laughed it off and didn't mean to interfere.

If an enterprise wants to survive for a long time, it is not possible to learn lessons and lessons without taking several detours.

If the business manager does not have a good vision, or his own judgment is insufficient, then sooner or later it will be doomed. Such an enterprise has no value to save at all.

Half a step ahead is a genius, and a step ahead is a madman. Ahead of the curve, Franz doesn't know what it is, probably going to become a martyr!

Who knows? A lot of scientific and technological innovation is unintentionally planted in the willows, in case the enterprise is lucky, in the road to death to make other valuable by-products, can also make a lot of money.

For example: make the motor smaller and more powerful; Or to make the generator smaller, which is possible under existing industrial conditions.

There are many similar advanced projects, such as electric trains.

In the end, the development of an electrically powered train failed, but a tram was unexpectedly created.

This is also considered lucky, the Austrian railway company, which spent a lot of money on research and development, directly changed to urban internal transportation.

Trams are significantly more competitive than horse-drawn buses and steam buses, and there are already several cities in Austria that use this advanced mode of transport.

Different from later generations, it takes several years, or even more than ten years, for a project to be promoted from birth to use.

Today's capitalists are undoubtedly much more active, and usually after a new product comes out, it only takes a few months, or a year or two at the longest, to promote it to the market.

The most important factor is interests, and now many industries have just begun, and there are not so many interest groups in the way.

Most of the horse-drawn buses and steam engine buses are government-funded infrastructure projects, and the Austrian government will not refuse more advanced and lower-cost trams available.

There are successes, and there are naturally failures. For example, if a big tyrant came up with a "moon landing plan", Franz could only sigh that he was rich and capricious.

If you want to go to the moon in this era, it's better to go to bed early, and it will come true in your dreams.

The project has only just begun, and there are no results yet. However, the momentum is quite big, and it is said that dozens of wealthy people in China have invested and are ready to start the interstellar era of mankind.

If the project can last for 180 years, there may be a chance of success, and if it wants to generate economic value, maybe this time will be doubled.

In any case, this spirit of scientific research is still worth encouraging.

If nothing else, the moon landing program should win the Austrian award for best scientific and technological innovation in 1878, while the interstellar project will win the award for the most promising project.

These awards were specially set up by Franz to encourage scientific and technological innovation.

There are only two application conditions, and you can meet any one: first, the project has achieved phased results; Second, the project investment is more than 1 million Aegis.

Of course, there is also a premise for this, that is, scientific research projects must be beneficial to mankind.

Award-winning projects can apply for free scientific research sites, water and electricity costs are halved, and local governments will also vigorously cooperate with the project team.

Not to mention tax exemption, all research projects in Austria are supported by the government. The prerequisite is to accept the government's supervision of scientific research funds, and prevent people from using scientific research to launder money.

Theoretically speaking, regardless of whether the project can succeed in the end, as long as it draws a big pie, gains social recognition, and is willing to throw money into it, it is possible to win the award.

The moon landing program and even the interstellar program that followed it are money-throwing projects and have been widely recognized by the society.

This is only an honorary award, and it is not too difficult to win. The real scientific research award is also the scientific and technological contribution award issued by the royal family, in addition to the cash award, there is also a knighthood award.

It's just that the award must have good scientific research results, and if it is theoretical research, it must also be recognized by the scientific community.

The "Science and Technology Contribution Award" is not every year, it is awarded once every three years, regardless of the field, only looking at the achievements in science and technology.

Overseas scientists can also sign up, and Franz is not a refusal.

Of course, this is theoretical, Austrian scientists in the field of military industry can also win awards, and scientists in the field of overseas military industry will not have a chance.

There is no way, the award is to test the success of science and technology. Military technology is strictly secret, and you can't just give the results to the Austrians for the sake of winning awards!

Can you really believe that the Austrian jury will not use these techniques for their own use?

If someone did that, Franz wouldn't skimp on the reward. Including the follow-up impact, he is willing to carry around.