In the late 19th century, the second industrial revolution began to take effect, and technological innovations emerged one after another.
As the birthplace of the industrial revolution, Austria was the first to enjoy the benefits of technological progress, and the domestic economic development directly ran into the fast lane.
By the end of 1877, 80% of the cities in Austria had universal access to electricity, and the rest of the cities were still in progress.
This speed was beyond everyone's imagination. The root cause of all this was the advancement of technology.
No one expected that power generation technology would make another breakthrough in such a short time. The power of the generator increased, and the coal consumption had decreased to 450-630 grams per kilowatt-hour.
The main reason for such a huge gap was the quality of the coal. Austria's power plants were all private enterprises, and naturally, there was no need for the government to unify the coal consumption standards.
Secondly, it was the gap in power generation technology. Different power plants and power generation technology began to differ, and a new round of competition was about to begin.
While the cost of power generation decreased, Austria's metallurgy industry also made a breakthrough. The price of copper on the market fell sharply, and the production cost of wires decreased.
The substantial decrease in cost made the establishment of a power supply network no longer a dream, and it laid a decisive foundation for the popularization of electricity.
The popularization of electricity not only brought about a revolution in lighting technology, but also an industrial revolution. Mechanical equipment using electricity as energy source sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain.
In addition to electricity technology, there was also a great development in internal combustion engine technology. This epoch-making invention directly swept the steam engine into the garbage heap.
Of course, this still needed time, and the steam engine was still the mainstream of the era. Even Austria, which was at the forefront of the industrial revolution, had just begun to experiment with internal combustion engine equipment.
However, everyone had already seen the potential of the internal combustion engine. After realizing the huge potential of the internal combustion engine, the number of companies researching and developing internal combustion engines increased rapidly.
Especially the companies engaged in machinery and equipment manufacturing, if they didn't start the research and development project, then they couldn't keep up with the times.
Quantitative change led to qualitative change, and with more people involved, there would always be results. For example, the internal combustion engine car was born ahead of time.
Of course, limited by the power technology, the internal combustion engine car of this era had no practical value. The car that needed maintenance every 30 to 40 kilometers obviously didn't have economic value.
The cars on the market that were put into use were all powered by steam engines. However, because it was too noisy, the brakes were not flexible, and it was easy to cause accidents in unexpected situations, it was banned in the city.
Although the steam engine car was cumbersome, inconvenient to use, and ran slowly, it still had a good carrying capacity. This kind of black technology equipment was usually active in mines.
Occasionally, there were some rich people who were not afraid of death who used this steam engine version of the large car. If the size of the car was too small, where would the steam engine go?
Franz had always admired these brave warriors. Without their spirit of seeking death, the Austrian automobile industry would not have developed so fast.
As the saying goes, where there is a market, there will be production. After realizing the needs of the local tycoons, the automobile companies began to develop internal combustion engines.
Of course, there were also those who went astray. As far as Franz knew, there were still people working on electric cars.
It was not to install a battery, as there was no such technology in this era. Instead, it was to install a small generator and an electric motor as the power system.
Franz didn't know if he could do it or not. In any case, this kind of car would definitely not be small in the end.
The bigger it was, the heavier it became. In order to run, the only way was to increase the power of the motor and the generator.
This was a vicious cycle. In this day and age, the more powerful a machine was, the bigger it was, and the heavier it was. The problem was fed back again.
From this aspect, this kind of futuristic car had lost its competitiveness in the market during the research and development process.
Technological innovation was worth encouraging. Even if it failed in the end, it could be learned from the experience.
After seeing this news on the news, Franz only smiled and had no intention of interfering.
For a company to survive in the long run, it would not do without taking a few detours and learning from the experience.
If the company's operator was not good, or their own judgment was not good enough, it would be finished sooner or later. There was no value in saving this kind of company.
Being half a step ahead was a genius, but being one step ahead was a lunatic. Franz did not know what would happen if he was a few steps ahead. He would probably become a martyr!
Who knows? Many scientific and technological innovations were inadvertently successful. If the company was lucky and created other valuable by-products on the path of death, they could also make a lot of money.
For example, reducing the size of the electric motor and increasing the power, or reducing the size of the generator. These were all achievable under the current industrial conditions.
There were many similar advanced projects. For example, electric trains.
In the end, the development of electric trains failed, but they accidentally created a tram.
This was also considered lucky. The Austrian railway company, which had spent a lot of money on research and development, directly changed to urban transportation.
Trams were obviously more competitive than horse-drawn buses and steam buses. Currently, many cities in Austria had adopted this advanced mode of transportation.
Unlike the later generations, a project from birth to use would take a few years or even more than a decade to promote.
Capitalists were undoubtedly more active now. Usually, after a new product was introduced, it would only take a few months, at most one or two years, to promote it to the market.
The most important factor was profit. Many industries had just started, and there were not many interest groups to hinder them.
Horse-Drawn buses and steam buses were mostly infrastructure projects funded and subsidized by the government. The Government of Austria would naturally not reject the more advanced and lower cost trams.
There were successes, and naturally, there were failures. For example, if a tycoon came up with a "moon landing plan," Franz could only sigh at the capriciousness of the rich.
In this era, it was better to sleep early if one wanted to go to the moon. It would be realized in their dreams.
This project had just started, and there were no results for the time being. However, the momentum was quite big. It was said that there were already dozens of tycoons in the country who were preparing to start the interstellar era.
If this project could last for eighty to a hundred years, there might be a possibility of success. If they wanted to produce economic value, the duration might be twice as long.
In any case, this kind of scientific research spirit was worth encouraging.
If there were no accidents, the moon landing plan would probably win the 1878 Austrian Award for the Best Scientific Innovation, and the interstellar project would win the Most Promising Project Award.
These awards were specially set up by Franz to encourage scientific innovation.
There were only two conditions for application, and any one of them was fine. First, the project had achieved in-progress results. Second, the project investment was more than one million SD.
Of course, there was another condition, and that was the research project must be beneficial to humanity.
The winning project could apply for free use of the research site, water and electricity costs would be halved, and the local government would also vigorously cooperate with the project team.
There was no need to mention tax exemptions. All research projects in Austria could receive tax exemptions from the government. The prerequisite was that the research funds had to be supervised by the government to prevent people from using research to launder money.
In theory, it didn't matter if the project was successful or not. As long as it had a big picture, gained social recognition, and was willing to spend money on it, it was possible to win the award.
The moon landing plan, and even the interstellar project, were all projects that required a lot of money and were widely recognized by society.
This was only an honorary award, and the difficulty of winning it was not high. The real scientific research award was the Scientific Contribution Award issued by the royal family. Other than the cash prize, there was also the title of nobility.
However, to win the award, one must have a good research result. If it was a theoretical research, it must also be recognized by the scientific community.
The "Scientific Contribution Award" was not given every year. It was given out once every three years, and it did not depend on the field.
Overseas scientists could also apply, and Franz did not reject anyone.
Of course, this was only in theory. Austrian scientists in the military field could also win the award, but scientists in the military field from overseas had no chance.
There was no choice. The award was to test the success of the technology. Military technology was strictly confidential. They could not just show the results to the Austrians just to win the award!
Did everyone really believe that the Austrian judges wouldn't use this technology for their own use?
If someone really did that, Franz would not be stingy with the reward. He was willing to bear the consequences, including the consequences.
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