Sichuan Province Engineering Technology Research Center of Liquor-Making Grains (the Engineering Center) was established in September 2019, which is the first research institution dedicated to researching special grains for brewing in China. The Engineering Center is jointly initiated by Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Wuliangye Yibin Co., Ltd and Xike Agricultural Group Co., Ltd.     

The Engineering Center unites 8 academicians, 13 experts involved in breeding, fermentation and production technology, as well as nine scientific research institutes to promote liquor raw material testing system, R&D of special grain varieties and construction of high-quality raw material bases with special grains for brewing as the orientation, science and technology as the support, and high-quality resources as the backing. The Engineering Center is committed to improving the ability of scientific and technological innovation and transformation of achievements, and providing systematic and perfect solutions for the improvement of the quality of Chinese liquor.

The Engineering Center has a reasonable structure, vigorous scientific research team, the existing staff of 44 people, including 15 senior professional and technical titles, 21 intermediate professional and technical titles, 23 PhD, 10 masters, 1 National Thousand Talents Program, 3 Provincial Thousand Talents Program, 2 Provincial Academic and Technical Leaders, 1 Academic and Technical Leaders and Reserve Candidates in Sichuan Province, and 1 National Judge of Baijiu. Relying on the favorable conditions of Sichuan, a large province of liquor production, the Engineering Center has cultivated a number of high-level excellent research talents in the field of brewing raw materials and its related fields, and is a leading institution for cultivating talents in the field of brewing raw materials in China.

The engineering center has an experimental platform of about 500 square meters and a pilot base of 3,000 square meters, with more than 200 sets of intelligent Xiaoqu traditional Chinese spirits breweing system, Daqu  traditional Chinese spirits breweing system, intelligent round-plate brewing system, mechanized Daqu brewery system, and related analytical, testing and other instrumentation, valued at 15 million yuan. The center has built research bases of 720 mu in Li Zhuang Town, Cuiping District, Yibin City, Sichuan Province, Daiji Town, Fushun County, Zigong City, Lexing Town, Anzhou District, Mianyang City, Huaibin County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, Zhongliao Village, Jiyang District, Sanya City, Hainan Province, and Linze County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, respectively; and seed production bases of 25,000 mu in Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Fujian, Gansu, Sichuan, and other places; at the same time, it actively cooperates with the local government, relevant departments, and large-scale agricultural production and operation entities, and has established a research base in Sichuan Province. At the same time, actively cooperate with local governments, relevant departments, large agricultural production and management bodies, in Sichuan Province, Yibin City, Zigong City, Mianyang City, Henan Xinyang City, Gansu Zhangye City, Sanya City, Hainan Province, and other advantageous areas outside the planning and construction of a number of brewing grain production bases, the production capacity of more than one million acres per year for the standardization of brewing special grain varieties, large-scale production to provide a solid guarantee.

The Engineering Center carries out research around the quality characteristics of special grains, brewing characteristics, quality testing, planting technology, comprehensive utilization of by-products and other directions. It has undertaken 31 scientific research projects, including 3 national projects and 5 provincial and ministerial projects, with funding of more than 24 million yuan; published 30 scientific and technological papers, including 15 SCI papers; applied for 6 invention patents, and authorized 2 invention patents; won 1 Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress Prize; formulated 9 local standards; selected and bred more than 10 varieties of special grains for brewing, and 3 of the varieties have been validated and passed. These 3 quality varieties of special grains for winemaking have been promoted and applied to wine enterprises by Sichuan Light Grain Company, which is the only platform designated by the Center for the transformation of achievements, and the transformation of achievements has exceeded RMB 40 million.