At the 2012 National Science and Technology awards ceremony, in Beijing, on Jan 18, Hebei province had 15 project winners, five of them from the province itself, two of them in second place for technological inventions and three in second place for scientific and technological progress.

Those in second place for technological inventions were for raw materials and formulation and industrial application of levoamlodipine maleate from the Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group and design, preparation and application of new zirconium alloys from Yanshan Univesity. While the other three second prizes of national scientific and technological progress covered agriculture, chemical equipment and medical treatment sectors.

The National Science and Technology award is one of the highest honors for scientists with major breakthroughs in cutting-edge scientific and technological work. The categories are top science and technology, natural science, technological invention, scientific and technological progress, and international scientific and technological cooperation.