Technology has become a vital tool to lift several poverty-stricken regions in China. Shuicheng County in southwest China, where one in five residents suffered from poverty in 2016, has turned rocks into profitable basalt fiber with the help of science.

The county has been in the spotlight due to high demand from the construction, transportation, automotive, and aerospace sectors. Shuicheng County is estimated to have reserves of nearly 300 million tonnes of basalt rocks.

With the help of CAS, Shuichen has achieved breakthroughs in basalt fiber production, product development, and standard formulation. It has successfully increased production by nearly seven times and created more than 180 jobs.