Technological innovation in Beijing Olympics

Organizers of the Beijing Olympic Games say China's homegrown technological innovation is the driving force in the preparation of the games. They say the country's state-of-the-art scientific and technological achievements have been incorporated into the construction of venues and preparation of facilities. And the Olympic Games is also a collective display of the country's scientific strength.

Organizers of the Beijing Olympic Games say China's  homegrown technological innovation is the driving force in the preparation of the games.

The Bird's Nest and Water Cube are household names in China. For the general public, they are synonymous with the magnificence of the Beijing Olympic Games. But behind the grandeur lies the hard work of some of the best scientific minds in the country.

A spokesman of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, Yang Weiguang, says the greatest wish of the venues' construction team is to give the world a lasting legacy of modern architecture.

He says the steel structure is one of the hardest parts in the construction of every Olympic venue. A total of 150,000 tons of steel has been used to set up the framework to support these colossal structures. More than 50 of the latest technological achievements were applied in the construction of the Bird's Nest alone. And the use of environmentally-friendly materials and clean energy is one of the focuses.

Yang Weiguang says the seven new Olympic venues in Beijing cover a land area of nearly 2 million square kilometers. Nearly 27 percent of the venues was built with recycled materials. Solar-power generating units have been installed at all 7 venues. And the rain water collection system at these venues can contribute up to one million tons of water every year.

Authorities say the safety of these Olympic venues is also a primary concern. They say all venues will be watched around-the-clock by a monitoring system. The structural parameters of these venues under different circumstances will be recorded constantly. And emergency plans have been worked out to cope with some of the worst-case scenarios, such as earthquakes or over-loading.