Strive for Greater Strength and Self-Reliance in Science and Technology

Strive for Greater Strength and Self-Reliance in Science and Technology*

May 28, 2021

In today’s world, change on a scale unseen in a century is unfolding rapidly. The international environment is complex, the world economy has remained sluggish, global industrial and supply chains are being reshaped, and instability and uncertainty are on the rise. The Covid-19 pandemic is having a far-reaching impact, and support for deglobalization, unilateralism and protectionism is surging.

Against this backdrop, scientific and technological innovation has become one of the main fields of international strategic competition, and the contest in key sci-tech areas is fierce. Therefore, we must maintain an acute sense of potential risks and challenges, and be well-prepared in both mind and action.

At present, a new revolution in science, technology and industry is in rapid progress. The paradigms of scientific research are undergoing profound change; interdisciplinary integration is expanding steadily; and sci-tech advances are rapidly translating into economic and social development.

Scientific and technological innovation has greatly advanced the frontiers of global research in macro fields, including the revolution of celestial bodies, the evolution of galaxies, and the origin of the universe, and in micro fields, including gene editing, particle structures, and quantum control.

Scientific and technological innovation has significantly increased the depth of human knowledge, with deep space exploration becoming a key field, and deep sea and deep earth exploration extending humanity’s understanding of nature.

Scientific and technological innovation has accelerated exponentially, with emerging technologies represented by information technology and artificial intelligence at the forefront, expanding the limits of time, space, and human cognition, and ushering in an era of intelligent interconnection of everything, featuring a ternary integration of man, computer and object.

Basic and applied research in biological sciences is making rapid progress. The precision of scientific and technological innovation has increased remarkably, with research on biomacromolecules and genes having entered the stage of precise control. While bringing benefits to humanity, the transition from understanding and transforming to synthesizing and designing life also gives rise to ethical issues.

Through years of endeavor, our country’s overall strength in science and technology has improved substantially. We therefore have a solid foundation, and are fully confident in our ability to seize the opportunities offered by the new revolution in science, technology and industry to achieve greater results.

Meanwhile, we should also note that China still needs to strengthen its capacity for original innovation, raise its overall innovation efficiency, and better integrate and allocate its innovation resources. To effectively underpin development in science and technology, China has to increase the return on its investment, optimize the talent structure, reform its research evaluation system, and improve the ecosystems for innovation. Many of these deficiencies are long-standing, and it will require a considerable effort to resolve them.

The 19th CPC National Congress set the strategic goal that China will become a global leader in innovation by 2035. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee stated that we should uphold the core role of innovation in our country’s modernization drive and take greater strength and self-reliance in science and technology as a strategic support for national development.

To ground our efforts in the new development stage, apply our new development philosophy, foster the new development dynamic, and promote high-quality development, we must further implement our strategies for invigorating China through science and education, making China a talent-strong country, and driving development through innovation. We must also improve the national innovation system and achieve more self-reliance to become a pioneer in science and technology.

First, we should devote more effort to original and pioneering research and make breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. A country can thrive only when it is strong in science and technology.

Reinforcing basic research is essential to building greater strength and self-reliance in science and technology, and to transforming the unknown into knowledge, and uncertainty into certainty. We should expedite the preparation of a 10-year action plan for basic research. We should be bold in the extent of our reach and highlight originality. In furthering our exploration into the evolution of the universe, the nature of consciousness, the structure of matter, and the origin of life, we seek to extend our understanding of nature and open new realms of knowledge.

Basic research should be oriented towards applications and breaking through bottlenecks. It should identify research questions from the practical problems facing economic growth, social development, and national security, and grasp the basic theories and principles of technological barriers. We should increase and optimize fiscal spending on basic research, offer tax incentives for enterprises to invest in basic research, and encourage social organizations and individuals to fund basic research through multiple channels – including making donations and establishing foundations – to form stable mechanisms for sustainable funding.

Major science and technology programs should focus on solving the most pressing problems. To meet the urgent and long-term needs of the country, we should devote attention to core technologies in key fields, including oil and gas, basic materials, high-end chips, industrial software, crop seeds, equipment for scientific experiments, and chemicals, and look to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in medicines, medical devices and equipment, and vaccines.

In basic and core areas bearing on China’s overall development and national security, we should focus on frontier fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum information, integrated circuits, advanced manufacturing, life and health, brain science, bio-breeding, aerospace technology, and deep earth and deep space explorations. We should make forward-looking research and development plans for expanding our strategic technology reserves, so as to give us the technological and industrial edge in the future. We need to improve fiscal investment in science and technology, and give priority to key sectors of strategic importance.

The integration of innovation and industrial chains hinges on the status of enterprises as the main players in innovation. We should motivate enterprises to innovate by giving them incentives and facilitating their transformation. We should challenge them to formulate questions and find answers through collaboration on key projects and integrated research and development. We should encourage innovation consortia established by leading enterprises with the support of universities and research institutions and the collaboration of all parties involved. Our aim is to develop an efficient and powerful supply system of generic technologies, and accelerate progress in applying and commercializing advances in science and technology.

Modern engineering and technical sciences are an indispensable bridge between theoretical science and industrial development, and play a key role in science and technology. We should strengthen interdisciplinary research in modern engineering and technical sciences, to drive the development of basic science and engineering technology and form a complete framework of modern science and technology.

Second, we should increase our country’s strategic capacity in science and technology and improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. National strategic capacity in science and technology is the focus of international competition among scientific and technological powers. As important components, national laboratories, national scientific research institutions, high-quality research universities, and leading science and technology enterprises should take on the mission of reinforcing China’s sci-tech self-reliance and strength.

National laboratories should target global scientific and technological frontiers, serve the economy, meet major national needs, and strive to improve people’s lives and health. They should follow global trends in science and technology, adapt to the missions set by our country’s strategies for national development, and seek major research advances of strategic and critical importance. Together with key national laboratories they should form a national laboratory system with Chinese features.

State research institutions should be guided by national strategic needs, and devote their energy to solving major scientific and technological issues that hinder overall national development and affect long-term national interests. They should move faster to build themselves into sources of original innovation and make breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields.

High-quality research universities should better integrate their efforts in developing science and technology as the primary productive forces, in cultivating talent as the primary resource, and in strengthening innovation as the primary driver of development. They should make good use of their strengths in basic research and interdisciplinary integration to become the main force in basic research and a vital force for major scientific and technological breakthroughs. They need to better align the development of research universities with national strategic goals and tasks, and make greater efforts in researching basic and frontier fields and seeking breakthroughs in key technologies. They should build disciplinary, academic, and discourse systems with salient Chinese features, style and ethos, and contribute to the cultivation of more outstanding talent. 

Leading science and technology enterprises should leverage their strengths in market orientation, integrated innovation, and organizational resources. They should open a channel through which science and technology can boost corporate, industrial and economic development. They should be the initiators in gathering and integrating innovation resources and forming innovation bases featuring intensive cross-sector collaboration. They should engage in the research and development of key generic industrial technologies, the application and commercialization of scientific and technological advances, and resource-sharing services. They should promote the comprehensive allocation of projects, facilities, personnel and funds for key sectors, improve the basic capacity of our country’s industries, and modernize its industrial chains.

Provincial governments should produce well-designed plans for sci-tech innovation based on their respective strengths and industrial needs. They should support eligible localities in building comprehensive national science centers or regional scientific and technological innovation centers, and help turn these centers into global hubs for scientific innovation in frontier fields, technological innovation in emerging industries, and sci-tech innovation in other sectors.

Third, we should advance the reform of scientific and technological systems and form basic institutions supporting all-round innovation. We should leverage the strengths of the socialist market economy to improve the system of concentrating national resources to accomplish major undertakings. As the organizer of major scientific and technological innovations, the state should support strategic science plans and programs that have good prospects even if they involve considerable risks and challenges, and take a long time to produce results.

We should reinforce systematic planning, organization and cross-sector integration. The strength of the government, the market, and society should be pooled to give us an edge in future development. We should better combine a well-functioning market with a competent government, assign to the market the decisive role in resource allocation, and guide the allocation of innovation resources through market demand, so as to create a powerful synergy for sci-tech innovation.

We should focus on reforming the system for evaluating research. Evaluation should be directed towards quality, performance and contribution as the core indicators, in order to fully and accurately reflect the originality of research results, the impact of their application, and their actual contribution to economic and social development.

In terms of research project evaluation, we should establish a system that is in line with the norms of research activities and differentiates exploratory research and task-oriented research, and a mechanism for evaluating projects on which a consensus is not yet achieved.

In terms of talent evaluation, we should discard the approach that overemphasizes research papers, academic titles, educational backgrounds, and awards, establish new standards, and expedite a new system that values innovation, ability and contribution as main indicators. We should support public research institutions in piloting more flexible remuneration systems. We should address the concerns of professionals engaged in basic, cutting-edge, and public welfare research and provide for their needs, so that they can concentrate on their research without worry.

In reforming science and technology management, we should not simply build on the existing systems and mechanisms; we also need to streamline them. We should be bolder in transforming the functions of management authorities in science and technology. According to their defined responsibilities for strategy, reform, planning and services, these authorities should improve their work practices, raise their capabilities, and reduce direct intervention in the allocation of funds and materials and in the approval of projects. They should strengthen planning and policy guidance, give more decision-making autonomy to research institutions, grant scientists more freedom to choose research pathways and use funds, and free research institutions and their staff from institutional red tape.

Heroes are not defined by their origins. Likewise, innovators must not be defined by their backgrounds. We should reform the approval, organization and management of major scientific and technological projects, and adopt open competition mechanisms for selecting the best candidates to undertake key research projects and multi-team research mechanisms for finding the best pathways and achieving optimal results.

We must identify real questions and form targeted research projects, make genuine efforts to answer these questions, and allow leading professionals in science and technology who possess the will, capacity, and determination to do solid work to take charge of projects. We should implement a project management system where chief technologists lead implementation, a project funding system that allows greater flexibility and discretion in the use of funds, and a commitment system to uphold research integrity and ethics. We should remove seniority and other barriers to ensure that all capable scientists and technologists have the opportunity to display their talent.

Fourth, we should build an open innovation ecosystem and participate in global science and technology governance. Science and technology respond to the call of the times and have a global impact; they belong to all of humanity. We must coordinate development and security, plan and promote innovation with a global vision, and take active measures to become an integral part of the global innovation network. We should focus on issues such as climate change and human health and boost joint research and development with researchers in other countries. We should design and initiate international Big Science plans and projects and establish globally-oriented scientific research funds.

While science and technology are instrumental in national development, they can also create risks. We should be able to foresee social risks, ethical challenges, and potential conflicts with existing rules brought by sci-tech developments, and we must improve relevant laws and regulations, ethical review provisions, and supervision frameworks accordingly. We should participate to the full in global science and technology governance, contribute Chinese wisdom, and shape a philosophy of technology for good purposes, so that science and technology better serve human wellbeing, and enable China’s science and technology industry to contribute more to building a global community of shared future.

Fifth, we should foster innovation vitality in talented people from all fields, and build China into a global leader in terms of talent resources. A global science and technology power must be able to attract, retain, and make best use of competent professionals from across the world. In the final analysis, China must rely on capable innovative talent to realize greater strength and self-reliance in science and technology.

The cultivation of innovative talent is crucial to the long-term development of any country. Competition in today’s world is essentially competition in talent and education. Therefore, we must strengthen our own education and training systems and nurture the spirit of science, innovation, and critical thinking. We should reinforce the training of young talent, strive to produce top-notch scientific and technological talent with global influence, keep and support innovative teams, and nurture more first-class scientists and technicians.

We must know that our education system is capable of producing masters of science and technology. We must foster a social climate of respecting science, knowledge, hard work, talent, and creativity, and inspire more young people to pursue science and innovation.

“A tall and luxuriant Chinese parasol tree attracts golden phoenixes.” We should build science and innovation centers that gather outstanding talent from all over the world, and improve our policies concerning high-end and specialized talent coming to work, conduct research, and engage in exchanges in China.

Innovation in science and technology requires a sustained investment of time and energy. In 1961 the central authorities set a provision to ensure that researchers should not be distracted to do things not related to their research. Time is a prerequisite for innovation. We should establish a mechanism that enables scientists and technologists to devote most of their energy to research, development and innovation. No loss will occur if researchers attend fewer non-essential social events. We must free them from meaningless public relations activities, from unnecessary reviews and appraisals, and from excessive formalities and bureaucracy.

* Part of the speech at the joint session of the 20th Meeting of the Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the 15th Meeting of the Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the 10th National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology.

(Not to be republished for any commercial or other purposes.)