Breaking bottles — opening the necks for breakthroughs

The downward pressure on the economy and the rising uncertainties and risks in the external development environment have prompted China to double down on its endeavors to realize the strategic goal of building a strong country in science and technology by 2035.

In particular, China needs to make new breakthroughs in basic frontier research that will provide the foundation for the country's high-quality development driven by innovation.

To prompt breakthroughs in science and technology, China has made unswerving efforts to strengthen top-level design and overall planning, and expedite high-level sci-tech self-reliance.

In the latest move to that end, an innovation-related symposium was held in Beijing on Wednesday, where the central committees of some non-Communist Party of China parties presented their research outcomes.

The symposium, attended by the country's top political adviser, Wang Huning, sent a clear message that China is making more efforts to promote the integration of sci-tech innovation with industrial innovation. The country's researchers will focus more on the bottleneck issues in advancing sci-tech and industrial innovation, and related departments are also being tasked with strengthening pro-innovation policy implementation and the execution of the innovation-driven development strategy to form a healthy institutional environment to foster innovation and the application of new findings.

During the symposium, leaders of the central committees of five non-CPC parties provided their respective suggestions on topics such as accelerating the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, advancing the digital transformation of the manufacturing sector, and promoting high-standard opening-up.

During his inspection tour in Jiangsu province on the same day, Premier Li Qiang stressed that relevant efforts should focus on promoting cross-disciplinary integration and innovation, aligning innovation with industry needs, and accelerating both industrialization and market applications.

Also that day, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a policy document that aims to mobilize more capital through the stock market to support high-tech enterprises and strengthen the protection of investors' legitimate rights and interests.

And multiple government officials also pledged efforts to promote high-standard financial opening-up to promote high-quality development driven by innovation at the annual Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai that day.

As some observers point out, to translate these efforts and policies into reality, the country needs to deepen institutional reforms to stimulate innovation vitality by forming a virtuous cycle of education, sci-tech development and talent, the cultivation of an innovation culture, as well as sci-tech opening-up and cooperation.

To cultivate a large, well-structured and high-caliber team of innovative talent, the country needs to deepen the comprehensive reform of its sci-tech systems and mechanisms, and implement integrated educational, scientific and talent institution reforms.

The country should continue to give full play to the advantages of the new national system for mobilizing nationwide resources, deep integration of sci-tech innovation with industrial innovation, and promote an increase in high-quality sci-tech support for major sectors and vulnerable links in the construction of a modern industrial system, fostering and developing emerging industries and future industries, and actively using new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional industries.

In the process, the channels need to be broadened for exchanges and collaborations at governmental and nongovernmental levels, and platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative should be leveraged to support collaborative research by scientists worldwide.

Also more efforts need to be made to engage the country in the global innovation network, enable it to participate in global technology governance, and work together with other partners to tackle global challenges.

To ensure the implementation of relevant policy measures and strategies, the country needs to fully leverage the decisive role of the market in allocating sci-tech resources, and better utilize the role of the government, making full use of the institutional strengths of its socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the CPC. And all sci-tech workers should actively align their academic pursuits with the great cause of building a nation that is strong in science and technology.

- Li Yang, China Daily