Innovation at the heart of modernization drive

The report delivered at the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing emphasized the importance of improving the systems for scientific and technological innovation.

It stated that innovation will remain at the heart of China's modernization drive, and the country should improve the system for mobilizing resources nationwide to make key technological breakthroughs, boost its strength in strategic science and technology, better allocate innovation resources, and better define the roles of national research institutes, advanced-level research universities, and leading high-tech enterprises to improve their layout.

As the report pointed out, China should establish a system of national laboratories, coordinate the development of international and regional centers for scientific and technological innovation, enhance basic scientific and technological capacity, and ensure better strategic input from the science and technology sector, so as to boost the overall performance of its innovation system.

Also it is imperative that the country deepen its structural scientific and technological reform and reform of the system for the appraisal of scientific and technological advances. The country also needs to increase its investment in science and technology through diverse channels and strengthen its legal protection of intellectual property rights, in order to establish a foundational system for all-round innovation.

In the process, the nation should nurture a culture of innovation, encourage dedication to science, cultivate fine academic conduct and foster an enabling environment for innovation.

It needs to further expand science and technology exchanges and cooperation with other countries, cultivate an internationalized environment for research and create an open and globally-competitive innovation ecosystem.

The nation should speed up efforts to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology. It must concentrate resources on original and pioneering scientific and technological research to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields. At the same time, it should move faster to launch a number of major national projects that are of strategic, big-picture and long-term importance. That means it urgently needs to strengthen basic research, prioritize original innovation, and encourage researchers to engage in free exploration in their research.

To make sure the investment in science and technology can be made more effectively, the mechanisms for the allocation and use of government research funds must be reformed. And the authorities should promote closer enterprise-led collaboration between industries, universities, and research institutes, stay goal-oriented and promote the industrial application of scientific and technological advances.

The principal role of enterprises in innovation should be reinforced, giving full play to the guiding and supporting role of key high-tech enterprises so as to create an enabling environment for the growth of micro, small and medium-sized technological enterprises, and promote deeper integration of the innovation, industrial, capital, and talent chains.