Innovation emblematic of Chinese pursuit of high-quality development: China Daily editorial

The Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization, which was approved by the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee upon its conclusion on Thursday, demonstrates the significance the Party attaches to the pursuit of innovation.

It is the great uncertainties in the internal and external situation that have spurred the country to make all-out efforts to pursue innovation-driven growth. While it has made remarkable development achievements since 2012, the daunting challenges it now faces mean that seeking development from know-how rather than cheap labor and resources is mandatory.

The country already has a strong foundation and favorable conditions for it to become one of the leading innovative economies in the world. Over the past 12 years, China has established the world's largest education system, with the number of people with a college education reaching 250 million. China's total number of R&D personnel ranks first in the world, and the total R&D expenditure of the whole Chinese society ranks second globally.

But innovation requires tremendous inputs. It calls for efficient coordination and comprehensive systems thinking across the board, in industry, education, society and governance. Were pro-innovation efforts to be made separately, as the country has witnessed before, it would get half the results or even less with twice the effort.

That also explains why innovation-related content prevails throughout the Resolution, as innovation is not only about technology in the narrow sense, but also related to institutional reforms and management improvement in related systems in schools, institutes, labs, enterprises, financial agencies and government departments, etc. The pro-innovation work calls for inter-departmental and cross-industry endeavors.

Specifically, the country needs to refine its education, research, talent, funding and evaluation systems to provide more space and support for the cultivation of innovative talents, and to create more innovation-friendly institutional and research environment for them so that they can focus on making breakthroughs, particularly in basic research, interdisciplinary frontier areas and emerging technologies and applications.

The country needs to take concrete actions to further reinforce the principal role of enterprises in the pursuit of innovations — including small and medium-sized companies and foreign enterprises — by establishing mechanisms and platforms for fostering leading high-tech enterprises and strengthening enterprise-led collaborations between industries, universities, institutes and research labs.

In the process of sustaining its high-quality development with innovation and generating new quality productive forces, China must always keep its door open and offer all necessary support for exchanges between scientists, engineers, researchers and entrepreneurs from home and abroad to promote international cooperation in science, technology, engineering, industry, education and research.

Improving the system for mobilizing resources nationwide, so as to boost the overall performance of the country's innovation system, will also enable the country to have a greater say in the formulation of global technology standards and the governance system for innovation-related risks prevention and control. In this way, it will play its part in ensuring science and technology ultimately contribute to the common good of the people around the world, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

With the allocation of innovation factors becoming more systematic, well-organized, and coordinated, the development of innovative capabilities will bear even more fruit for the country and the world.