Urgent requirements for achieving high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement

The urgent requirement for achieving high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement

The editorial department of Qiushi magazine

"Chang'e" travels to the moon, "Zhurong" explores fire, "Xihe" goes day by day, "Struggler" dives tens of thousands of meters deep, "Fuxing" gallops across China, and major breakthroughs have been made in cutting-edge directions such as quantum information, stem cells, and neuroscience

Technological self-reliance and self-improvement are the foundation of national strength and the key to security.

Strengthening basic research is an urgent requirement for achieving high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and a necessary path to building a world science and technology powerhouse. Basic research is the source of the entire scientific system, the main body of all technological issues, and plays a crucial role in the entire innovation chain. It plays a crucial role in promoting cutting-edge technological breakthroughs and promoting the close integration of science and technology with the economy. Practice has proven that basic research is the key to how high and far technological innovation can jump and run. The deeper the foundation of basic research is rooted, the more flourishing the tree of technological innovation will be.

At present, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, interdisciplinary integration is constantly advancing, scientific research paradigms are undergoing profound changes, science and technology and economic and social development are accelerating penetration and integration, basic research transformation cycle is significantly shortened, and international scientific and technological competition is moving towards the forefront of the foundation. To cope with international technological competition, achieve high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, promote the construction of a new development pattern, and achieve high-quality development, it is urgent to strengthen basic research and solve key technological problems from the source and bottom. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasizes the need to strengthen basic research, highlight originality, encourage free exploration, and make strategic arrangements.

On February 21, 2023, the 20th Central Political Bureau held its third collective learning session on strengthening basic research, with the aim of analyzing the current situation and challenges of basic research in China, understanding the main practices of strengthening basic research abroad, and exploring measures to accelerate the development of basic research in China.

The Only Way to Build a World Science and Technology Strong Country

On May 28, 2021, the 20th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the 15th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the 10th National Congress of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology were held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The overall strength of basic research has significantly strengthened, and the overall level of disciplines such as chemistry, materials, physics, and engineering has significantly improved. A number of significant original achievements have been made in cutting-edge fields such as quantum information, stem cells, and neuroscience. A number of major basic research tasks have been successfully organized. Chang'e-5 has achieved the sampling and return of extraterrestrial celestial bodies, Tianwen-1 has launched Mars exploration, Huairou-1 gravitational wave burst high-energy electromagnetic counterpart satellite has been successfully launched, Huiyan has directly measured the strongest magnetic field in the universe to date, 500m spherical radio telescope has discovered millisecond pulsars for the first time, the new generation of 'artificial sun' has discharged for the first time, Xuelong 2 has made its maiden voyage to Antarctica, with 76 satellites. The prototype of photon quantum computing, 'Jiuzhang', and the 62 bit programmable superconducting quantum computing prototype, 'Zuchongzhi', have been successfully launched. A number of major scientific and technological infrastructure with international first-class level, such as the Spallation Neutron Source, have passed the acceptance inspection

Our party and country have always attached great importance to basic research work. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a call to "advance towards science". The vast number of scientific and technological workers relied on themselves and worked hard, achieving significant basic research results such as the key scientific issues of "two bombs and one satellite", artificial synthesis of bovine insulin, breakthroughs in multiple complex function theory, and proof of Goldbach's conjecture. After the reform and opening up, China has ushered in a "scientific spring", and has successively implemented the "863 Plan", "Climbing Plan", and "973 Plan", significantly enhancing the overall research strength and academic level of basic research.

In multiple inspection, research, and discussion venues such as research institutes, universities, high-tech enterprises, and high-tech industrial development zones; During multiple collective studies by the Central Political Bureau, he delivered a series of important speeches on strengthening basic research and made a series of forward-looking, strategic, and global plans.

——Profoundly elucidate the significant significance.Only by valuing basic research can we always maintain our ability for independent innovation, and so on.

——Profoundly articulate guiding principles."Consolidate scientific issues from practical issues faced by economic and social development and national security", "Through major scientific and technological issues, abstract theoretical problems in major applied research, and explore scientific laws to promote mutual promotion between basic research and applied research", and so on.

——Profoundly articulate practical requirements.Provide necessary policy support to research institutions and enterprises that have achieved results in conducting basic research; Strengthen the cultivation of top students in basic disciplines, layout and construct cutting-edge science centers, and develop new research-oriented universities; Create a favorable research ecosystem for basic research, allowing scientists to devote themselves to research; Establishing first-class academic journals and various academic platforms, strengthening domestic and international academic exchanges, and so on.

Highlighting foresight and strategic demand orientation

"Basic research is at the beginning of the scientific research chain from research to application, and then to production. Only with a solid foundation can the science and technology industry building be built high. Strengthening basic research should highlight foresight and strategic demand orientation, optimize resource allocation and layout structure, and provide basic theoretical support and technological source supply for innovative development."

In recent years, China has continuously strengthened the top-level design and system layout of basic research, supporting key core technology breakthroughs from both scientific and technological sources. In this important article, General Secretary further puts forward clear requirements.

——Adhere to the "four orientations", adhere to goal orientation and free exploration "walking on two legs", combine the forefront of world science and technology with major national strategic needs and economic and social development goals, coordinate and follow the forefront issues proposed by the laws of scientific development and the theoretical problems abstracted from major applied research, and condense key scientific issues in basic research.

On July 6th, 2023, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference opened at the Shanghai World Expo Center. In addition to holding a plenary session on cutting-edge science and industrial development, as well as themed forums, the conference also showcases technological achievements in fields such as large models, chips, robots, and intelligent driving. The picture shows experts discussing in front of an intelligent generation painting about Shanghai. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Xiaoyong

——Grasp the trend of technological development and national strategic needs, strengthen the feasibility study and selection evaluation of major basic research projects, fully respect the opinions of scientists, grasp the overall trend, and play the "first move" well.

——Strengthen the national strategic scientific and technological strength, organize and promote systematic basic research with strategic orientation, exploratory basic research with cutting-edge orientation, and market-oriented applied basic research, focus on playing the leading role of national laboratories, the organizational role of national scientific research institutions, the main force of high-level research-oriented universities, and the role of technology leading enterprises as "question setters", "answer takers", and "examiners".

——Optimize the layout of basic discipline construction, support the development of key disciplines, emerging disciplines, unpopular disciplines, and weak disciplines, promote interdisciplinary integration and research, and build a high-quality discipline system with comprehensive and balanced development.

Continuously deepening institutional and mechanism reforms

In the "Party and State Institutional Reform Plan" passed at the Second Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, "strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over scientific and technological work, and coordinating the construction of the national innovation system and the reform of the scientific and technological system" have become important focus points of this round of institutional reform.

Stimulating momentum through reform, China's scientific and technological innovation vitality continues to burst forth.The reform of the scientific and technological system continues to deepen, and a series of major reform measures have been introduced in strengthening the national strategic scientific and technological strength, the construction of scientific and technological talent team, the scientific and technological evaluation system, the management of scientific and technological projects and funds, scientific research integrity, and the construction of scientific and technological ethics. Significant breakthroughs have been made in key areas and key links, and some long-standing obstacles and difficulties that have hindered scientific and technological development have been effectively resolved. The policy system for scientific and technological innovation has been further optimized, effectively stimulating the enthusiasm and creativity of various innovative entities.

Reform is always on the way.

——Steadily increasing financial investment in basic research, incentivizing enterprises to increase investment, encouraging social forces to invest, improving the funding efficiency of the National Natural Science Foundation and its joint funds, and establishing and improving a basic research investment mechanism that combines competitive and stable support.

——Optimize the basic research support system for the National Science and Technology Plan, improve the organization, application, evaluation, and decision-making mechanisms for basic research projects, implement differentiated classification management and international and domestic peer review, organize collaborative research on major scientific issues, and encourage free exploratory research and non consensus innovative research.

——Handle the relationship between the new national system and market mechanisms, improve the system of technology evaluation incentives, achievement application and transformation, and scientific and technological personnel compensation that match the long-term basic research cycle, and provide long-term stable support for a number of basic research innovation bases, advantageous teams, and key directions, creating original innovation sources and basic research pioneers.

Building a high-level support platform

"When I was working in Zhengding, I knew this was a very important place in our national research institute. I've heard so much about it!"

This is an important high-end core electronic device supply base and a new semiconductor device and technology innovation base in China. When he learned that the products produced by the company strongly support the development of various equipment such as manned spaceflight, lunar and Mars exploration, Beidou networking, and the digital economy industry represented by 5G base stations, new energy vehicles, and optical communication, General Secretary praised, "They are all cutting-edge technologies and the most important tool for us to achieve scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement."

Strengthen the construction of high-level scientific research institutions, continuously deepen the reform of scientific research institutions, and continuously improve innovation capabilities; Positive progress has been made in the construction of research-oriented universities, with continuous enhancement of disciplinary construction, basic research, and innovative talent cultivation capabilities; The layout of innovation platforms such as the National Technology Innovation Center, Industrial Innovation Center, and Engineering Research Center is becoming increasingly perfect, with a large number of new research and development institutions, collaborative spaces, incubators, etc. emerging, promoting in-depth cooperation between industry, academia, and research, and efficient transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements; Positive progress has been made in the construction of high-level scientific and technological journals, and a group of excellent journals have entered the forefront of the international community.

——Collaborative construction of a national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics, layout and construction of basic discipline research centers, acceleration of the construction of basic research special zones, advanced deployment of new scientific research informatization basic platforms, and formation of a strong basic research backbone network.

——Scientific planning and layout of forward-looking, strategic, and application supported major scientific and technological infrastructure, strengthening in-process and post construction supervision, improving full lifecycle management, and comprehensively enhancing the level of openness and sharing and operational efficiency.

On July 16, 2023, the National Major Science and Technology Infrastructure Experimental Building of the "Supergravity Centrifuge Simulation and Experimental Equipment" was topped off in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The picture shows the experimental building of "Hypergravity Centrifuge Simulation and Experimental Equipment" captured on July 17th. Long Wei from Xinhua News Agency/Photo taken

——We will fight the battle for the localization of scientific and technological instruments, operating systems, and basic software, encourage research institutions, universities, and enterprises to carry out joint research and development, improve the level of localization substitution and application scale, and strive to achieve the early use of China's independent research platforms and instruments to solve major basic research problems.

——Accelerate the cultivation of world-class scientific and technological journals, build technology literature and data platforms with international influence, initiate high-level international academic conferences, and encourage major basic research achievements to be published and developed in Chinese journals and platforms.

Let more talents compete to emerge

"What you are doing here is climbing mountains, which is very meaningful. Young people can showcase their talents, great!"

Talents are strategic resources for achieving national rejuvenation and winning the initiative in international competition.In June 2014, the General Secretary pointed out at the 17th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 12th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Engineering that "to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the more talents, the better, and the greater ability, the better"; In September 2020, at a symposium among scientists, it was emphasized that "the fundamental source of national scientific and technological innovation lies in people"; In May 2021, at the 20th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the 15th Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the 10th National Congress of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, it was pointed out that "to achieve self-reliance and self-improvement in high-level science and technology, in the final analysis, China needs high-level innovative talents"; In September 2021, at the Central Talent Work Conference, it was proposed to "accelerate the construction of the world's important talent center and innovation highland"; In October 2022, the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized that "we must adhere to the principle that technology is the primary productive force, talent is the primary resource, and innovation is the primary driving force.". In recent years, China has relied on various institutional platforms to gather and cultivate a large number of high-level innovation and entrepreneurship talents. The quality of the talent team has significantly improved, the structure has been further optimized, and important progress has been made in the construction of the national strategic talent team.

Strengthening basic research ultimately relies on high-level talents. Without a strong team of basic research talents, independent innovation is like water without a source and a tree without roots.

——Increase the support for basic research talents through various talent programs, cultivate and utilize strategic scientists, support young scientific and technological talents to shoulder major responsibilities, actively introduce outstanding overseas talents, and continuously strengthen the leading scientific and technological talent team and first-class innovation team.

——Clarify the evaluation methods and standards for how to "establish" after breaking the "four only", improve the differentiated evaluation and long-term support mechanism for basic research talents, endow technology leading talents with greater control over human, financial, and technological routes, and build an evaluation system that conforms to the laws of basic research and talent growth.

——Strengthen the construction of scientific research and academic style, adhere to the combination of scientific supervision and integrity education, deepen the governance of scientific research and academic style, guide scientific and technological personnel to abandon exaggeration and impatience, and sit firmly on the "cold bench".

——Adhere to the path of independent cultivation of basic research talents, deeply implement the "High School Student Talent Plan", "Strong Foundation Plan", and "Top notch Basic Discipline Student Training Plan", optimize the basic discipline education system, give full play to the main role of universities, especially "Double First Class" universities, in cultivating basic research talents, strengthen the urgent need for high-level talent cultivation in the country, and continuously cultivate a large-scale reserve force for basic research.

Widely engage in international cooperation

Strengthening international scientific and technological cooperation is not only an objective law of scientific and technological innovation, but also a trend of the times.Under the conditions of deepening globalization, informatization, and networking, innovative elements are more open and mobile, and innovation cannot be carried out behind closed doors; Technological achievements should benefit all humanity, and should not become a means to restrict or contain the development of other countries. These important statements point the way for extensive international scientific and technological cooperation in the face of unprecedented changes in the world.

China has always adhered to planning and promoting technological innovation with a global perspective, not only promoting its own progress, but also contributing to the development of human civilization. Looking at the world, China has established scientific and technological cooperation relationships with more than 160 countries and regions, signed 117 intergovernmental scientific and technological cooperation agreements... In response to climate change, ensuring food security, and safeguarding human life and health, China's joint research with countries around the world has achieved fruitful results.

Currently, international scientific and technological cooperation is facing the impact and challenges of unilateralism and protectionism from a few countries.Clear requirements: "China should adhere to a more open mindset and measures to expand international exchanges and cooperation in basic research, and create an open innovation ecosystem with global competitiveness.".

——Building an international platform for basic research cooperation, leading the implementation of international big science programs and projects, establishing a global scientific research fund, increasing the openness of national science and technology plans to the outside world, and expanding and deepening joint scientific research between China and foreign countries around global issues such as climate change, energy security, biosecurity, and outer space utilization.

——Forward planning and deep participation in global science and technology governance, participating in or initiating the establishment of international science and technology organizations, supporting domestic universities, research institutes, and technology organizations to connect with the international community, improving laws and regulations, ethical review rules, and regulatory frameworks.

——Dare to struggle and be good at it, strive to enhance the openness, trust, and cooperation of the international scientific and technological community, make new and greater contributions to the progress of human civilization with more major original innovations and key core technological breakthroughs, and effectively safeguard China's scientific and technological security interests.

Shaping an innovative ecosystem with Chinese characteristics

Scientific achievements cannot be separated from spiritual support. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, numerous scientific and technological workers have erected monuments of technological innovation on the land of our motherland, and have also forged a unique spiritual temperament. From a large number of older generation scientists such as Li Siguang, Qian Xuesen, Qian Sanqiang, Deng Jiaxian, to a large number of outstanding scientists who grew up after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, such as Chen Jingrun, Huang Danian, and Nan Rendong, generation after generation of scientists have been devoted to the motherland and the people, fearless of difficulties, selflessly dedicating themselves, making significant contributions to scientific and technological progress, improving people's lives, and developing the Chinese nation, leaving valuable spiritual wealth on the journey of national rejuvenation.

Carrying out basic research requires not only material support, but also spiritual motivation. Several generations of scientific and technological workers in China have forged the spirit of "Two Bombs and One Satellite", the spirit of westward migration, the spirit of manned spaceflight, the spirit of scientists, the spirit of exploring the moon, and the spirit of the Beidou in the new era through continuous struggle, jointly shaping the innovative ecology with Chinese characteristics and becoming an inexhaustible driving force to support the development of basic research.

——We will vigorously promote the scientific spirit of pursuing truth and climbing new heights in the whole society, widely publicize advanced models and deeds emerging in scientific and technological fields such as basic research, educate and guide scientific and technological workers to inherit the glorious tradition of the older generation of scientists dedicating themselves to the country and caring for the people, write papers on the land of our motherland, and conduct scientific research