14 government department heads responded to inquiries, and the Shanghai People's Congress specifically inquired about "technological innovation" innovation | core technologies | science and technology
Shanghai is accelerating its march towards a technology innovation center with global influence. How to tackle core technologies? How to accelerate the transformation of technological achievements? How to loosen the delegation of power for the use of scientific research funds? Yesterday, the fourth meeting of the 16th Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress conducted a special inquiry on the report on the comprehensive law enforcement inspection of the city's implementation of the strategy of revitalizing the country through science and education, and enhancing the ability of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.
Seven members of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress and members of the Special Committee respectively inquired about key core technology research, deepening the reform of financial research funding, improving the efficiency of scientific and technological achievement transformation, and integrating the development of innovation and industrial chains. 14 department heads, including the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Economic and Information Technology Commission, Municipal Education Commission, Municipal Finance Bureau, Municipal Local Financial Supervision Bureau, Municipal State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and Shanghai Science and Technology Foundation, attended the meeting to answer inquiries.
How to tackle core technologies
Commissioner Lu Jing mentioned that during the law enforcement inspection process, many scientific research units and leading enterprises have reported that their organizational and mobilization capabilities are not strong enough when carrying out key core technology breakthroughs. What are the current difficulties and problems in tackling core technologies, and how can we improve them in the next step?
"The research and development of key core technologies is of utmost importance in technological innovation." Luo Dajin, Director of the Municipal Science and Technology Commission, stated that in 2022, the proportion of research and development expenditure in Shanghai's GDP will increase to around 4.2%. However, the research and development of core technologies still faces some challenges, especially the differences in capabilities and demands among different stakeholders. There is also further room for supporting policies in this regard, and it is necessary to strengthen how market entities can utilize market mechanisms.
Luo Dajin said that in recent years, our city has also been actively exploring pilot work, not judging heroes based on their background, selecting high-level research and development teams with the courage to innovate, and exploring some mechanisms such as unveiling rankings and horse racing. "How to comprehensively deepen and spread such work from point to surface, and form a multi-level market continuity mechanism, requires our long-term efforts."
Relaxing the delegation of power for the use of research funds
"In the preliminary research, the most common issue reported by research institutions and researchers was the use of research funds. How can we further delegate power and loosen the constraints on the use of research funds?" asked Wang Lianhua, a member of the committee.
Wang Huajie, Director of the Municipal Finance Bureau, stated that the city has successively issued several supporting policies and formulated the "Management Measures for Special Funds of Financial Research Projects in Shanghai" to further expand the management and use of funds for scientific research projects, in order to implement laws and regulations such as the "Regulations on Promoting the Construction of Science and Technology Innovation Centers in Shanghai". For example, the budget subjects have been streamlined and merged, and the direct cost budget subjects have been simplified from 9 or more to three subjects: equipment expenses, business expenses, and examination expenses; At the same time, the authority to adjust the budget shall be delegated, and the authority to adjust the equipment cost budget shall be fully delegated to the project undertaking unit. The authority to adjust other expenses shall be fully delegated from the project undertaking unit to the project leader; The implementation scope of the "lump sum system" for funding has also been expanded, allowing project units to no longer prepare budgets and independently decide on the use of funds in scientific research projects such as talent and basic research.
Incentives for scientific researchers are also increasing. Currently, the 50% limit on labor costs has been lifted, and the proportion of indirect expenses has been increased. For software development, software science research, and basic research projects, the proportion of indirect expenses can reach up to 60%, while allowing all indirect expenses to be used for performance expenditures. "In the future, the 'Measures' will be evaluated and improved based on the practical results of the' Measures' and the feelings and feedback of researchers."
Underlying technology urgently needs breakthroughs
Commissioner Yan Rui asked, "Our city has achieved certain results in the integration and development of innovation and industrial chains. However, there is still a certain degree of bi-directional connection of the 'two skins' phenomenon. How can we solve this problem?"
Zhang Hongtao, Deputy Director of the Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, admitted that currently, the integration of our innovation chain and industrial chain is not sufficient. In his view, the key to solving the "two skins" of innovation and industry chains is to address the issue of resource allocation in the common development of different stakeholders, including information symmetry and benefit sharing. The next step is to optimize the industrial innovation ecosystem, build innovation consortia, especially in the critical links of the current industrial chain, and promote the integrated development of large, medium, and small enterprises.
Luo Dajin made an analogy: if the industrial supply system is likened to a tree, it may present a "flourishing branch and lush leaves", but there is still a lack of technology in the "root" and "trunk" aspects. He believes that technological innovation encompasses the entire process from 0 to 10. In the process of promoting key core technologies in the industry, it is necessary to break through the bottlenecks in the entire two-way pathway, and the underlying technology of the "root" urgently needs to be broken through. In addition, compared to other world-class innovation centers, Shanghai currently lacks technology leading enterprises with strong leadership. "This is an urgent link that Shanghai needs to supplement in the collaboration of the entire innovation and industrial chains in the next step."
Breaking through the bottlenecks in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements
"There are still some hidden bottlenecks in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in this city," Mao Xiangdong, a member of the committee, listed. For example, some grassroots units still have concerns about the due diligence and exemption of responsibility for achievement transformation, some research institutes and universities have not yet formulated innovative rules for achievement transformation, and the professional technology transfer force is still insufficient. "How to break these bottlenecks and further improve the efficiency of scientific and technological achievement transformation?"
Luo Dajin said that more breakthrough policies will be introduced next to deepen the reform of the property rights system for scientific and technological achievements. Zhou Yaming, Director of the Municipal Education Commission, stated that the current forces for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements include school technology transfer centers, university science parks, and science and technology innovation funds. 20 universities in Shanghai have established specialized technology transfer centers. In the future, we need to make the transformation of achievements more attractive to professors, and carry out a "full ownership" empowerment reform, which means that scientific and technological achievements belong to the completion person and team owner, and units participate in income distribution. We also need to attach importance to the training of scientific and technological personnel, cultivate their awareness of the transformation and application of achievements, and transport scientific and technological achievements from the "bookshelf" to the "shelf".