【 Li Xiang China 】 Building a National Innovation System for Technological Independence and Self Strengthening | Innovation | Science and Technology
Author: Sui Jigang
In contemporary society, technology is the engine of modern economic development and the guarantee of national security, and technological innovation has become an important source of national competitive advantage. The national innovation system is a series of institutions and systems established by a country to promote innovation, and its degree of closeness plays an extremely important role in a country's scientific and technological innovation activities. China has established a national innovation system with Chinese characteristics, but the current domestic and international environment for scientific and technological innovation and economic development has undergone significant changes. The original catch-up innovation system can no longer meet the needs of national scientific and technological innovation development in the new era. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that the development goal of scientific and technological innovation in the next five years is to "significantly improve the ability of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement", and to "achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and enter the forefront of innovative countries" by 2035. To achieve the above goals, it is urgent to establish a national innovation system oriented towards technological self-reliance and self-improvement.
As early as the Communist Manifesto in 1848, young Marx and Engels noticed that technological innovation was the main driving force for economic and social development. Innovation theorists, represented by Schumpeter, also believe that technological and institutional innovation occupies a core position in the development process, and innovation is a key variable that explains economic development. People's early understanding of innovation remained at the level of linear models, believing that scientific research is the starting point of innovation, and increasing investment in scientific research will drive downstream innovation. However, practice has shown that innovation is not a simple linear behavior, but occurs in multiple stages such as research, development, production, sales, and application. Enterprises, universities, research institutions, governments, individuals, and others may all become the source of innovation. With the continuous upgrading of innovation complexity, studying the interaction between technology, institutions, and economic systems from a systemic perspective has become an inherent requirement, and the theory of national innovation system has emerged in this context. Scholars have realized that innovation is not only a research and development activity, but also closely related to economic development, domestic policies, and international competition. If we only view the innovation system from a technological perspective and separate it from the economic and political systems, it will affect the scientific and effective nature of national innovation policies.
In the late 1990s, the concept of the national innovation system was introduced to China and quickly became an important theory guiding China's scientific and technological innovation activities. After the official proposal of building a national innovation system with Chinese characteristics in the Outline of the National Medium - and Long Term Science and Technology Development Plan, China has continued to make efforts in the construction of the national innovation system. Currently, a national innovation system that is suitable for the socialist market economy has been preliminarily established.
Firstly, various innovative entities are becoming increasingly sound. The status of enterprises as the main body of technological innovation is constantly improving, and they have become the absolute mainstay of research and development investment and technological innovation; The construction of high-level universities has achieved remarkable results, becoming the main body of talent cultivation and basic research; Deepening the reform of scientific research institutions and becoming the main body of cutting-edge scientific and technological research; Various new research and development institutions are flourishing, becoming effective supplements to traditional innovation entities.
The second is the continuous improvement of the national innovation environment. China has increased its reform efforts in areas such as technology management system, technology resource allocation, technology evaluation system, innovation factor flow, market competition environment, innovation and entrepreneurship ecology, innovation talent cultivation, and international science and technology cooperation. Significant progress has been made in multiple fields, with a clearer market orientation for technology innovation, a more perfect innovation environment, and a stronger innovation atmosphere.
Thirdly, the country's innovation capacity has significantly improved. In 2019, China became the largest source of international patent applications, and in 2020, the total number of academic papers published in China exceeded that of the United States, resulting in a number of original scientific and technological achievements. In 2022, China's R&D expenditure exceeded 3 trillion yuan for the first time, and the R&D intensity exceeded 2.5% for the first time; Various major technological infrastructure has been put into use, and the conditions for innovation are constantly improving.
However, with significant changes in the domestic and international environment in recent years, China's scientific and technological innovation is facing challenges. When the report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed the strategy of innovation driven development, it emphasized that innovation is the driving force of economic and social development. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China closely linked innovation driven development with technological self-reliance and self-improvement, highlighting the urgent tasks facing China's current scientific and technological innovation.
Firstly, the challenge posed by the new technological revolution to the traditional innovation system. Currently, the new technological revolution and industrial transformation are emerging, and technology has become the leading force in reshaping the world's competitive landscape. In order to take the lead in future international competition, major countries are planning strategies for technological innovation and development, seizing new technological heights. However, China does not yet have a clear competitive advantage in the fields of cutting-edge science and basic science, which seriously restricts the improvement of China's innovation capabilities.
Secondly, the challenge posed by the anti globalization wave to traditional innovation systems. For a long time in the past, China was in a period of high tide of globalization. China was accustomed to introducing technology and equipment, but to some extent neglected the construction of independent innovation capabilities. But with the drastic changes in the international situation, some countries have erected "small courtyards and high walls" for core technologies in order to maintain their leading advantages, hindering international scientific and technological exchanges and communication, attempting to interrupt China's modernization development process through technological blockade. At the same time, China's scientific and technological innovation forces are relatively scattered, and strategic scientific and technological forces are relatively weak, posing a risk of being stuck in key core areas.
Once again, the challenge of high-quality development to traditional innovation systems. Our country's economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development, but there are still some prominent problems in our innovation system, including traditional evaluation mechanisms that are not conducive to producing results with practical application value, weak independent innovation capabilities in industries, overall being in the middle and low end of the global industrial value chain, and not fully achieving self-reliance and self-improvement, which cannot effectively support high-quality development.
International exchange and cooperation are important avenues for technological innovation in developing countries, but in the current international environment, even if we deeply participate in global division of labor, we still need to have control over core technologies and key areas. After World War II, many developing countries attempted to overcome poverty through industrialization. However, in the 1980s, under the influence of neo liberalism, especially with the rise of the Internet, it seemed that national boundaries became blurred, and some people even doubted whether the concept of "national innovation system" was tenable. Many developing countries also believe that technology is just a common commodity that can be obtained through markets and trade channels, ignoring the particularity of strategic technology. This development strategy has put many countries in a predicament, where they can only engage in low-end economic activities in exchange for high value-added products from developed countries, losing their autonomy in development. If you are unwilling to accept this international division of labor, you must engage in independent innovation. However, most developing countries lack independent innovation capabilities and are unable to achieve the goal of catching up with developed countries through technological innovation. For example, under the influence of Western neoliberalism, reforms in Latin American countries have gone astray, with structural upgrades stagnating and falling into a vicious cycle of low technology, low added value, and low wages. At the beginning of Ukraine's transformation, it had a strong industrial foundation and research capabilities, but after years of shock therapy, its per capita GDP and wage levels have dropped to the lowest in Europe.
As one of the birthplaces of neoliberalism, the United States not only promoted this ideology to developing countries, but also believed it deeply and ultimately suffered from it. In the global competition of the 1980s and 1990s, many American companies overly emphasized "open innovation" in order to shorten research and development time and reduce research and development costs, and only carried out short-term and rapid technology development work internally. Many innovative enterprises are controlled by capital in pursuit of short-term benefits, and management would rather repurchase stocks than invest in research and development to maintain stock prices. This concept has led to a significant shift in manufacturing in the United States, slow growth in research and development investment, degradation of corporate innovation capabilities, prevalence of financial speculation, and widening wealth inequality, ultimately leading to social and political crises. Under domestic and international pressure, the Biden administration has abandoned the neoliberalism that has dominated policy-making for the past 40 years, and has begun to emphasize national security and the role of the government in technological innovation activities, even moving towards a beggar thy neighbor path. It can be seen that although Western countries believe in market forces, due to the close relationship between technology and national security, governments cannot allow them to develop freely, let alone tolerate challenges from other countries.
As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, "Practice has repeatedly told us that key core technologies cannot be bought, bought or won. Only by mastering key core technologies in our own hands can we fundamentally guarantee national economic security, national defense security and other security." In the future, it is necessary to establish a national innovation system that is compatible with the new era through further institutional reforms. Only by achieving scientific and technological self-reliance can we have the ability to lead the new technological revolution, better participate in international competition, and master the autonomy of innovation and development., To provide a strong impetus for high-quality development.
In response to the problems existing in the current innovation system, China urgently needs to establish an innovation system with sound functions, clear positioning, optimized structure, flexible organization, close subject connections, outstanding innovation capabilities, active innovation culture, strong policy guarantees, and in line with the laws of scientific and technological development, which can promote the continuous emergence of primitive and disruptive major innovations, and effectively enhance the ability and level of scientific and technological self-reliance. These goals are significantly different from the content of the national innovation system proposed in the 2006 Medium - and Long Term Science and Technology Plan. In order to achieve technological self-reliance and self-improvement, China should actively reform its innovation system, including building a talent training system that integrates science and education and has clear levels; Strategic technological forces oriented towards the forefront and mission orientation; A market-oriented and enterprise oriented industrial innovation system; A regional innovation system with factor aggregation and reasonable layout; An innovative service system with complete functions and wide coverage; An innovative governance system with diverse participation and efficient collaboration, and establishing close connections between subsystems, effectively enhancing the overall effectiveness of the national innovation system.
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