Support young scientific and technological talents to take on major scientific and technological tasks! Issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China and the State Council
In order to deeply implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, implement the deployment of the Central Talent Work Conference, and comprehensively cultivate and make good use of young scientific and technological talents, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council recently issued several measures to further strengthen the cultivation and utilization of young scientific and technological talents.
The Several Measures emphasize that we should adhere to the Party's overall leadership over the work of young scientific and technological talents in the new era, use the Party's original mission to inspire young scientific and technological talents, encourage and guide young scientific and technological talents to vigorously promote the spirit of scientists, inherit and carry forward the spirit of "two bombs and one star", inherit and carry forward the excellent quality of the older generation of scientists who serve the country through science and technology, adhere to the "four orientations", firm innovation self-confidence, adhere to scientific research integrity, scientific and technological ethics, academic norms, take responsibility, seek truth, innovate, devote themselves to research, make contributions in the practice of achieving self-reliance in high level science and technology and building a strong country through science and technology and talent, and contribute youth and wisdom in comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese path to modernization.
The "Several Measures" propose to guide and support young scientific and technological talents to serve high-quality development. Encourage young scientific and technological talents to deepen their practical experience in economic and social development, condense scientific problems based on actual needs, carry out original innovation, technological breakthroughs, and achievement transformation, and write papers on the land of our motherland. Implement policies related to innovation and entrepreneurship for research personnel in public institutions, support and encourage universities, research institutions, and other institutions to select young scientific and technological talents with strong research capabilities and innovative achievements. Through part-time innovation, long-term deployment, short-term cooperation, and other methods, they can provide services such as scientific consultation, product development, achievement transformation, and scientific popularization to grassroots and enterprises. The service effectiveness serves as an important reference for professional title evaluation and promotion.
The "Several Measures" clearly state that it supports young scientific and technological talents to "take on the main role" and "play the leading role" in major national scientific and technological tasks. The proportion of young scientific and technological talents under the age of 40 serving as project leaders and backbone should not be less than 50% in national major scientific and technological tasks, key core technology breakthroughs, and emergency scientific and technological breakthroughs. Encourage young scientific and technological talents to form teams across disciplines and fields to undertake disruptive technological innovation tasks, which are not included in the scope of statistics for applying for and undertaking national scientific and technological plan projects. Steadily increase the funding scale of the National Natural Science Foundation for young scientific and technological talents, maintain the proportion of supported projects at over 45%, and support young scientific and technological talents to carry out original, cutting-edge, and interdisciplinary scientific research. Increase support for young scientific and technological talents in the implementation of local scientific and technological tasks. We will deepen the implementation of the National Key R&D Program for Young Scientists, and the age of application for leaders can be relaxed to 40 years old. There will be no restrictions on professional titles or educational qualifications. We will explore the implementation of a rolling support mechanism, and the use of funds can be implemented under a lump sum system.
The "Several Measures" require that national science and technology innovation bases should vigorously cultivate and utilize young scientific and technological talents. The National Science and Technology Innovation Base should actively promote the rejuvenation of research project leaders and research backbone teams, and promote more important research positions to be filled by young scientific and technological talents. Encourage various national science and technology innovation bases to independently establish research projects for young scientific and technological talents, with a proportion of no less than 60% led by young scientific and technological talents under the age of 40. The proportion of young scientific and technological talents, their leadership in undertaking scientific research tasks, and the cultivation and utilization of major original achievements are included in the performance evaluation indicators of national scientific and technological innovation bases, and the application of performance evaluation results is strengthened.
The "Several Measures" propose to increase the basic research business expenses to provide stable support for young scientific and technological talents in the early stages of their careers. Based on actual needs, usage performance, and financial situation, gradually expand the scale of funding for basic scientific research business expenses of central universities and public welfare research institutes to young scientific and technological talents, and improve and implement a dynamic allocation mechanism mainly based on performance evaluation results. The basic research business expenses are mainly used to support young scientific and technological talents under the age of 35 to carry out independent research. The support ratio of eligible units is gradually increased to no less than 50% of the annual budget, guiding young scientific and technological talents to focus on national strategic needs and carry out research on cutting-edge scientific issues. Encourage various regions to increase funding through various means such as basic scientific research business fees, and strengthen support for early career young scientific and technological talents in higher education institutions and research institutes.
Several Measures propose to improve the mechanism for postdoctoral training in the field of natural sciences. Improve the quality of postdoctoral training, reasonably determine the number of postdoctoral research stations and workstations in basic cutting-edge and interdisciplinary fields, and reasonably expand the scale of postdoctoral fellows in natural science and engineering technology fields. The labor cost of the National Science and Technology Plan project can be disbursed based on the actual situation of postdoctoral participation in project research, and is coordinated for postdoctoral training. Strengthen the on-site management of postdoctoral fellows, and the setting units and collaborating mentors should create conditions to support postdoctoral fellows in independently undertaking scientific research tasks, and cultivate and enhance their independent scientific research capabilities. Support eligible enterprises to establish postdoctoral workstations, expand their quantity and scale, strengthen the integration of industry, academia, and research, and cultivate young scientific and technological talents in industrial and technological innovation practices.
The Several Measures propose to better leverage the decision-making and consulting role of young scientific and technological talents. Universities, research institutes, enterprises and other innovative entities should actively recommend high-level young scientific and technological talents who are active in the front line of scientific research, responsible and trustworthy, to enter the national science and technology evaluation expert database. The proportion of young scientific and technological talents under the age of 45 should not be less than one-third in the expert group for the preparation of national scientific and technological plan project guidelines, the evaluation expert group for scientific and technological plan projects, talent plans, scientific and technological awards, and the performance evaluation expert group for scientific research institutions, scientific and technological innovation bases, etc. The high-level science and technology strategic consulting mechanism and various levels and types of association organizations should establish youth professional committees as needed, promote the breaking of professional title and age restrictions in councils, expert committees, etc., and support the multi-level participation of young scientific and technological talents in the governance and operation of association organizations.
The "Several Measures" require that research institutions enhance their ability to independently evaluate talents. Higher education institutions, research institutes, state-owned enterprises, etc. should establish and improve the evaluation mechanism for young scientific and technological talents based on their responsibilities and missions, follow the laws of scientific research activities and talent growth, innovate evaluation methods, scientifically set evaluation and assessment cycles, reduce assessment frequency, carry out classified evaluations, and improve and implement the mechanism for exceptional promotion of professional titles and positions of outstanding young scientific and technological talents. Higher education institutions, research institutes, and state-owned enterprise regulatory authorities should resolutely eliminate the "four only" and numerical "hat" tendencies, correctly view and use paper indicators, and form an atmosphere that not only leverages the value of high-quality papers, but also firmly opposes the mere use of paper quantity to discuss heroes. Reasonably set institutional evaluation standards, do not use the number of papers and talent titles as institutional evaluation indicators, and avoid hierarchical decomposition into assessment and evaluation indicators for young scientific and technological talents.
The "Several Measures" require reducing the non research burden on young scientific and technological talents. Continuously promote the action of reducing the burden on young scientific and technological talents. Science and technology project management adheres to result oriented and simplified processes. Higher education institutions and research institutes should improve the system of research assistants, effectively implement relevant regulations on research project and fund management, avoid adding layers of complexity in form filling and research fund reimbursement, continuously improve the level of information services, and improve work efficiency. Reduce the transactional work of young scientific and technological talents outside of their personal scientific research business, eliminate unnecessary social activities, ensure that young scientific and technological talents in scientific research positions participate in non academic transactional activities for no more than one day per week, and allocate more than 80% of their work time to scientific research and academic activities. Include the research time of young scientific and technological talents in the unit assessment. Administrative departments and state-owned enterprises and institutions are generally not allowed to borrow frontline scientific researchers to engage in non scientific research work.
The Several Measures propose to increase efforts to support young scientific and technological talents in conducting international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation. Support young scientific and technological talents to conduct learning, training, and collaborative research in high-level research institutions abroad. Support young scientific and technological talents to participate in international academic conferences, encourage young academic leaders to initiate and lead the organization of international academic conferences, and enhance the international activity and influence of young scientific and technological talents.
The Several Measures require that efforts be made to increase the guarantee of life services for young scientific and technological talents. Higher education institutions, research institutes, and state-owned enterprises should adopt appropriate measures to increase the salary and benefits of young scientific and technological talents in the early stages of their careers, including performance-based pay and benefits from the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, in combination with their own actual situations, and tilt towards young scientific and technological talents who have made outstanding contributions. Various innovative entities should strengthen their care and love for young scientific and technological talents, ensure their rest and vacation, regularly organize medical examinations and psychological counseling activities, explore the establishment of an academic vacation system, and create a relaxed and harmonious research and cultural environment. Various regions should attach importance to and create conditions to help young scientific and technological talents solve difficulties in their children's enrollment, housing, and other aspects.
The Several Measures emphasize the need to strengthen organizational leadership in the work of young scientific and technological talents. Party committees and governments at all levels should regard the work of young scientific and technological talents as a strategic task, incorporate it into the overall deployment of local economic and social development and talent team construction, establish a diversified investment guarantee mechanism and a normalized mechanism for connecting young scientific and technological talents, focus on policy implementation, and create favorable conditions for accelerating the growth and better playing of young scientific and technological talents. Employers should fulfill the main responsibility of cultivating and cultivating top-notch innovative talents, formulate specific implementation measures based on the actual situation of the unit, formulate and improve the training plan for young scientific and technological talents, strengthen professional and technical training for young scientific and technological talents, achieve full political trust, proactive guidance in ideology, create conditions in work, and care for and care for life, comprehensively improve the ideological and political quality and scientific and technological innovation ability of the young scientific and technological talent team.