Prof. Lan Xue ：to strengthen the national strategic science and technology forceRelease time： 2023-04-07
Recently, Xue Lan, a senior professor of liberal arts at Tsinghua University, Dean of Schwarzman College, and Co-Chairman of CIDEG Academic Committee, was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency and CCTV's "News Feed" about strengthening national strategic scientific and technological power. Recently, Xue Lan, a senior professor of liberal arts at Tsinghua University, Dean of Schwarzman College, and Co-Chairman of CIDEG Academic Committee, was interviewed by Xinhua News Agency and CCTV's "News Feed" about strengthening national strategic science and technology power.
China's economic volume has exceeded 100 trillion yuan, how much weight does science and technology innovation carry? On January 25, Xinhua News Agency published an article interviewing Professor Xue Lan and looking forward to the key direction of China's innovation in the opening year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. On January 26, the CCTV reporter conducted an authoritative interview with Prof. Xue Lan on how to further strengthen the national strategic science and technology force.
GDP over a trillion yuan, science, and technology innovation weight geometry?
Gross domestic product exceeded the 100 trillion yuan mark - China's economy delivered a high gold content answer sheet in 2020. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the contribution rate of scientific and technological progress is expected to reach 60%.
"Science and technology innovation has made great contributions to China's economic and social development." Xue Lan said, the digital economy, high-speed rail, and other innovations familiar to everyone, there are a large number of science and technological innovation contributions implied in all aspects of our daily life, is to improve the quality, improve life and promote the development of the "invisible champion."
"But compared with the challenges we face, the task is still very daunting." Xue Lan said that high-quality development must rely on scientific and technological innovation, and there are still gaps in the supply of our overall innovation capacity. The international situation has become more severe in the past few years and poses new challenges to industrial development.
"China's economy is over a trillion yuan, but we do not only need to be big, but also strong, and strong will depend on science and technology innovation." Xue Lan said.
From "big country" to "strong country", what innovative power do we rely on?
Among the key tasks proposed by the Central Economic Work Conference in 2021, strengthening the country's strategic science and technology forces is at the top of the list.
"To truly become an innovation power, there must be a carrier of innovation capacity, and this carrier is China's strategic science and technology forces, including key research institutions, research universities, and leading innovative enterprises." Xue Lan interpreted.
In Xue Lan's view, one is to have innovative strength, and the other is to be able to come forward when the country needs it, and gather the strength to solve major problems, which is the role of the country's strategic science and technology forces.
The "14th Five-Year" start, to promote innovation how to force?
The "neck" problem is blocked in the road of industrial upgrading, on the one hand, we should focus on the key core technology to fight the battle, on the other hand, enterprises are the main body of innovation, how to give full play to the advantages?
Xue Lan believes that the first is to solve the problem of market failure, such as the government strengthening support for basic research, to provide a continuous supply of knowledge to the innovation activities of enterprises. "Basic research belongs to the market failure, which is a common problem faced by the whole world."
"During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China has continued to increase central financial support and promote local enterprises and social forces to pay more attention to basic research investment through government guidance, central and local linkage, and tax leverage. China's investment in basic research grew from 71.6 billion yuan in 2015 to 133.56 billion yuan in 2019, accounting for the first time for more than 6% of the total social expenditure on research and development.
At the same time, a better market environment should be created. Xue Lan said intellectual property infringement, local protectionism, and other behaviors can make innovation lose momentum. "The government has to work hard to create a healthy and fair market environment."
In addition, leading companies in various industries should be encouraged to increase their support for original innovation. "For a company to become a 'century-old', it must lay a solid foundation in original innovation." Xue Lan said.
Technology self-reliance and self-improvement, whether to "package each link"?
"Technology self-reliance and self-improvement, the most fundamental thing is to practice good internal strength, while continuing to adhere to strengthen international cooperation and integration into the global innovation network." Xue Lan said.
In today's era, the core innovation factors such as knowledge, technology, and talents are flowing rapidly around the world, and independent innovation is innovation in an open environment, which must not be done behind closed doors, but must gather the energy of the four seas and borrow the strength of eight parties.
Xue Lan pointed out that no country in the world can completely close its doors to itself and wrap up all the links from basic application research to product production and R&D from the beginning to the end. "Self-reliance and self-improvement while actively integrating into global innovation and development and into the global industrial chain, both in parallel." He said.
Is there a key move to optimize the research ecology?
A good academic style and practice will enable the scientific and technological community to sink their teeth into long-term, original-value research, and provide a constant source of power for economic and social development. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to regulate the ethics of science and technology, establish a good academic style and style of work, and guide researchers to concentrate on their work and make solid progress.
"To create a better academic ecology, the scientific community must play a greater role in the governance of science and technology." Xue Lan said.
He said that for China to become a strong country in science and technology innovation, the scientific community must have a good academic style, academic ethics and academic ecology. This requires the scientific community to make corresponding reforms and improvements in academic norms and evaluation mechanisms, and there is still a lot of work to be done.
What innovative changes should be expected in the next 5 to 15 years?
"In the 14th Five-Year Plan and beyond, Chinese science and technology will be oriented to the world's scientific and technological frontier, to the main battlefield of the economy, to the major needs of the country, and to the life and health of the people, and will continue to march to breadth and depth. In Xue Lan's view, innovation changes are very worth looking forward to.
"In terms of basic research, it is expected to achieve a leap from quantity to quality." Xue Lan said that a series of initiatives on the reform and construction of national laboratories, national key laboratories, and research universities are being implemented, and it can be expected that major original advances in the field of basic research will emerge one after another in the future.
"The application field of technological innovation will also have a newer weather." Xue Lan cited the example of Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where the construction of global science and innovation centers is in full swing and will form innovation heights in the future, attracting the best resources from all sides to advance new technological products and production applications.
In addition, China is increasingly becoming a gathering place for innovative talents of worldwide attention, and more outstanding talents from all over the world will come to China to find development opportunities, forming a virtuous cycle and contributing to China's future development.
"China has entered a new era, and the new era will stimulate more new demands, which is the most important source of our innovation." Xue Lan said.