As a top exporting country, China is already equipped with
strong production capability, but continues to lag behind in
innovative capability. Thus, the ability to innovate will to a
large extent decide China's economic prospects.
The long-term strategy to develop its science and technology
sectors and talent training programs was again stressed at the
recent National Science and Technology Innovation Conference. The
goal to become an innovation-driven country by 2020 was set at the
conference.
The conference is also a historic event on par with those held
in 1978 and 2006.
The National Science Conference in 1978 began the reform of the
science and technology system, and the National Science and
Technology Conference in 2006 set a goal to build an
innovation-based economy. This year's conference took place before
the convening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party
of China, a critical moment in China's all-around efforts to build
a well-off society and transform its economic development mode.
To deepen the systemic reform of science and technology sectors
and accelerate construction of the nation's innovation
infrastructure is a major initiative of the Chinese Government. It
shows that the country is preparing to enter a new era of science
and technology revolution and industrial changes. China hopes to
accelerate the transformation of its economic development model,
promote the strategic adjustment of China's economic structure and
solve the most pressing problems hindering the country's science
and technology innovation development.
More than 30 years of reform in the science and technology field
has laid a sound foundation for achieving the goal in 2020. Since
the late 1990s, more than 1,300 industry and business-related
science research institutions have been transformed into
enterprises. Meanwhile, a number of "star" enterprises with strong
innovative ability and economic performance have become the
bellwethers of their respective industries. Enterprises that own
independent intellectual property rights, such as Huawei, Datang
and Haier, have begun to share a place among global hi-tech
giants.
In recent years, China has been actively training or absorbing
high-level science and technology leaders. It has also been
improving the current talent selection system by introducing
incentive mechanisms.
China's total science and technology resources continue to grow.
In 2011, China's expenditures on R&D reached 861 billion yuan
($136.67 billion), up by 21.9 percent over the previous year and
accounting for 1.83 percent of its GDP. Many science programs, such
as the space mission, deep-sea submergence, super computers,
high-speed railway, hybrid rice and genetic sequencing, have scored
great achievements,
But some chronic and fundamental problems hindering China's
science and technology development remain unsolved. For example,
the country lacks in technology storage and is weak in innovation.
The planning and cost management in the science and technology
field need to be further improved. All these mean that China still
has a lot of work to do on the path of building an
innovation-driven country.
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