Long March 5B rocket represents the innovative development of China’s space industry. Photo: CHINANEWS

The State Council Information Office recently held a press conference analyzing China’s current status regarding the construction of an innovative country and support for high-quality development. 

Wang Zhigang, minister of science and technology, said that, generally speaking, the top 15 economies on the innovation capability index can be considered innovative countries. According to the 2019 Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China’s innovation performance ranked 14th among about 130 countries in the world. China was also the 15th most innovative country in the world last year, according to the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development. “The ranks are a significant sign that China has become one of the innovative countries,” Wang said.

Wang said that in terms of promoting the construction of an innovative country, China has achieved several goals according to multiple indicators. In 2019, it was the largest filer of patents in the world. China’s academic science papers moved into second place for global citations. Its R&D expenditure has reached 2.2 trillion yuan, over seven times as much as it was in 2006. The R&D expenditure as a share of GDP has risen to 2.2%, roughly equivalent to the average level of EU member states. The contribution rate of scientific and technological progress had reached 59.5%, which is expected to fulfill the 60% target this year. 

Over the past year, major scientific and technological projects have played an important role in cultivating strategic emerging industries. China has industrialized the 14-nanometer process in the field of integrated circuits, and comprehensively advanced the 5G R&D applications and industrialization. National independent innovation zones and high-tech zones have become the core carriers for nourishing the high-tech sector. The total output of 169 high-tech zones has hit 12 trillion yuan, accounting for over 10% of the country’s economy. There are 225,000 high-tech enterprises nationwide, and more than 151,000 science and technology SMEs. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of science and technology commissioners led the establishment of 11,500 companies. China has strived for breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of major diseases and added 18 national research institutes for clinical medicine.

In recent years, China has reformed its scientific and technological system, honed its outcome evaluation system, and optimized its mechanism for transferring and transforming research results. In 2019, the technology market transaction volume in China reached 2.2 trillion yuan, surpassing total R&D expenditure. “Innovation has no end, so the building of an innovative country is always where we’re heading,” Wang said. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic is a major test for China’s scientific and technological innovation capabilities,” Wang said. After the outbreak, the Ministry of Science and Technology and 12 departments have formed research teams. A dozen panels have been working on the research and development of drugs, vaccines and testing reagents, focusing on clinical treatment and medicine, vaccine research and development, detection technology and products, viral etiology and epidemiology, and animal model construction. Furthermore, there are 83 emergency research projects. In this way, China has developed a national research network.

Wu Yuanbin, director general of science and technology for social development with the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the National Science and Technology Program has supported 12 COVID-19 vaccine R&D projects. “There are about 10 vaccines in clinical trials worldwide, and China’s research is keeping pace with the world.” 

In recent years, the overall strength of China’s science and technology has made great progress, but the relatively weak ability to come up with breakthrough innovations has attracted much attention. “Fundamental research is the master switch of technological innovation. In the last year, China has achieved breakthroughs in basic research such as the three-dimensional quantum Hall effect and unconventional chiral fermions. It has expanded investment in cutting-edge and applied basic research by more than 10%,” Wang added.

This article was translated from Economic Daily.

(Edited and translated by MA YUHONG)