One Arrow, Six Stars! At 12:11 on September 20th, China successfully launched the Jilin-1 wide-swath 02B01-06 satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center using the Long March 2D carrier rocket.
The rapid development of China's space industry is a vivid illustration of China's commitment to innovation. From "marching towards science" to "science and technology are the primary productive forces" and then to "innovation is the primary driving force," China has unwaveringly advanced scientific and technological innovation since its founding 75 years ago. Today, China has become a major country with significant international influence in science and technology, and is striding towards becoming a world leader in science and technology.
The Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows that China's comprehensive ranking in innovation capabilities has leaped from 34th in 2012 to 12th in 2023, making it the only middle-income economy in the top 30.
Significant Enhancement in Technological Strength
"40.99" "41.15" "42.02", on September 22nd, in a laboratory on Science Island in the western suburbs of Hefei, Anhui Province, researchers couldn't help but cheer as the numbers on the screen continued to rise and finally settled at "42.02 million Gauss! We've broken the record!"
Confirmed by the on-site expert group, the Strong Magnetic Field Science Center of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has independently developed a water-cooled magnet that generated a stable magnetic field of 42.02 million Gauss, breaking the world record of 41.4 million Gauss set by the water-cooled magnet at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in the United States in 2017. Experts have indicated that the successful development of this magnet will provide scientists with powerful experimental conditions to explore new phenomena and reveal new laws, and it will also lay a key technical foundation for China to build higher field strength steady-state magnets.
China has achieved many similar significant breakthroughs: the world's first fourth-generation nuclear power plant has begun commercial operation, China's first deep scientific exploration well reaching ten thousand meters has started drilling, two-dimensional transistors that surpass the silicon-based limit have been introduced, and the FAST has detected key evidence of the existence of nanomechanical gravitational waves... In fact, when the People's Republic of China was first established, our scientific "foundation" was very weak: there were only over 30 specialized scientific research institutions, a scientific and technical personnel team of less than 50,000, and almost no large scientific research equipment. It is on this "poor and blank" foundation that the Chinese people have forged a path of independent innovation with Chinese characteristics that has shocked the world.
Standing at this new historical juncture and looking back on the 75-year struggle, we can clearly see that the Central Committee of the Party has firmly grasped the general trend of global science and technology and economic development, made significant strategic deployments for the development of science and technology in China in line with our country's actual conditions, and continuously consolidated the strategic position of scientific and technological innovation.
In 1956, the Central Committee of the Party issued the great call to "march towards science" to the entire nation, thus slowly opening the magnificent curtain of contemporary Chinese scientific and technological development.
In 1978, the National Science Conference was held, and the classic assertion that "science and technology are productive forces" ushered in "the spring of science" in China.The steady enhancement of scientific and technological strength is highlighted by the abundant achievements. By the end of 2023, the number of global top 100 scientific and technological innovation clusters in our country has jumped to the first place in the world, with the number of high-tech enterprises reaching 463,000. As of June 2024, the number of valid domestic invention patents in our country has reached 4.425 million, and the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people has reached 12.9.
Innovation achievements are becoming more and more prominent. From sales to collection, from procurement to payment, from accessories to services, from accounting to statements, from demand to production, thanks to the new generation of domestic ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning System) developed by Kingdee, Weichai Leovo Smart Agriculture has not only connected five end-to-end business processes, but also completed the integration of various systems, and the independent control of core technology and the secure storage of core data have been better guaranteed. Xu Shaochun, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Kingdee Group, said: "After years of scientific research, Kingdee has helped more than 200 companies complete the domestic substitution of ERP, and has strongly promoted the reduction of costs and efficiency and management upgrading for companies."
This is just a microcosm of digital technology innovation empowering thousands of industries. Grasping innovation is grasping development, and planning innovation is planning for the future. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, our country has deeply promoted the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy, and the driving effect of scientific and technological innovation on economic and social development has become more and more prominent.
— Scientific and technological innovation optimizes the industrial structure.
High-speed rail technology sets an international benchmark, integrated circuits, artificial intelligence and other emerging industries are booming, new energy vehicles add new momentum to the global automotive industry... In 2023, the added value of our country's "three new" economy reached 22.4 trillion yuan, accounting for 17.73% of GDP; in 2022, the added value of our country's patent-intensive industries was 15.3 trillion yuan, accounting for 12.71% of GDP.
— Scientific and technological innovation promotes the acceleration of new momentum.
5G was the first to achieve large-scale application, Beidou navigation provides global precise services, domestic large aircraft achieve commercial flight... Scientific and technological innovation helps the continuous deepening of supply-side structural reform. In 2023, the total sales revenue of new products of large-scale industrial enterprises in our country reached 34.1 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth of 10.7% from 2013 to 2023; the proportion of new product sales revenue in business revenue was 25.3%, which was 11.7 percentage points higher than in 2012.
— Scientific and technological innovation serves the major strategic needs of the country.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the novel coronavirus strain was isolated in the first time, and the breakthrough of detection reagents was quickly achieved, and vaccine research and development was simultaneously deployed with multiple technical routes advancing in parallel; in the field of energy supply, a diversified supply situation of new energy such as smart grid support, hydropower, wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy, and hydrogen energy has gradually formed; bio-breeding, new drug development, and green and low-carbon technologies help the construction of food security and healthy China, beautiful China.Maximizing the Innovation and Creativity of Talents
The number of forms required for the National Key R&D Program has been streamlined from 57 to 11; the National Natural Science Foundation of China has fully implemented "paperless" application for projects, saving researchers a significant amount of time spent on submitting materials; the national science and technology plan conducts random checks at a ratio not exceeding 5%, further reducing the number and frequency of inspections.
By breaking the "four onlys" (only papers, only titles, only degrees, only awards) and establishing new standards as a breakthrough, efforts are accelerated to establish a talent evaluation system oriented towards innovation value, capability, and contribution, continuously fostering a positive social atmosphere that recognizes, cherishes, respects, and utilizes talents.
Researchers are allowed to enjoy more benefits from innovation. The revision of the Law on the Promotion of Science and Technology Achievements Transformation, the implementation of several regulations on the Law on the Promotion of Science and Technology Achievements Transformation, and the formulation of the "Action Plan for Promoting the Transfer and Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements" form a coherent trilogy for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, allowing researchers to become wealthy through their results. The "Several Opinions on Implementing Distribution Policies Oriented Towards Increasing the Value of Knowledge" allows researchers and university teachers to hold part-time positions and receive additional salaries, moving from the "gray area" to the "sunshine"...
With fewer restrictions and more incentives, innovative China, with more than 90 million scientific and technological workers, is surging with vitality.
Looking at scientific papers, our country has become an important contributor to global knowledge innovation. In 2021, the three major international retrieval tools, Science Citation Index (SCI), Engineering Index (EI), and Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI), respectively included 612,000 (world's first), 368,000 (world's first), and 30,000 (world's second) Chinese scientific research papers. In 2022, the number of citations of Chinese scientific papers ranked second in the world.
Looking at the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, in 2023, the number of technology market contracts in our country was 950,000, with a total transaction amount of 6.1 trillion yuan, which are 3.4 times and 9.6 times that of 2012, respectively...
Only reformers make progress, only innovators are strong, and only those who reform and innovate win. With the pen of scientific and technological innovation, today's China is surging with vitality and moving forward continuously.