Dream of a scientific and technological power When riding the wind and waves- cutting through thorns and thorns and bravely climbing the peak, China's postdoctoral system has gone through thirty-six years

Standing at the historical node of the centenary of the founding of the party, looking back, the journey of talent and power to pursue the dream is engraved with these two moments --

At the end of 1984, the Chinese Academy of Sciences launched a postdoctoral pilot work, and Chen Hesheng, who had been doing postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for half a year, resolutely returned to China and entered the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, becoming one of the earliest postdoctoral fellows in China, and developed China's first high-energy accelerator a few years later.

In June 2020, xichang satellite launch center, the last networking satellite of the Beidou-3 system was launched, and the postdoctoral research team of "Beidou Navigation" of Wuhan University, under the leadership of Liu Jingnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, achieved centimeter-level real-time positioning accuracy and continuously improved The "vision" of Beidou. Up to now, China's postdoctoral talent team has achieved a historic leap from 0 to 280,000.

36 years of braving thorns and bravely climbing the peak. In the mission of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, on the journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, countless waves of scientific research to serve the country have surged into a great river that is moving forward, and a group of young scientific and technological talents have grown up in postdoctoral work and become the backbone of China's scientific and technological innovation.

Paving the "highway", the growth of innovative talents ushered in acceleration

"It is necessary to create a large-scale team of young scientific and technological talents, focus the policy of cultivating the national strategic talent force on young scientific and technological talents, and support young talents to pick the beam and become the protagonists", at the Central Talent Work Conference held in September this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping made important instructions. Postdoctoral researchers are an important part of high-level innovative young talents and a living force for achieving breakthroughs in key core technologies.

Over the past 36 years, under the great attention of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, China's postdoctoral system has been writing and witnessing history from scratch, from small to large, and every step of the step is writing and witnessing history.

In July 1985, the State Council issued the "Notice on Approving and Forwarding the Report of the Postdoctoral Research Mobile Station of the State Science and Technology Commission, the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Academy of Sciences", and the postdoctoral system officially opened the "China Chapter". In the same year, the National Postdoctoral Research Mobile Station Management Committee was established, and the first batch of 102 postdoctoral research mobile stations were established. In order to allow talents to devote themselves to scientific research in a safe and comfortable environment, the Office of the National Postdoctoral Management Committee has successively issued more than 30 policies to solve the problems of postdoctoral household registration migration, file transfer, and children's enrollment, and open up a "policy special zone" in the rigid personnel education system of that year.

After the establishment of rules and regulations and steady development, the postdoctoral system has entered the track of standardization and institutionalization, the number of recruits has increased rapidly, and the coverage has been continuously expanded. By 2003, the annual enrollment of postdoctoral researchers had grown to more than 4,400, covering all 12 disciplines. In 2004, the National Postdoctoral Management Committee held the seventeenth meeting, proposing that the focus of postdoctoral work should be shifted from expanding the scale of stationing to improving quality, and the postdoctoral system entered the stage of reform and improvement. During this period, with the rapid growth of China's economy, the postdoctoral system gradually became an important window for open cooperation and talent attraction.

At the local level, China has successively carried out pilot work on the reform of the hierarchical management system in more than 20 provinces and cities, and the original second-level management model has become a three-level management model of the state, localities and station-setting units, and the daily management and services such as postdoctoral entry and exit stations and assessments have been decentralized, which has greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of local provinces and cities and various station-setting units.

In the enterprise, in 1994, Shanghai Baoshan Iron and Steel (Group) Company established China's first enterprise postdoctoral research station. After three years of exploration, the former Ministry of Personnel and the National Postdoctoral Management Committee issued the Interim Regulations on Postdoctoral Work in Enterprises, and postdoctoral work in enterprises has become a new growth point. In 2002, Guangdong Shunde Hongchang Coatings Company became the first private enterprise to establish a postdoctoral research station. A batch of postdoctoral talents have entered the front line of economic development and become a new force for scientific research talents in enterprises.

In the western region, since 2000, the postdoctoral system has accelerated the pace of setting up stations in the western region and guided more talents to struggle in the vast land of the western region. The scale of postdoctoral stations in Shaanxi, Sichuan and other places has reached a new high year after year, and postdoctoral research mobile stations and workstations have become the "humerus" force that boosts the economic and social development of western provinces.

In the field of global talent competition, in 2012, the postdoctoral international exchange program was implemented, and overseas doctors were vigorously attracted to China (returned to China) to engage in postdoctoral research, so as to improve the internationalization level of postdoctoral researchers. Driven by this project, the introduction of overseas postdoctoral projects at the provincial and university levels has been launched one after another, and international cooperation with world-class universities has been established...

Rooted in the fertile soil, the postdoctoral "sapling" thrives and has deep roots and leaves. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the postdoctoral system, the Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Reforming and Improving the Postdoctoral System were issued. Since then, with the introduction of a series of supporting policies, the postdoctoral work mechanism has become more perfect and sound, and the postdoctoral career has flourished. A large number of postdoctoral talents are innovating and pursuing dreams on the main battlefield of China's independent innovation in science and technology and economic and social development.

According to statistics, during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period alone, 896 postdoctoral research stations were newly established in China, the annual enrollment increased by 73%, and the number of patent applications during the postdoctoral period increased year by year, with a total of about 49,400 patents. Today, more than 3,800 postdoctoral research stations have covered the main industries of the national economy, paving the "highway" for the growth of young scientific and technological talents, and forging senior technical experts to plug in the wings of take-off in order to accelerate technological innovation.

Create a "booster", talent and scientific and technological innovation to rub out the "spark"

High-quality development is the development supported by talents and led by talents.

From the "Tianwen" fire exploration to the Beidou network, from the "Chang'e" moon to the 10,000-meter deep diving... The covid-19 pandemic has not stopped The pace of Innovation in China, and a number of scientific and technological achievements have made a stunning appearance, adding impetus to high-quality development. Behind the eye-catching results, a phenomenon frequently attracts attention: the average age of the Beidou team is 35 years old, and the average age of the Tianwen-1 control team is only 30 years old. Young scientific and technological talents with active and energetic thinking are becoming the main force of scientific research and innovation.

Most of the postdoctoral age is 28 to 35 years old, in the golden age of innovation and creation, the most prone to emerge new ideas, new theories, new technologies and new methods, and in the front line of scientific and technological innovation and transformation of achievements, with the unique advantage of promoting the docking of industry, education and research. Therefore, accelerating the development of postdoctoral careers is conducive to strengthening the research of basic frontier fields, enhancing the original innovation ability, and accelerating the realization of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement.

In recent years, a series of sensational scientific and technological innovation achievements in the world are witnesses. In 2018, the "Cell" magazine published a cover article online, and Chinese scientists took the lead in breaking through the somatic cell cloning monkey technology and cultivating the world's first individual cell cloning monkey. The first author of the article, Liu Zhen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Neuroscience of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a selectee of the "Boxin Plan" in 2017 and the youngest scientist to be awarded the "He Liang He Li Foundation" in 2019; in 2018, Qiu Chenguang, a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Information Science and Technology of Peking University, published a paper in Science as the first author, taking the lead in proposing and realizing dirac cold source transistors internationally, making new breakthroughs in the field of low-power devices.

"Postdoctoral researchers have achieved a large number of scientific research outputs, the total amount of innovation performance continues to grow, and the quality continues to improve, which is related to China's strategic layout of international talent competition and future high-end talent reserves in the training of postdoctoral talents, focusing on training, use, production, education and research." The relevant person in charge of the Department of Professional and Technical Personnel Management of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security explained the outstanding characteristics of the postdoctoral system.

In recent years, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has vigorously promoted the postdoctoral innovation talent support program and the postdoctoral international exchange program, focusing on cultivating and supporting more than 1,000 outstanding doctors at home and abroad to engage in postdoctoral research every year, focusing on high-precision and cutting-edge deficiencies, and driving local and station-setting units to invest in postdoctoral talent projects. Shanghai "Super Postdoc", Jiangsu "10,000 Postdoctoral Gathering Program", Hubei "Postdoctoral Outstanding Talents Tracking and Training Program", Tsinghua University "Mizuki Scholar Program", Peking University "Boya Postdoctoral Program", etc., greatly improved the quality of postdoctoral training and internationalization.

If the postdoctoral system is a "reservoir" of high-level talents, the production line of enterprises is undoubtedly the best "refining field". At present, thousands of enterprises and 160 parks have recruited 41,000 postdoctoral personnel, and nearly 900 postdoctoral research workstations have been newly established in the past five years, and private science and technology enterprises such as Huawei, Tencent, iFLYTEK, and Ningde New Energy have been established. New research institutions such as West Lake University, Zhijiang Laboratory, and Pengcheng Laboratory have generally set up postdoctoral research workstations, integrating talent training, achievement transformation, and enterprise technological progress into an organic whole.

Accelerate the cultivation and let talents "pick the beam" in undertaking major technical tasks. Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park Haidian Park Postdoctoral Research Workstation, postdoctoral has presided over or participated in 1013 scientific research projects, won 4 second prizes of national scientific and technological progress, Chery Automobile postdoctoral research team around the major technical needs of the development of the automobile industry and key technologies in Chery product development, undertaken more than 70 national, provincial and ministerial scientific and technological research projects and the company's technical projects.

Let it go and let talents brave the "no man's land" in climbing the peak of innovation. Oaks Group postdoctoral Cheng Dewei conquered the key technology of "DC frequency conversion multi-connection", and developed new products with cumulative sales revenue of more than 10 billion yuan. Fang Liang, a postdoctoral fellow of Ningbo Meikang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., successfully realized the industrialization of key technologies of new immunodiagnostic reagents and supporting instruments, and a number of technologies filled the domestic gap. During the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Fang Liang led the company's R&D team to take the lead in developing two new coronavirus rapid detection reagents in China, which were sold to more than 30 countries and regions such as France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Grassroots troop training allows talents to be good "vanguards" in the frontline of poverty alleviation. Li Weiyi, a postdoctoral fellow of the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences who participated in the China Postdoctoral Science and Technology Service Group, established a "postdoctoral expert studio" at the People's Hospital of Yanyuan County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province, accumulatively providing free free consultations for 500 people, and guiding the diagnosis and treatment technology and standardized diagnosis and treatment methods of county hospitals. An Xiaopeng, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwest A&F University, participated in the demonstration and promotion of million dairy goats in Fuping County on rapid improvement and healthy breeding technology, driving farmers to increase their income by 126 million yuan.

Closely following the overall situation of national development and keeping up with the forefront of science and technology in the world, the potential of postdoctoral talents has been continuously stimulated, and the postdoctoral system has burst out unprecedented vitality. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the main indicators of postdoctoral scientific research output have doubled, and postdoctoral researchers, as the main participants, have applied for 42,000 national fund projects and won 539 national science and technology awards. Postdoctoral fellows have become a "fresh force" for breakthroughs in key core technologies and a "booster" for enterprise innovation.

We should build a "test field" to pave a new way for the reform of the talent system and mechanism

"I first went to the BoGuan Office to report, got a letter of introduction to transfer the hukou, and transferred the hukou of three people as soon as I arrived at the police station, which has never been so fast." Ouyang Zhongcan, the first academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences among postdoctoral researchers, recalled. He expressed his affirmation of the postdoctoral system based on his personal experience: "Without the establishment of China's postdoctoral system, the free choice of topics during the postdoctoral period and the opportunity to follow the excellent theoretical physicists in the postdoctoral mobile station, there would be no subsequent theoretical physics research career." ”

Since its inception, the postdoctoral system has broken through the institutional and institutional obstacles of the traditional personnel management system in many aspects such as household registration, establishment, personnel relations, and professional title evaluation, and opened up the circulation channels between postdoctoral researchers in colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, enterprises, between different regions and ownership units, as well as between different disciplines and scientific research fields, and opened up a "special zone" for the cultivation and use of high-level talents. In recent years, in response to the needs of international talent competition and economic and social development, relevant departments have reformed and innovated around the management system, innovation and entrepreneurship, funding investment, service guarantee, etc., and vigorously promoted a series of pragmatic measures to shape the postdoctoral system into an important starting point for the development of new advantages.

Reform and improve the management system and improve the quality of training. Since 2015, a series of policies such as the "Opinions on Reforming and Improving the Postdoctoral System" have been promulgated, further expanding the scale of recruitment, strengthening the orientation of scientific research, and promoting international exchanges through the reform of stations and recruitment methods; relying on innovation demonstration centers and scientific research achievement transformation bases, accelerating the transformation of postdoctoral scientific research achievements, encouraging enterprises to give equity and option dividend incentives, and promoting the postdoctoral system to become a test field for the reform of talent system and mechanism.

Increase financial investment and help the growth of top-notch talents. Since 2016, the National Postdoctoral Management Committee has focused on scientific research platforms with a good scientific research environment according to the salary and treatment of postdoctoral fellows in developed countries, set up a postdoctoral innovation talent support plan, concentrated limited financial resources and effective resources, aimed at major national strategic areas and basic science fields, and specially funded a group of outstanding doctors to engage in postdoctoral research. As of September 2021, 2,100 people have been funded, further creating conditions for the growth of top-notch talents.

Chen Wei, a researcher at the Academy of Military Medicine of the Academy of Military Sciences, was deeply touched by this: "Three years of postdoctoral work to study the direction of microbiology, this period has enabled me to systematically learn and cross-train from micro exploration to macro strategy, from basic research to engineering applications. ”

Combined with reality, all localities have made efforts to deepen institutional reform, support innovation and entrepreneurship, and improve management level, and have formed a number of good policies and good practices to support postdoctoral development and stimulate postdoctoral vitality. Guangdong Province has held a series of national postdoctoral summits for five consecutive years, attracting more than 3,600 doctoral postdocs, postdoctoral managers and high-end talents to participate in exchanges and cooperation. In order to help the construction of the "two districts", Beijing plans to recruit postdoctoral students this year, which is equal to the sum of the number of people entering the station in the past three years, and the municipal postdoctoral workstation covers all ten "high-tech" industries that have been prioritized for development. Chongqing launched an online management service system, job-seeking postdocs through the "palm treasure", quickly understand the scientific research platform, salary and other conditions, to achieve accurate matching of posts and talents, the newly recruited 732 postdoctoral fellows, an increase of 57% year-on-year.

Behind the string of talent data, it shows the foresight of China's in-depth implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country with talents in the new era and the strategy of innovation-driven. In this context, China's postdoctoral career is ushering in a period of strategic opportunities for rapid development.

When the youth are prosperous, the country is prosperous, and when the youth are strong, the country is strong. The young generation of postdoctoral fellows are active in the front line of economic development, scientific research and industrial upgrading, and the vast majority of outbound postdoctoral fellows have become leading talents and innovation team backbones of colleges and universities, scientific research institutes and high-tech enterprises, and 125 people have become academicians of the two academies.

Along the way, all the way to bloom. A set of institutional chains with Chinese characteristics, which runs through the chain of production, education and research, and conforms to the growth law of high-level innovative young talents has initially taken shape. The dream of a strong country with talents and a strong country with science and technology is sailing to a voyage full of hope in the wind and waves. (Gao Yang)