Science and Technology Daily reporter Cao Xiuying
The "New Cornerstone Fellows Project" was officially released on April 30. This is a new type of basic research funding project that focuses on original innovation, encourages scientists to explore freely, and has a public welfare attribute.
According to reports, under the guidance of the relevant state departments, the "New Cornerstone Researcher Project" is led by scientists and funded and supported by Tencent. Tencent will invest RMB 10 billion in the project over the next 10 years and will explore a sustainable operating model to support basic research on a long-term basis. The fund comes from a 100 billion yuan special fund set up by Tencent after launching its sustainable social value innovation strategy last year.
The "New Cornerstone Researcher Project" aims to support a group of outstanding scientists to choose their own research directions for a long time and steadily, encourage them to devote themselves to research, have the courage to challenge, and focus on the original innovation of "from 0 to 1".
The "New Cornerstone Researcher Project" strictly follows the principle of "scientist leadership" and sets up a scientific committee as the core institution, and Shi Yigong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of West lake University, serves as the chairman of the first scientific committee. Shi Yigong said: "The next 10-20 years will be a critical period for China's scientific and technological development to take a quantitative leap from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leap. Basic research is the foundation of science, which requires the field of basic research to take the lead in achieving more breakthroughs. The project will steadily support 200 to 300 outstanding scientists over the next 10 years, providing maximum space for their free exploration. It is expected that these scientists can put forward and solve major scientific problems, promote theoretical innovation, lead the forefront of disciplines, open up new research directions and fields, and become new academic leaders in the scientific community. ”
The project will set up two major areas: "Mathematics and Physical Sciences" and "Biological and Medical Sciences", to support scientists working full-time in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao.
"Many of the major breakthroughs in basic research come from the long-term accumulation of scientists." Xie Xiaoliang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor of Peking University and member of the Scientific Committee of the "New Cornerstone Researcher Project", said, "This project will support potential scientists in a long-term and stable manner through the method of 'choosing people without choosing topics', giving them full freedom, which will help them to explore and harvest the fruits of original innovation." ”
Strongly supporting basic research is Tencent's long-term insistence. In 2018, Tencent and a number of Chinese scientists jointly launched the "Science Exploration Award" to fund young scientific and technological talents. The New Cornerstone Researcher Project is another important practice of Tencent's "Sustainable Social Value Innovation" strategy.
This support model of social funding is a useful supplement to the country's investment in basic research. Pan Jianwei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, executive vice president of the University of Science and Technology of China, and member of the scientific committee of the "New Cornerstone Researcher Project", said: "This project responds to the long-term expectations of the scientific community. Free exploration targets uncertainty, which is often difficult, risky, and time-consuming, and social funds are more flexible and can send charcoal to scientists who focus on free exploration. ”
It is understood that more information such as the application qualifications and declaration channels of the "New Cornerstone Researcher Project" will be announced one after another, and the declaration will be officially launched within the year.
Zhang Jie, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, director of the Li Zhengdao Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and member of the scientific committee of the "New Cornerstone Researcher Project", said: "It is expected that this project can support a group of outstanding scientists to focus on original and leading basic research and expand the boundaries of scientific cognition. I hope that Chinese scientists will promote breakthroughs and progress in the field of basic research and benefit all mankind! ”
Short comment: Strengthening basic research expects more "cornerstones"
Xiuying
On the first day of the May Day holiday, there were big moves in the field of scientific research. On April 30, the "New Cornerstone Researcher Project" was released, and Tencent plans to invest 10 billion yuan in the next 10 years to support basic research in the two major fields of mathematics and physical science, biology and medical science. This move is undoubtedly a useful exploration of the mainland to build a diversified investment mechanism for basic research.
As we all know, basic research is the source of innovation and the fundamental driving force and source of building an innovative country, but it also has practical problems such as long cycle, difficulty and high risk, so basic research investment has always been one of the most concerned topics in the scientific and technological community. In recent years, the mainland's basic research funding has increased steadily, in 2019, the proportion of mainland basic research funds in R&D funding exceeded 6% for the first time, in 2021, the mainland R&D funding in the basic research funding was 169.6 billion yuan, an increase of 15.6% over the previous year, and the proportion of basic research funds in R&D funds reached 6.09%, but compared with the proportion of basic research investment in developed countries in R&D, there is still a large room for growth in mainland basic research investment.
From the perspective of the source structure of basic research funds, at present, it is still mainly government investment, and the proportion of investment by enterprises and social forces is relatively low. Therefore, increasing investment in basic research and optimizing the investment structure is the meaning of strengthening basic research. The 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Outline of Long-term Goals for 2035 emphasize "persistently strengthening basic research" and "encouraging society to invest through multiple channels such as donations and establishing funds to form a sustained and stable investment mechanism, and the proportion of basic research investment in research and development funds has increased to more than 8%."
As a useful supplement to the state's financial investment, social funds have the advantage of flexibility and efficiency, and can make funds serve people's creative activities and allow scientists to explore freely without distraction. Happily, the social capital of the mainland has already had a strong desire and positive action to enter basic research. As early as 2018, Yang Zhenning and 14 other Chinese scientists joined hands with Tencent to launch the public welfare award "Science Exploration Award", and has funded 150 outstanding young scientists, which has greatly alleviated their worries.
The "New Cornerstone Researcher Project" strictly follows the principle of "scientist leadership" to ensure the greatest flexibility of scientists in the use of funds, long-term stable funding, and will also provide useful reference for social forces to support basic research.
A single branch is not spring, a hundred flowers bloom in the spring garden, we look forward to more social forces to pay attention to basic research, support basic research, and lay the "cornerstone" for the construction of a scientific and technological power.
Editor: Zhang Shuang
Review: Yue Liang