——Interview with Yang Zhengguo, former vice chairman of Shaanxi Federation of Industry and Commerce and president of Shaanxi Provincial Technical Managers Association
■China Economic Times reporter Pan Yingli
Scientific and technological innovation is the key to the development of new quality productive forces. In the process of innovation and development, how to better play the role of entrepreneurs? To this end, a reporter from the China Economic Times interviewed Yang Zhengguo, former vice chairman of the Shaanxi Federation of Industry and Commerce and president of the Shaanxi Provincial Technical Managers Association.
As an entrepreneur, Yang's company has repeatedly made breakthroughs in the field of regenerative medicine and has become a pioneer in the industry. For more than 30 years, he has been advocating for the necessity of major original innovations, and in his exploratory practice, he has discovered the importance of building a technical service organization.
To develop new quality productive forces, we must pay attention to strengthening the three major innovations
China Economic Times: You have long been committed to the practice and exploration of the integration of production, education and research, combined with your personal experience, how do you think we can better develop new quality productivity?
Yang Zhengguo: New quality productivity will become an important engine to promote China's economic development. In my opinion, the new quality productivity represents the level of production methods and productivity with high-tech content, involving new fields and integrating a wide range of products, which is crucial to enhancing China's industrial competitiveness and achieving high-quality economic development.
I have been engaged in scientific and technological innovation for more than 30 years, and I have been committed to driving major original innovations. Combined with my experience and experience, I believe that the development of new quality productivity must focus on strengthening the three major innovations, that is, major original innovation, process innovation, integrated innovation, while doing a good job in these three innovations, we must also strengthen the construction of technical service institutions.
First of all, major original innovations are particularly important. At present, China's innovation is in the process of changing from quantitative to qualitative, and imitation and tracking innovation are gradually decreasing, so we should encourage major original innovation, focusing on new products that have never been seen in the world or at home. For example, in the field of regenerative medicine, our company has developed the world's first bioengineered cornea product, which has brought hope to tens of millions of patients with corneal blindness. In addition, we have also successfully developed the first tissue engineered artificial skin products in Asia and the second in the world, which have caused a huge sensation at home and abroad, and are of great significance for promoting the development of the industry.
Secondly, process innovation is an important way to improve product quality, reduce costs and improve production efficiency. Enterprises can achieve process innovation by introducing new processes, updating equipment, and optimizing management methods, which is also an important means to promote the development of new quality productivity.
Finally, the development of new quality productivity should strengthen integrated innovation, the core of which is to help existing technologies break through the limited industry scope, integrate various technologies, and use various platforms and information technologies to create new products and processes. The main body of integrated innovation is the enterprise, and the key point is to integrate the platform required by technology.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Establish an entrepreneur-led innovation and development model
China Economic Times: In the process of innovation and development, industry, academia and research all play an important role. How do you think the relationship between the three parties should be handled?
Yang Zhengguo: Governments at all levels should pay more attention to the role of entrepreneurs in innovation and establish an innovative development model led by entrepreneurs. At the same time, the establishment of enterprise-centered industry-university-research consortium, the investment of resources to support enterprises to build R&D centers at all levels, and gradually form a scientific research system based on enterprise order-based R&D.
In addition, the relationship between universities and businesses is crucial. As the main place for talent training and scientific research, universities should focus on scientific research and education, and the task of industrialization should be completed by enterprises, so that universities and enterprises can give full play to their strengths and form a situation of coordinated development.
There is also a strong correlation between research and the market. However, in reality, the problem of difficulty in the industrialization and transfer of scientific and technological achievements is widespread. In my opinion, this is mainly due to the lack of consideration of the commercial prospects of the project at the project approval stage, and the over-reliance on financial funding and the decoupling of scientific research projects from market demand.
Scientists and entrepreneurs are the twin pillars of innovation and development, and they should cooperate and support each other. However, in long-term practice, we have found that many people emphasize the role of scientists one-sidedly and ignore the importance of entrepreneurs. In fact, the transformation of scientific research results into commodities to meet the needs of society requires the creativity and innovation of entrepreneurs.
Therefore, in the coordinated development of the three parties, technical service institutions play an important role, which not only plays the role of a bridge and link, but also has the market value that bursts out after deep integration, and can effectively handle the relationship between universities and enterprises, scientific research and markets, scientists and entrepreneurs.
It is also necessary to pay attention to the difficulty in the evaluation of scientific and technological innovation projects, which has affected the industrialization transfer of scientific and technological achievements. It is necessary to broaden the scope of the review expert team, introduce entrepreneurs with successful industrialization experience to participate in the review, and at the same time hire more forward-looking young and middle-aged scientific and technological backbones to solve the problems of "small circles" and "old concepts".
Strengthen the construction of technical service institutions
China Economic Times: You just said that technical service institutions play an important role in the coordinated development of industry, academia and research.
Yang Zhengguo: As I mentioned earlier, strengthening the construction of technical service institutions is crucial to promoting technology transfer and promoting industrial innovation and development. However, there is a lack of professional technical service institutions in the current market, which brings certain difficulties to the technology transfer of enterprises. We should strengthen the construction of technical service institutions, improve their professional level and service quality, and provide stronger support for the innovation and development of enterprises.
The team of technology managers plays an important role in technology transfer service organizations. To this end, we initiated the establishment of the first special partnership with technical managers as the main body in mainland China, and established the Shaanxi Provincial Technical Managers Association, the earliest provincial-level social organization named after technical managers in China. These measures have greatly enhanced the work motivation and cohesion of technical service personnel, added a new promotion mode for the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, and provided a service guarantee for the development of new quality productivity.
In addition, many universities in China attach great importance to the construction of technology transfer institutions. For example, the "6352" project construction and the "1121" model exploration promoted by the transfer center of Xi'an Jiaotong University, as well as the gradual improvement of the "proof of concept + seed + angel" incubation system, have achieved remarkable results. These platforms and measures solve the problems of experts and scholars who have aspirations but lack energy, enterprises who have needs but lack of channels, governments who have calls but are difficult to promote, and who follow laws but are difficult to break through in practice. With our unremitting perseverance, the proposal on the construction of the technical manager team has been included in the national "14th Five-Year Plan".
With the development of the times, Tsinghua University and other universities have added technical manager degree education programs. We are preparing to establish the "China Association of Technology Managers", implement the "four unifications" construction plan of "unified name, unified certification, unified teaching materials, and unified organization", and gradually establish industry self-discipline rules, industry access standards and education system. I firmly believe that with the joint efforts of the government and enterprises, the technical service organization industry will become an important factor in promoting the continuous development and growth of new quality productivity, and make greater contributions to the development of new quality productivity.
Chief Producer丨Wang Hui and Che Haigang
Producer丨Li Piguang, Wang Yu, Liu Weimin
Editor-in-Chief丨Mao Jinghui Editor丨Cao Yang