Strengthen the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation

Key takeaways

To accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, it is necessary to promote industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation, apply scientific and technological innovation achievements to specific industries and industrial chains in a timely manner, transform and upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and expand emerging industries, lay out and build future industries, improve the modern industrial system, and achieve high-quality development.

Chen Tao Wan Jinbo

Scientific and technological innovation is the core element of the development of new quality productive forces, and pillar industries are the main front for the development of new quality productive forces. Scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation are mutually demanding and promoting each other. Scientific and technological innovation is the source of industrial innovation, and industrial innovation and human pursuit of a better life drive scientific and technological innovation. To accelerate the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, it is necessary to promote industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation, apply scientific and technological innovation achievements to specific industries and industrial chains in a timely manner, transform and upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and expand emerging industries, lay out and build future industries, improve the modern industrial system, and achieve high-quality development.

First, it is necessary to strengthen the national strategic scientific and technological forces. Major originality and leading scientific and technological innovation is the source of the development of new quality productive forces. The scientific and technological innovation system dominated by national strategic scientific and technological forces focuses on the national strategic needs while deriving and driving the overall improvement of pillar industries and the cultivation of emerging industries and future industries. The first is to select topics around national strategic needs. National strategic scientific and technological forces such as national laboratories, national scientific research institutions, high-level research universities, and leading scientific and technological enterprises focus on major scientific and technological issues that affect and restrict economic and social development and national security, transform the list of problems into a task list, and focus on basic frontier fields such as quantum science and technology, information and integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, life and health, biological breeding, aerospace and ocean, advanced materials and manufacturing, new energy, resources and environment. The second is to focus on strategic tasks and innovate organizational models. Focusing on strategic needs, we will form major scientific and technological research projects, build a research system that matches tasks and projects, select strategic scientists from a global perspective, gather superior forces to carry out cross-field and interdisciplinary collaborative research, and form major original and leading scientific and technological achievements. The third is to optimize the allocation of resources around strategic goals. With the optimal allocation of innovation resources as the traction, we will carry out strategically oriented major tasks, achieve breakthroughs in key areas, promote major achievements to "lay eggs along the way", and provide strategic, forward-looking and basic scientific and technological innovation support for cultivating new quality productivity.

Second, strengthen the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. Enterprises are the key subjects to absorb and create disruptive and cutting-edge technologies, gather innovative resources, and cultivate and develop new quality productivity. The first is to guide the resource elements to gather in enterprises. Give full play to the role of financial integration in supporting scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, and promote the iterative upgrading of science and technology enterprises in standards, rules, brands and values. Establish industrial venture capital funds in key areas, actively develop venture capital, attract and leverage social capital, expand patient capital, drive more scientific and technological resources to enterprises with strong innovation ability and high innovation efficiency, and promote the innovation and development of enterprises. The second is to support leading enterprises to participate in key core technology research. Focusing on the key core technologies of "stuck neck", we will deploy projects, platforms and tasks in an integrated manner, guide enterprises to participate in major national science and technology projects and national key research and development plans, and accelerate breakthroughs in basic technologies such as key components, parts and basic materials. Promote science and technology leading enterprises to condense key issues and needs from major application scenarios, form major science and technology tasks, and increase the policy and resource guidance for enterprises to participate in topic selection. The third is to support leading enterprises to take the lead in organizing collaborative innovation of industry, university and research. Give full play to the leading and integrated role of science and technology leading enterprises, efficiently allocate industry-university-research innovation resource elements, focus on key scientific research tasks, unite universities and institutes to form an innovation consortium, drive small and medium-sized enterprises to integrate and innovate, and build innovation chains, industrial chains and supply chains in a wider range to form innovation clusters.

Third, strengthen the synergy between scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. Improving the overall efficiency of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation is an important focus for the development of new quality productivity. The first is to strengthen central and local coordination and regional coordination. According to the national financial final account data, the national fiscal expenditure on science and technology in 2022 will be 1,112.84 billion yuan, of which the central and local fiscal expenditure on science and technology will account for 34.2% and 65.8% respectively. It is necessary to adhere to the national game of chess, promote national strategic regional coordination, closely focus on the national strategic scientific and technological needs and regional scientific and technological innovation layout, and form an effective connection and overall allocation of resources. The second is to strengthen the innovation and collaboration of industry, university and research. The essence of the deep integration of industry, university and research is the effective connection and optimal combination of scientific and technological innovation resources and industrial innovation resources. It is necessary to deploy the innovation chain around the industrial chain, lay out the industrial chain around the innovation chain, and enhance the energy level and competitiveness of scientific and technological and industrial development. The third is to strengthen the coordination between business entities and innovation entities. Universities, institutes, and enterprises focus on the goal of innovation, give full play to their respective advantages through task traction, strengthen collaborative innovation between science and technology and industry, bridge the information asymmetry and resource misallocation between R&D and production, and transform innovation advantages into competitive advantages for the development of new quality productivity.

Fourth, strengthen the quality and competitiveness of the industry. Enhance the flexibility and adaptability of the industrial chain and supply chain, and ensure that the industrial chain and supply chain are autonomous, controllable, safe and reliable. First, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. Empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries with advanced technology, accelerate cross-border integration innovation and iterative application of technology, promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of the manufacturing industry, and realize the transformation of industrial development from factor-driven and efficiency-driven to innovation-driven. The second is to optimize the systematic layout of emerging industries and future industries. Consolidate and expand the leading advantages of 5G, intelligent networked new energy vehicles, new energy and other industries, accelerate the development of cutting-edge emerging hydrogen energy, new materials, innovative drugs and other industries, actively build new growth engines such as biomanufacturing, commercial aerospace, and low-altitude economy, and open up new tracks such as "artificial intelligence +", quantum technology, and life sciences. Accelerate the tackling of major tasks, combine regional realities, strengthen the system layout, highlight characteristic advantages, and form a differentiated development pattern with complementary advantages. The third is to comprehensively enhance the level of industrial development. The use of advanced technology to empower industrial upgrading, the main enterprise of the chain takes the lead in promoting the construction of the chain, the extension of the chain, the supply of the chain, and the strengthening of the chain, driving the small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the chain, forming a development pattern of upstream and downstream supporting, synergy and complementarity of the industrial chain, and improving the integrity, stability and competitiveness of the industrial chain. Accelerate the cultivation of strategic emerging industrial clusters, fully release the spatial agglomeration effect of knowledge clusters, industrial clusters, and innovation clusters, and enhance the influence, radiation, and competitiveness of various parks.

Fifth, we need to build a new type of production relationship. Scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation are dynamically evolving, and there is great uncertainty. To establish a new type of production relations that are compatible with the new quality of productive forces, it is necessary to further deepen reform in an all-round way and give better play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, the guiding role of the government's policies on science and technology and industry, and the linking role of social mechanisms. The first is to strengthen the traction of innovation and development goals. Clarify the strategic objectives of regional scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation to support the construction of a scientific and technological power and an economic power, refine the measurement indicators and action plans, form a basic system to support comprehensive innovation, and provide institutional guarantee for the development of new quality productivity. The second is to promote scientific and technological innovation, industrial innovation and institutional innovation in an integrated manner. Focusing on the logic of scientific and technological innovation, industrial innovation market logic and capital logic, we will build a high-standard national unified market, create a good innovation ecology and business environment, break through the blockages and stuck points of the flow of production factors, and smooth the virtuous cycle of "science and technology-industry-finance". The third is to deepen the reform of the economic, educational, scientific and technological, and human resources systems. Strengthen the consistency of reform and macro policy orientation, deepen the comprehensive reform of education, science and technology talents, and work in the same direction with the reform of the economic system and the supply-side structural reform to form a joint force. Promote the integration of industry and education, science and education, cultivate more strategic scientific and technological talents, scientific and technological leaders and innovative teams, and transform the advantages of regional scientific and technological education talents into new momentum and new advantages for innovation and development.

(Author's Affiliation: Chen Tao, Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Wan Jinbo, Institute of Science and Technology Strategy Consulting, Chinese Academy of Sciences)