Strengthen the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation

Source: Economic Daily

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Science and Technology Conference, the National Science and Technology Award Conference, and the Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences that it is necessary to strengthen the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. Enterprises are the source of original technology, the new force to promote innovation and creativity, and play a very important role in the national innovation system. In recent years, the dominant position of mainland enterprises in independent innovation has been significantly enhanced, and great progress has been made in innovation strength, innovation achievements and innovation environment. How to better play the role of enterprises as the main body of scientific and technological innovation? In this issue, invited experts will discuss related issues.

Li Feng, Director of the Innovation and Development Research Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges:

Give full play to the leading role of science and technology leaders

To strengthen the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, it is necessary to give full play to the leading role of leading enterprises in science and technology, especially in technological innovation decision-making, R&D investment, scientific research organization and achievement transformation, etc., to further improve the common technology supply system, develop new quality productivity, enhance the overall efficiency of the national innovation system, increase the supply of high-quality science and technology, and promote the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. Provide a strong impetus for China's modernization.

Play a leading role in technological innovation decision-making and lead scientific and technological innovation. The national "problem" is conducive to the realization of advanced deployment, and the "problem" of the enterprise is conducive to solving practical problems such as key core technology research. From the perspective of the enterprise's own technological innovation decision-making, the enterprise is naturally the main body, and the leading enterprises in science and technology play a leading role in the technological innovation decision-making, leading most of the scientific and technological innovation. For example, in the field of mobile communications, companies such as Huawei and ZTE have achieved major technological breakthroughs and led the world. In the field of construction, enterprises such as China State Construction, China Railway Construction and China Railway Engineering have led the development of global construction innovation and helped build the "Built in China" brand. At the same time, leading science and technology enterprises take the lead or participate in major national science and technology projects, condense science and technology issues with universities and scientific research institutions, and provide a large number of valuable suggestions for national science and technology decision-making.

Play a leading role in R&D investment to help science and technology become self-reliant and self-reliant. From the perspective of the main body of innovation activities, enterprises have developed into the main body of technological innovation, and the R&D expenditure of enterprises will account for nearly 80% of the national R&D expenditure in 2023. The number of high-tech enterprises in mainland China has increased from 39,000 in 2012 to more than 400,000 in 2023, contributing about 70% of the country's R&D investment. Leading technology companies have carried out a lot of R&D work on cutting-edge technologies in the industry, and their technical capabilities have been greatly improved, and they have the strength to participate in global competition. According to the "2023 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" released by the European Commission, among the top 2,500 R&D companies in the world, China has 679 companies on the list, becoming the second largest R&D country in the world. Among them, Huawei ranks fifth on the list, with R&D investment of 164.7 billion yuan in 2023, and a cumulative investment of more than 1.1 trillion yuan in 10 years.

Play a leading role in scientific research organizations and promote the deep integration of industry, education and research. Leading science and technology enterprises have great advantages in management, technology and talents, and play a leading role in integrating innovation resources, creating an innovation ecology, improving innovation efficiency, and breaking through key core technologies. Some leading science and technology enterprises have taken the lead in building cross-field, large-scale collaboration, and high-intensity innovation bases, and have improved the research and development capabilities of common key technologies in the industry. One of the important reasons why the mainland's aerospace, aviation and railway systems have made outstanding achievements in scientific and technological innovation and industrial application is that the leading scientific and technological enterprises in these fields include a number of backbone enterprises and scientific research institutions, and have carried out in-depth cooperation with colleges and universities, which has improved the level of collaborative innovation between industry, university and research. At the same time, it empowers technology-based SMEs through technology licensing, technology sharing and joint R&D to help them improve their R&D capabilities and technical levels.

Play a leading role in the transformation of achievements and create a mutually beneficial and win-win ecology. Science and technology leaders are often the "chain master" enterprises of the industrial chain, which can promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements through various ways such as innovation empowerment, resource sharing, service supply, market provision, financial support, and ecological construction, so that more scientific and technological achievements can be transformed from samples into products and industries. For example, the State Power Investment Corporation () has opened up the space carrier of the clean energy innovation base to the outside world, shared innovation resources, provided application scenarios, integrated the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain and talent chain, built a dual-innovation service platform and a pilot test platform for small, medium and micro enterprises, and gradually established a good ecology for large and medium-sized enterprises to collaborate and innovate and promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. At the same time, by building an innovation consortium led by leading enterprises, supported by universities and institutes, and coordinated by various innovation subjects, the effectiveness of the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements will be greatly improved. For example, CETC actively opens up equipment, technology, talents and funds, creates an effective model for large-scale central enterprises, universities and institutes, and small and medium-sized enterprises to jointly tackle key problems, and accelerates the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

However, it should also be noted that the mainland's leading science and technology enterprises have a weak foundation and weak accumulation in scientific and technological innovation, and the innovation energy level is not strong, and the source of innovation is insufficient. The two-way flow mechanism of innovation elements between enterprises and universities is not perfect, which makes it difficult for innovation elements to gather in science and technology leading enterprises, which restricts their leading role in scientific and technological innovation to a certain extent. In addition, after long-term technology accumulation, a small number of innovative large foreign enterprises have built a technological innovation platform supported by the underlying basic technology and process, integrated global innovation resources, and achieved "winner-takes-all" through technology "lock-in benefits", which has brought certain challenges to the innovation of mainland science and technology leading enterprises.

Leading enterprises in science and technology are the main force to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance, and are the backbone of improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. In the future, it is necessary to build a system and mechanism to support comprehensive innovation, support leading science and technology enterprises to extend to the field of basic research and applied basic research, enhance the role of enterprises in the front end of scientific and technological innovation, closely link basic research, applied research and industrial development, and promote the deep integration of innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain and talent chain. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, establish a mechanism for cultivating and strengthening leading enterprises in science and technology, explore a new win-win cooperation model of "leading enterprises in science and technology, scientific research institutions participating in answering questions, financial institutions providing full services, and talent institutions fully supporting", and support leading enterprises in science and technology to play a leading role in the docking of scientific and technological research and development supply and industrial technology demand, so as to lay a solid foundation for high-quality development.

Li Zhe, Director of the Institute of Science and Technology Innovation Theory of the Chinese Academy of Science and Technology Development Strategy:

Unblocking the "capillaries" of innovation and development

Small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises are an important foundation and key growth point to promote the high-quality development of the mainland economy. Encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises to innovate in science and technology is an important part of strengthening the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. One of the important focuses of cultivating and developing new quality productivity in the new era is to enhance the scientific and technological innovation capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises, so that they can make breakthroughs and commercial applications of cutting-edge technologies based on industrial subdivisions and direct market demand, so as to better play the role of "capillaries" in innovation-driven development and improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the mainland has attached great importance to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises. In recent years, relevant departments have introduced a series of measures in terms of financial support, financial innovation, intellectual property protection, industry-university-research cooperation and digital transformation to vigorously support the scientific and technological innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises. Under the guidance of its own efforts and policy support, the level of scientific and technological innovation has been comprehensively improved.

From the perspective of scale, it has become the main force of enterprise innovation. In the past 10 years, the number of mainland private enterprises entering the "EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" and the scale of R&D investment have maintained a growth trend, and the total R&D investment of private enterprises on the list in 2023 will exceed 110 billion euros, an increase of 8.74 times compared with 10 years ago. In the past five years, the number of "unicorn" companies in mainland China has grown by an average of 28 per year, with an average growth rate of 8.3%, and in 2023, it will be 340, with a valuation of 9.13 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world. At present, there are 500,000 technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, more than 460,000 high-tech enterprises, and 215,000 innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, which have become an important source of new technologies, new industries and new business forms.

From the structural point of view, it presents diversified characteristics of innovation and development. In recent years, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and private enterprises have been evolving around the innovation chain, with more diversified forms and more distinct levels. Technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises focus on subdivided fields and continue to take the development path of "specialization, refinement, and innovation"; Private technology leaders focus on common and complex technologies in the industry and increase R&D investment; "Unicorns", "gazelles" and technology incubators are deeply engaged in the field of emerging technologies; Some scientific research institutions and enterprises focus on the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements. From the perspective of industry distribution, some private enterprises have promoted technological innovation with market advantages and business model innovation in the field of information and communication, and led the development of domestic industries in industries such as automobiles and transportation, life and health. In the past five years, the industries in which "unicorn" companies are located have become increasingly concentrated in strategic emerging industries and future industries, and the number of artificial intelligence "unicorn" enterprises in mainland China will account for about 40% of the global proportion in 2023.

From the perspective of capacity, the level of scientific and technological innovation has achieved a historic leap. In the past 10 years, the overall scientific and technological innovation capability of private enterprises has continued to improve. Leading enterprises with strong strength in talents, technology, infrastructure, and financial security have entered the world's first phalanx. Huawei has continued to increase its R&D investment in recent years, ranking fifth in the world with R&D investment of EUR 20.925 billion in 2023. From 2019 to 2023, Huawei has achieved a leap from the localization rate of the Mate30 from 30% to the localization rate of the Mate60 of 90%, and the localization of key components has exceeded market expectations. A group of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises have become upstream suppliers of core technologies and key components in their respective subdivisions, which play a decisive role in the production of end products. 95% of the core components of laser CNC machining machine tools independently developed and designed by some enterprises have been localized, and the remaining 5% can also be replaced by domestic ones, and the technology has reached the world's advanced level; Some companies focus on the research and development of key components of aero engines and gas turbines, and have successively developed multiple series of compressor blades, becoming the upstream supplier of mainstream civil aero engine manufacturing.

In the face of the accelerated evolution of the world's great changes unseen in a century, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation has developed in depth, and the external environment for scientific and technological innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises is also constantly changing. It is necessary to encourage, guide, and support small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, so that they can better play their status as the main body of scientific and technological innovation. The first is to assist small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises to improve their scientific and technological innovation capabilities and share scientific and technological innovation risks through public scientific and technological resources such as scientific research institutions, scientific and technological service platforms, and enterprise innovation consortia. The second is to encourage enterprises to promote production organization, technology, and market innovation, attach importance to technology research and development and human capital investment, and explore the development path of "specialization, refinement, and innovation" according to local conditions. The third is to create a good environment for enterprises to innovate and develop, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, innovate the financial support methods of science and technology, effectively alleviate the problem of difficult financing and expensive financing, so that they can form the expectation of relying on science and technology to support long-term stable development.

Tian Jietang, Director of the Industrial Economy Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council:

Promote the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the 11th collective study of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee that "it is necessary to apply scientific and technological innovation achievements to specific industries and industrial chains in a timely manner"; When participating in the deliberations of the Jiangsu delegation at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, it was emphasized that "strengthen the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation"; At the National Science and Technology Conference, the National Science and Technology Award Conference, and the Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was once again emphasized that "we should solidly promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation to help develop new quality productivity". The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization, which was deliberated and adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, clearly stated that "promote the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation". This series of important expositions clarifies the necessity and urgency of the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, and profoundly reveals the internal laws and operating logic of innovation, which has very distinct significance of the times.

Scientific and technological innovation is an important source of industrial innovation, and if there is no scientific and technological innovation, industrial innovation will become a "source of water". For a long period of time since the reform and opening up, the mainland's manufacturing industry has been at the low end of the global industrial chain value chain due to the lack of sufficient independent innovation capabilities, and the export of high-tech products mainly relies on processing trade at both ends. In recent years, the pace of self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology has been accelerating, and the basic capabilities of industrial innovation have been gradually consolidated and strengthened.

Industrial innovation is the carrier and demand of scientific and technological innovation, and if there is no industrial innovation, scientific and technological innovation will become a "castle in the air". Many scientific research results oriented to the assessment of the number of papers are often shelved after publication, and it is difficult to successfully transform and land, which not only wastes a lot of scientific research funds, but also does not reflect the value of scientific researchers. Only by deeply integrating scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation can we truly realize the vitality and value of innovation and promote the rapid development of new quality productivity.

The integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation is an inevitable requirement for the development of new quality productive forces. As a qualitative state of advanced productive forces, the new quality productivity is characterized by innovation, and ultimately it is necessary to put advanced scientific and technological achievements into industrial innovation and development, transform and upgrade traditional industries, cultivate and expand emerging industries, and build future industries ahead of time, so as to greatly improve total factor productivity. The full-cycle activities of innovation include a continuous and expanding virtuous cycle process from R&D funds to the creation of scientific and technological achievements, and then generate economic benefits through the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, and then extract a part of the economic benefits to invest in R&D expenses. Scientific and technological innovation is more about converting funds into scientific and technological knowledge, while industrial innovation is more about transforming scientific and technological knowledge into economic output, both of which are indispensable parts of the innovation chain and network ecology. In the process of deep integration and reciprocating movement of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, new quality productive forces such as emerging industries have been continuously spawned to promote high-quality economic and social development.

In recent years, the development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation and integration in mainland China has achieved remarkable results. In 2023, the equipment manufacturing industry and high-tech manufacturing industry will account for 33.6% and 15.7% of the added value of industries above designated size, respectively, and the investment in high-tech industries will increase by 10.3% year-on-year, 7.3 percentage points faster than the total investment. The output of new energy vehicles, solar cells, service robots, and 3D printing equipment increased by 30.3%, 54.0%, 23.3%, and 36.2% year-on-year respectively.

In the context of increasingly fierce global economic competition and rapid iteration of scientific and technological revolution, it is necessary to take scientific and technological innovation as the core driving factor for cultivating new quality productive forces, and industrial innovation as an important carrier to further promote the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation.

The first is to improve the quality of scientific and technological achievements. Focusing on key core technologies such as industrial machine tools, basic software, and advanced materials, we will efficiently organize national strategic scientific and technological forces to carry out scientific and technological research, and give full play to the unique role of the new national system. Accelerate the research and development of new technologies such as next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, and quantum technology, and use a variety of policy tools to provide all-round and full-chain support.

The second is to strengthen the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. In 2022, the R&D expenditure of mainland enterprises accounted for 77.6% of the total R&D expenditure, but the R&D investment intensity of industrial enterprises above designated size was only 1.39%. It is recommended to continuously improve the innovation ecosystem, continue to stimulate the innovation vitality of business entities, and cultivate more technology-based start-up enterprises, "specialized, special and new" small and medium-sized enterprises, and leading technology enterprises with strong R&D capabilities. Support enterprises to take the lead or participate in major national science and technology projects, and establish innovation consortiums with flexible mechanisms with universities and institutes.

The third is to promote the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements. Build a more professional talent team and institution for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and take out a part of the achievement reward to encourage high-level transfer and transformation of talents, so that professional people can concentrate on professional things. Venture capital and equity investment is one of the most basic and critical market forces to realize the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, and is a pivotal link linking science and technology and industry to form a virtuous circle of "science and technology-industry-finance".

Wu Hong, researcher at the Innovation Strategy Research Institute of the China Association for Science and Technology:

Promote the deep integration of industry, university and research

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to guide enterprises to work closely with universities and scientific research institutions to jointly condense scientific and technological issues for industrial needs, jointly carry out scientific research, and jointly cultivate scientific and technological talents, so as to promote enterprise-led industry-university-research integration and innovation. This points out the direction for strengthening the main position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation and achieving high-quality development.

In recent years, the position of mainland enterprises in technological innovation has been gradually strengthened, the role has been significantly improved, and the paths have become more diverse, and the main position of enterprises in innovation has been further highlighted. By the end of 2023, there will be 4.015 million effective invention patents in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), of which 427,000 enterprises have valid invention patents, an increase of 72,000 over the previous year, and 2.909 million valid invention patents have been owned by domestic enterprises, accounting for more than 70% for the first time. Universities and scientific research institutions are also an important part of the national strategic scientific and technological strength and innovation system, and an important force for the transformation and application of patents. By the end of 2023, there will be 794,000 valid invention patents in domestic universities and 229,000 valid invention patents in scientific research institutions, accounting for 1/4 of the total number of effective invention patents.

While achieving fruitful results, relevant departments actively explore, relying on the dual advantages of universities and scientific research institutes in science and technology and talents, and promote the joint efforts of universities, scientific research institutes and enterprises through various action plans, so as to promote the precise docking of supply and demand at a deeper level and with greater efforts.

In terms of revitalizing the stock of patents, the concern of "reluctance to transfer" and the phenomenon of "will not transfer" of patent achievements of universities and scientific research institutions are still relatively common, and sorting out and revitalizing valuable but idle patent achievements is an important task to promote the transformation and application of patents. The State Intellectual Property Office, together with relevant departments, has formulated the Work Plan for the Revitalization of Patent Stock in Universities and Scientific Research Institutions to give full play to the synergy between the market and the government, and jointly promote the better and faster transformation of patent achievements into real productivity. Relying on the national patent navigation comprehensive service platform, universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises screen and evaluate the stock of patents from both ends of supply and demand, so as to effectively improve the industrialization rate and implementation rate of patents. In the past five years, the number of patent transfer and licensing contracts of mainland universities has increased from more than 6,000 to more than 21,000, and the conversion amount has increased from 3.39 billion yuan to 11.01 billion yuan.

In terms of serving school-enterprise docking, since the implementation of the "Thousands of Schools and Thousands of Enterprises" collaborative innovation partnership action, as of March 2024, more than 500 universities and more than 2,000 participating enterprises have participated in the "Thousands of Schools and Thousands of Enterprises Collaborative Innovation Platform", and more than 3,500 technology research and development needs have been collected, successfully helping a number of enterprises to connect with universities and solve technology research and development problems. It is expected that by the end of this year, 5,000 high-quality scientific and technological achievements, 5,000 enterprise needs and 1,000 industry experts will be put into the warehouse, no less than 2,000 enterprises will be served to connect with universities, and no less than 1,000 achievements will be implemented.

In terms of improving the financing and docking of enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Intellectual Property Office and other ministries and commissions jointly issued the Notice on Carrying out the 2024 "100 Thousands of Enterprises" Large and Medium-sized Enterprises Financing and Docking Activities", focusing on establishing and improving the financing and docking channels of large and medium-sized enterprises, gathering resources from intellectual property service institutions, colleges and universities, scientific research institutes, financial institutions and other parties, building a communication, display, service and docking platform for small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises, and enriching and expanding the breadth, dimension and depth of financing and docking. Promote more small and medium-sized enterprises to integrate into the innovation chain and industrial chain of large enterprises.

In terms of accelerating the application of landing, the SASAC has further strengthened the guidance of scientific and technological innovation, deepened the original leading scientific and technological research, accelerated the creation of a source of original technology, promoted the accelerated transformation and application of a number of major landmark achievements in the central region, and better promoted the deep integration of industry, university, research and application in the central region. At the same time, we will adhere to coordination and linkage, strengthen resource allocation and integration, carry out cross-industry and cross-regional cooperation around the central region, explore new cooperation models, and promote the industrial advantages of central enterprises to better transform into local development momentum.

As the reform enters the deep water area and the innovation enters the no man's land, there are still problems such as insufficient motivation, insufficient depth and poor links in guiding enterprises to work closely with universities and scientific research institutions, and it is necessary to continue to improve from the following aspects. The first is to correctly distinguish the functional positioning of different types of enterprises in the national economic and social development, form a distinctive and differentiated industry-university-research integration path for different types of enterprises such as state-owned enterprises, central enterprises, science and technology leading enterprises, and small and medium-sized enterprises, and summarize the rules and promote the implementation through pilots; The second is to promote the construction of information platforms to avoid rushing forward, and should be oriented to specific scenarios and applications, deeply cultivate the industrial chain and supply chain, and truly introduce the transformation of shallow scientific and technological achievements into the deep water area; The third is to face up to the differences in organizational culture, goals and management systems and the distribution of interests between enterprises, universities and scientific research institutes, and continue to provide deeper impetus for the integration of industry, university and research through the establishment of mutual trust on the basis of promoting the integration of scientific research, culture and management; Fourth, we will guide the international cooperation between industry, academia and research, based on a global perspective, by supporting enterprises to build overseas science and technology innovation centers, participate in the formulation of international standards, and promote cooperation with enterprises in science and technology parks in the "Belt and Road" countries in terms of technology, projects and talents. (Source: Economic Daily)