China to give full play to crucial role of sci-tech innovation

Workers manufacture engine boom lifts, which are developed by China and Italy engineers in cooperation, to be exported at a factory of Zhejiang Dingli Machinery Co., Ltd., Huzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Jan. 21, 2021. (People's Daily Online/Xie Shangguo)

A series of strategic arrangements on adhering to innovation-driven development strategy and building new development advantages were made in China's Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, mapping out a new blueprint for the country's innovative development.

The outline emphasized the core position of innovation in the country's modernization drive, and takes the commitment to independent innovation in science and technology as strategic support to national development. It says the country's research and development spending is expected to grow by over 7 percent annually in the next five years.

According to the outline, China will also work for major breakthroughs in core technologies and build itself into one of the top innovative countries.

International observers said the outline mirrors the high attention placed by China on sci-tech innovation, and releases a clear signal that the country will push for high-quality development in a new stage of development.

Science, technology and innovation is a key engine for human progress, a powerful weapon in tackling many global challenges. "The impact of science and technology on a country's future and the people's wellbeing has never been so profound as today," said Chinese President Xi Jinping.

A worker sorts cargos before 5G-based intelligent warehouse racks at a smart factory of Noblelift Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd., Changxing County, Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 2, 2021. (People's Daily Online/Wang Jinyan)

Global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic that comes with profound impacts, as well as the world economic downturn and climate change, must be taken seriously. To discover momentum for development in science and technology, and to find solutions to global challenges through sci-tech innovation shall be a common pursuit of all countries. By expediting the development of the country into a leading sci-tech power, China is showcasing its wisdom and responsibility.

China always takes innovation as the primary force of development, and is pursuing innovation to achieve high-quality growth driven by domestic demand with concrete efforts.

According to a recent survey of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China filed 68,720 patent applications last year, up 16.1 percent from those in 2019, remaining the largest patent applicant of the world for another year.

As sci-tech innovation is generating new drivers for high-quality development, China has been turned from a world factory into a patent factory, foreign observers commented.

To benefit the whole mankind with technology and seek scientific breakthroughs for humanity from open cooperation has always been a pursuit of China. The outline further points out that China will implement more open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial strategies for international sci-tech cooperation, and stay more positive about integrating into global innovation.

Practices tell us that openness leads to progress, and open cooperation in sci-tech innovation remains an important impetus driving common development of the world. China has conducted joint research programs with over 50 countries and regions and joined a series of international big science research projects including the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Under the "Belt and Road" Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan, over 8,300 foreign young scientists came to China for work and 33 joint research labs were established.

To build a community with a shared future for mankind, China is committed to coordinated innovation of global technology, taking an increasingly bigger part in global science and technology governance, and offering broad platforms for open global cooperation on science and technology. These efforts are welcomed by the international society.

Embarking on a new journey, China still maintains sci-tech development as a priority, and will give play to the crucial role of sci-tech innovation. It will definitely make more breakthroughs.

It is believed that through sincere cooperation with the rest of the world and by taking full advantage of sci-tech innovation, China is bound to inject more positive energy into economic and social development of mankind. 

Production data are presented on a screen of a digital management system at a factory in Jindong District, Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 15, 2021. (People's Daily Online/Hu Xiaofei)