Sci-tech innovation fuels China's high-quality development

Good news on China's sci-tech innovation achievements has been pouring in recently.

On September 24, China launched a Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket from the waters near the city of Haiyang in east China's Shandong province, placing eight satellites into planned orbit.

On September 25, the construction of the Core Array of China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) started, highlighting China's growing potential in global radio astronomy research.

A local citizen visits a 1:1 replica of the Tianhe core module of China's space station at an aerospace science popularization center in Hebi, central China's Henan province. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Jingang)

At the first Aerospace Information Technology Conference held in Jinan, east China's Shandong province on September 21, the world's first large-scale remote sensing basic model with more than 10 billion parameters, "RingMo 3.0," was launched, marking it as an integrated space-air remote sensing model.

Over the past 75 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, remarkable achievements have been made in sci-tech innovation. Adhering to the innovation-driven development, China has continuously enhanced its technological strength, injecting strong impetus into high-quality development and providing solid support for Chinese modernization.

Committed to the strategic goal of building a strong country in science and technology by 2035, China has been deepening reforms of sci-tech systems and expediting high-level sci-tech self-reliance.

According to the Global Innovation Index 2024 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China moved up one spot to 11th place in the ranking of the world's most innovative economies, making it one of the fastest risers over the past decade.

The strong momentum and constantly emerging results of China's sci-tech innovation come from the unremitting drive for innovation among the Chinese people.

Take the space industry as an example. Over the past 75 years, China's space industry has grown from weak to strong, and achieved historic, high-quality and leap-forward development, thanks to the relentless commitment of countless professionals to independent innovation.

AGV (automated guided vehicle) robots work in a cold-chain logistics warehouse in Ji'an, east China's Jiangxi province. (People's Daily Online/Chen Fuping)

This year, Chang'e-6, for the first time in human history, collected samples from the moon's far side, breaking through a number of key technologies, which marks another landmark achievement in China's endeavors in space as well as in science and technology.

The strong momentum and constantly emerging results of China's technological innovation come from the continuously expanded investment in sci-tech innovation.

China's total expenditure in research and development (R&D) exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($141.53 billion) in 2012, 2 trillion yuan in 2019, and 3 trillion yuan in 2022. Last year, the figure went beyond 3.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.4 percent. The stable growth in R&D spending provides solid support for China's endeavor to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology.

China's sound innovation environment and rich human resources are attracting multinationals to increase investment in their Chinese R&D centers, so as to gain a competitive edge in the race of innovation.

At present, momentous changes unseen in a century are accelerating across the world, and a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is profoundly evolving. The high-tech sector has become the forefront of international competition, greatly reshaping the global order and development landscape.

China attaches great importance to the strategic leading role of science and technology and the fundamental backing provided by innovation. The country has constantly strengthened its efforts to advance sci-tech innovation, with enhanced top-level design and planning.

A Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket carrying eight satellites blasts off from the waters near the city of Haiyang in east China's Shandong province, September 24, 2024. (People's Daily Online/Tang Ke)

The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has laid out plans to promote the development of new quality productive forces, stressing the importance to develop support institutions and mechanisms for all-around innovation to boost the overall performance of China's innovation system.

This will provide constant energy for China's development and make more Chinese contributions to the world economy recovery, said Alexander Lomanov, deputy director of Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Sci-tech progress is an issue of the world and of the times, and openness and cooperation remain the only right way forward. The more complex the international environment becomes, the more important it is to keep the door open and coordinate opening up and security, so as to build self-reliance and strength via opening up and cooperation.

China pursues open, inclusive and mutually beneficial international sci-tech cooperation, and is committed to building an open, fair, equitable and non-discriminatory environment for sci-tech progress.

So far, China has established sci-tech cooperation relations with over 160 countries and regions, and signed 118 intergovernmental agreements on sci-tech cooperation. Besides, China has proposed the initiative for global scientific and technological cooperation.

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that accelerating innovation and development in China is good for China, developing countries and the world.

Moving forward, China will continue to follow the innovation-driven development strategy, march toward the strategic goal of building China into a great country in science and technology, and promote open sci-tech cooperation for the benefit of humanity.