Optimize the use structure of R&D funds and increase the proportion of R&D funds used for basic research and applied research; Improve the management mechanism of scientific research funds and improve the efficiency of the use of scientific research funds; Increase investment in scientific research personnel, especially the introduction of high-end talents; Promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, protect intellectual property rights and improve the economic benefits of scientific research achievements; Through the development of capital market, such as the construction of science and technology innovation board, the achievements of science and technology innovation will be connected with the capital market, and the development funds will be obtained and quickly transformed into productive forces.
Science and technology are the primary productive forces, and the competition of science and technology is the competition of talents and economic strength. In recent years, China has invested heavily in scientific research. According to the data released by the Bureau of Statistics, China's R&D expenditure of 201965.7 billion yuan increased by 1 1.6% over the previous year, and the scale of R&D expenditure is second only to that of the United States. R&D intensity, that is, R&D expenditure accounts for 2. 18% of GDP, which is 0.05 percentage points higher than the previous year and exceeds the average level of EU 15 countries. At present, the scale and intensity of China's investment in R&D are among the highest in the world, and will continue to grow rapidly in the future.
Scientific research funds are the basic support of scientific and technological development, and whether scientific research funds can be used well determines the scientific research strength and potential of a country to a certain extent. Who is investing in the trillions of scientific research funds in China? Who is using it? What is the effect of the use of funds? How to ensure the efficient and rational use of scientific research funds in the construction of relevant policies and systems? We will analyze the above problems one by one.
The Source and Use of R&D Fund in China
Enterprises and government are the main sources of scientific research funds in China. According to the research data of Dalian University of Technology, from 1995 to 20 16, the proportion of R&D funds of enterprises increased from about 30% to 70%, and the proportion of government funds decreased from 25% to about 20%, indicating that enterprises have become the most important source of R&D funds. Among the R&D funds of enterprises, domestic listed enterprises account for about 40%, of which state-owned enterprises contribute more than half, and the first 10 of domestic listed enterprises are central enterprises. However, the private sector is also playing an increasingly important role. In 20 18, Alibaba and ZTE invested more in R&D than PetroChina and China Construction.
The executing agencies used in China are mainly enterprises, scientific research institutions and universities. From 1995 to 20 16, the proportion of R&D funds implemented by enterprises increased from 40% to 77%, the proportion of scientific research institutions decreased from 42% to around 15%, and the proportion of colleges and universities decreased from above 10% to around 9%. Enterprises have become the most important executing agency for the use of scientific research funds. The research funds of scientific research institutions and universities mainly come from government grants.
The purposes of scientific research funds are generally divided into three categories, namely basic research, applied research and experimental development. Among them, basic research refers to exploring scientific knowledge that has no specific or direct application; Applied research refers to inventing technology to solve human practical problems; Experimental development refers to developing products and optimizing processes. At present, the scientific research funds for basic research and applied research in China are obviously insufficient. In 20 16, R&D funds for basic research and applied research in China accounted for 5% and 10% of the total R&D funds, respectively, and the sum of them only accounted for15%; The R&D expenditure on basic research and applied research in the United States and Japan accounts for more than 30%, while that in Britain and France is as high as 60%. From 1995 to 20 16, the proportion of R&D funds used for basic research in China remained basically unchanged, while the proportion used for applied research decreased by more than half, and a large number of R&D funds were used for experimental development. It is true that experimental development is an important link in the development of science and technology. China's high investment in experimental development has also brought "engineering-oriented" output growth, but its investment in basic research, especially applied research, is seriously insufficient, which has long hindered and will restrict the development and potential of scientific and technological progress in China.
The use effect of R&D fund
Based on the global comparison of papers, patents, intellectual property import and export, and Nobel Prize winning, we find that China's scientific and technological strength has made great progress in recent years, and many indicators have been in the forefront of the world, but there are still obvious gaps compared with developed countries.
China scholars and researchers are engaged in science and engineering (S&; E) The number of papers published in this field has ranked first in the world, which is closely related to the scientific research evaluation mechanism that domestic researchers pay attention to quantity and papers. However, there is still a big gap between the citation rate of high-quality papers and the number of papers published in the world's top journals.
The number of patent applications in China ranks second in the world and keeps growing rapidly. According to the statistics of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in 20 18, applicants from the United States submitted 56 142 PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) applications, followed by 53,345 from China and 49,702 from Japan. Compared with 20 17, the number of PCT patent applications in China increased by 9. 1%, much higher than the growth rate of -0.9% in the United States. According to the current trend, China is expected to surpass the United States in the next two years. In terms of patent licensing rate, there is still a significant gap between China, the United States and Japan.
Judging from the import and export costs of intellectual property rights, the import and export deficit of intellectual property rights in China is huge. According to the data of the Intellectual Property Office, in 20 18, China paid $35.8 billion for foreign intellectual property rights, making it the fourth largest patent importer in the world, while the total export of intellectual property rights was only about $5.6 billion. Nearly a quarter of China's intellectual property fees are paid to the United States, and companies such as Qualcomm, IBM and Apple are the "big households" in global patent export. The huge deficit in the import and export of intellectual property rights in China shows that although the number of patent applications has been in the forefront of the world in recent years, there is still a big gap between us and developed countries in creating value by using patents.
Judging from the Nobel Prize winning situation. Since it was first awarded in 190 1, by 20 18, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to 904 individuals and 24 organizations. In physics, chemistry and medicine, the United States won 89 awards, 69 awards and 100 awards respectively, accounting for half of the country. Japan has worked hard for decades, and 26 people have won the Nobel Prize. It was not until Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 20 15 that local scientists in China achieved the breakthrough of the Nobel Prize in Science.
Good money should still be spent on the cutting edge.
Innovation-driven development is an important core development strategy, and the increasing investment in R&D has directly driven our rapid progress in science and technology in recent years. However, with the continuous increase of the total R&D expenditure, the intensity of R&D is gradually approaching the international upper limit, and the decline of the growth rate of R&D expenditure in the future is foreseeable. How to make good use of R&D fund and improve its efficiency will be the key to China's scientific and technological innovation in the future.
First, optimize the use structure of R&D funds and increase the proportion of R&D funds used for basic research and applied research. At present, the proportion of R&D funds used for basic research and applied research in China is too low. On the one hand, because of the "engineering" research orientation, by absorbing foreign advanced technology and quickly transforming it into its own products, it enjoys the dividends of developed basic research and applied research for a long time. Although this model has achieved rapid development, it has also begun to encounter bottlenecks. On the other hand, the unreasonable division of labor among universities, scientific research institutions and enterprises has caused too many resources to flow to the experimental development. Internationally, universities are mainly engaged in basic research, scientific research institutions are mainly engaged in applied research and enterprises are engaged in experimental development. We are a university focusing on applied research, and scientific research institutions and enterprises focus on experimental development. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the research focus of universities and scientific research institutions, form a reasonable division of labor, and improve the overall R&D efficiency.
Second, improve the management mechanism of scientific research funds and improve the efficiency of the use of scientific research funds. One of the characteristics of scientific research is uncertainty, and the original intention of fund management is to ensure the rational and standardized use of funds. There are some contradictions between them, so the management of scientific research funds has always been a difficult problem. It is necessary to give researchers enough autonomy, avoid being too detailed and rigid, and let research funds really serve scientific research; It is also necessary to strengthen supervision to prevent waste, abuse and corruption of scientific research funds. In the future, on the basis of strengthening the credit system, researchers should be given enough autonomy in the use of scientific research funds, especially in areas with great uncertainty such as basic research. The research budget should be allowed to be properly and reasonably adjusted due to the change of research ideas and methods, and the service life of funds should be more flexible, so that the service life of funds can be reasonably matched with the research cycle, which not only meets the actual needs of research, but also avoids the sudden use of research funds. In the final analysis, researchers themselves know best, which requires giving them some autonomy in the use of funds. In addition, it is necessary to simplify some fund management procedures in order to free them from the tedious budgeting and filling out reimbursement forms. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the credit system construction of scientific researchers. For the misappropriation, abuse and fraud of scientific research funds, we should implement a one-vote veto system with reference to academic fraud to increase the cost of violating laws and regulations.
Third, increase the investment of scientific researchers, especially the introduction of high-end talents. In the final analysis, the competition of science and technology is the competition of talents. For a long time, China's R&D fund has the problem of "too many people". R&D funds are more used for equipment procurement, test fees, travel expenses, research fees, etc. The expenditure of scientific research personnel is low. This practice does not fully respect the mental work of researchers, nor does it help them concentrate on their own research, nor does it help attract outstanding R&D talents. At present, the number of scientific and technical personnel and engineers in China ranks first in the world, but the number of high-end talents is still insufficient. In the future, we should increase investment in R&D talents, especially create good R&D conditions and ecology, such as better supporting policies, scientific research environment, supporting funds, culture and living atmosphere. Attract top talents from all over the world to China to carry out innovative activities.
Fourth, promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, protect intellectual property rights and improve the economic benefits of scientific research achievements. At present, the success rate of transforming scientific and technological achievements into industry in China is about 10%, which is far from 30% to 40% in developed countries. A large number of outstanding achievements remain in the laboratory technology stage. The key to improve the transformation rate of scientific and technological achievements in China is to have effective intellectual property protection mechanism, incentive policy and patent income distribution system, which can fully stimulate the great creative vitality of scientific and technological personnel and institutions. In this regard, the Bayh-Dole Act of the United States has a good reference significance. Its core is that the intellectual property income is divided into three parts: 1/3 belongs to the school or company, 1/3 belongs to the R&D team, and 1/3 belongs to the small and medium-sized innovative enterprises responsible for the transformation of results. During the period of 1978, the transformation rate of scientific and technological achievements in the United States was 5%, and this figure increased by 10 times in a short time after the introduction of the Bach-Dole Act. Although China has also promulgated the Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements, there is still a large policy space in supporting and encouraging transformation institutions, and the relevant supporting implementation rules of local and units need to be further implemented.
Fifth, through the development of the capital market, such as the construction of science and technology innovation board, the achievements of science and technology innovation can be connected with the capital market, and the development funds can be obtained and quickly transformed into productive forces. From the experience of foreign countries, perfecting the construction of multi-level capital market, especially developing the capital market of innovative service enterprises, plays an important role in supporting and promoting scientific and technological innovation. The United States has formed a multi-level capital market system based on new york Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, regional exchanges and over-the-counter transactions. Among them, Nasdaq's positioning is to serve scientific and technological innovation enterprises, and its market is divided into three levels, and each level provides multiple sets of listing standards to meet the listing needs of science and technology enterprises with different market values and different industry characteristics. Since the establishment of 197 1, Nasdaq has nurtured and incubated a number of successful scientific and technological enterprises such as Intel, Microsoft, Apple and Google for the United States, and has played a key role in scientific and technological innovation and economic transformation in the United States, and is known as the "cradle of new economy" in the United States. As a powerful country in science and technology, Japan also has a developed capital market system. In addition to the main board of Tokyo Stock Exchange, there are stock markets such as Jastak and Mazaz, which specialize in serving growth enterprises and providing financing services for innovative enterprises of different scales and stages. At present, the listing threshold of main board, small and medium-sized board and growth enterprise market in domestic capital market is too high and the standard is single. As an over-the-counter market, the New Third Board has poor liquidity and insufficient financing function. These reasons have led to a large number of domestic technology companies going public overseas. Therefore, we believe that we should further improve the multi-level capital market system based on the rule of law and credit, strengthen information disclosure, activate market liquidity, and make the capital market truly play its pricing function for production factors. At the same time, it will promote the development of angel funds, venture capital and private equity, and form financial support for the whole life cycle of technological transformation.
At present, scientific and technological innovation is the key area of development. From the data point of view, our current scientific research pays more attention to short-term results. As a latecomer, this mentality of trying to "overtake in corners" is understandable, but if we ignore the research and exploration in basic fields, it will greatly affect the stamina of China's scientific and technological strength. Only by fully respecting the inherent law of scientific and technological development and making good use of the increasingly abundant R&D resources can China's scientific and technological innovation have a bright future.
(Author: Liu Feng is the chief economist/dean of the research institute of china galaxy Securities, and Wang Kai is a postdoctoral fellow at the postdoctoral workstation of china galaxy Securities)
(article source: economic information daily) solemnly declare that the purpose of publishing this information is to spread more information, which has nothing to do with the position of this website.