Speeches at National Science and Technology Conference, National Science and Technology Award Conference, and Academician Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering
2024-06-25
Fellow Academicians, Comrades and Friends: This conference is a scientific and technological event held during the critical period of comprehensively promoting the construction of a powerful country and national rejuvenation with Chinese path to modernization. Firstly, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, I extend warm congratulations to the collectives and individuals who have been awarded the National Science and Technology Award for 2023! Sincere greetings to the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as to the vast number of scientific and technological workers! Warm welcome to the attending foreign academicians and friends from the international scientific community! The prosperity of technology leads to the prosperity of the nation, and the strength of technology leads to the strength of the country. Our party has always attached great importance to the development of science and technology. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has deeply promoted the implementation of the innovation driven development strategy, proposed the strategic task of accelerating the construction of an innovative country, established the goal of building a science and technology strong country by 2035, continuously deepened the reform of the scientific and technological system, fully stimulated the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of scientific and technological personnel, and effectively promoted scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement. China's scientific and technological cause has achieved historic achievements and undergone historic changes. New breakthroughs have been made in basic cutting-edge research, and a number of significant original achievements have been made in fields such as quantum technology, life science, material science, and space science. The two core conjectures of differential geometry have been successfully proven. Chemical small molecules induce human cells to reprogram, and carbon dioxide artificially synthesizes starch to achieve "technological creation". The strategic high-tech field has ushered in a new leap, with "Chang'e" exploring the moon, "Tianhe" stationed in the sky, "Tianwen" exploring the fire, "Crustal One" advancing into the depths of the Earth, "Struggler" exploring the deep sea for tens of thousands of meters, and the world's first fourth generation nuclear power plant being put into commercial operation. Innovation driven high-quality development has achieved new results, and emerging industries such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence have flourished. The first 6G satellite has been successfully launched, BeiDou Navigation provides global precision services, domestic large aircraft have achieved commercial flights, high-speed rail technology has set an international benchmark, new energy vehicles have added new impetus to the global automotive industry, and biological breeding, new drug creation, and green and low-carbon technologies have assisted in food security and the construction of a healthy and beautiful China. The reform of the scientific and technological system has opened up a new situation, reshaped the scientific and technological management system, accelerated the layout of national strategic scientific and technological forces, and further unleashed the vitality of innovative entities and talents. New progress has been made in international open cooperation, and China has taken the initiative to launch international scientific and technological cooperation initiatives, leading the organization of international major science programs. As an important pole of global innovation, China's influence continues to increase. All of these have laid a solid foundation for building a technological powerhouse. In the development practice of science and technology in the new era, we have continuously deepened our understanding of regularity and accumulated many important experiences. Mainly, it is to adhere to the comprehensive leadership of the Party, strengthen the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over scientific and technological work, observe the overall situation, plan for the overall situation, and grasp the root cause, ensuring that the development of scientific and technological undertakings always moves forward in the correct direction. We will adhere to the path of independent innovation with Chinese characteristics, rely on self-reliance and hard work, leverage the advantages of China's socialist system in concentrating efforts to accomplish major tasks, promote high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, and firmly grasp the lifeline of science and technology and the initiative of development in our own hands. Adhere to the concept of innovation leading development, firmly establish the concept that innovation is development, and seeking innovation is seeking the future. Use technological innovation to lead high-quality development and ensure high-level security. Adhering to the strategic orientation of "four orientations", facing the forefront of world science and technology, the main battlefield of the economy, major national needs, and people's lives and health, we will strengthen the deployment of scientific and technological innovation throughout the entire chain and layout in all fields, and comprehensively enhance our scientific and technological strength and innovation capabilities. Adhere to deepening reforms to stimulate innovation vitality, resolutely remove ideological and institutional barriers that hinder scientific and technological innovation, and effectively transform institutional advantages into technological competitive advantages. We will adhere to promoting a virtuous cycle of education, technology, and talent, and coordinate the implementation of the strategies of revitalizing the country through science and education, strengthening the country through talent, and driving development through innovation. We will promote education development, technological innovation, and talent cultivation in an integrated manner. Adhere to cultivating an innovative culture, inherit the innovative genes of excellent traditional Chinese culture, create a good environment that encourages exploration and tolerates failure, and make the worship of science and the pursuit of innovation a prevailing trend in the whole society. Adhering to the principle of technological openness and cooperation for the benefit of humanity, adhering to a mutually beneficial open strategy, and contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to address global challenges and promote human development and progress. These experiences are precious and must be persisted in the long term and continuously enriched and developed in practice. Academicians, comrades, and friends! Currently, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening. Scientific research is expanding towards the extreme macro level, deepening towards the extreme micro level, advancing towards extreme conditions, and making efforts towards comprehensive cross disciplinary approaches, constantly breaking through the boundaries of human cognition. Technological innovation has entered an unprecedented period of intensive activity, with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and biotechnology emerging, triggering a chain like transformation. At the same time, the world's unprecedented great changes are accelerating, and the technological revolution is intertwined with the game of great powers. The high-tech field has become the forefront and main battlefield of international competition, profoundly reshaping the global order and development pattern. Although China has made significant progress in the development of science and technology, its original innovation capabilities are still relatively weak. Some key core technologies are subject to human constraints, and there is a shortage of top scientific and technological talents. It is necessary to further enhance the sense of urgency, increase the intensity of scientific and technological innovation, and seize the high ground of scientific and technological competition and future development. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly defined the central task of comprehensively promoting the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation with Chinese path to modernization. Chinese path to modernization depends on the modernization of science and technology, and high-quality development depends on scientific and technological innovation to cultivate new momentum. It is necessary to fully understand the strategic leading position and fundamental supporting role of technology, anchor the strategic goal of building a strong country in science and technology by 2035, strengthen top-level design and overall planning, and accelerate the realization of high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement. The technological powerhouse we aim to build should have the world's leading technological and innovative capabilities, support the overall leap in economic strength, national defense strength, and comprehensive national strength, enhance human well-being, and promote global development. The following basic elements must be possessed: firstly, possessing strong basic research and original innovation capabilities, and continuously producing significant original and disruptive technological achievements. The second is to have strong capabilities in tackling key core technologies, providing strong support for high-quality development and high-level security. Thirdly, it has strong international influence and leadership, becoming an important scientific center and innovation highland in the world. Fourthly, it has a strong ability to cultivate and gather high-level scientific and technological talents, continuously strengthening the international top scientific and technological talent team and national strategic scientific and technological strength. The fifth is to have a strong technology governance system and governance capabilities, forming a world-class innovation ecosystem and research environment. Academicians, comrades, and friends! There are only 11 years left until the goal of building a strong technological country is achieved. We must use the firm determination and tenacious will of "sharpening a sword in ten years", seize the day and work hard, step by step, to turn this strategic goal into reality. Firstly, fully leverage the advantages of the new national system and accelerate the promotion of high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement. We need to improve the system of centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee over scientific and technological work, strengthen the overall planning of strategic planning, policy measures, major tasks, scientific research capabilities, resource platforms, regional innovation, and other aspects, build a collaborative and efficient decision-making and command system and organizational implementation system, and gather strong forces to promote scientific and technological innovation. We should fully leverage the decisive role of the market in the allocation of scientific and technological resources, better leverage the role of the government in all aspects, mobilize the enthusiasm of various links in industry, academia, and research, and form a work pattern of jointly promoting key core technology breakthroughs. We need to strengthen the construction of national strategic scientific and technological forces, optimize positioning and layout, improve the national laboratory system, and enhance the integration capacity of the national innovation system. We must maintain strategic composure, adhere to the principle of doing something but not doing something, highlight national strategic needs, implement scientific and technological strategic deployments in several important fields, condense and implement a batch of new major scientific and technological projects, form competitive advantages, and win strategic initiative. To improve the organization level of basic research, improve the investment mechanism that combines competitive support and stable support, strengthen collaborative research and development towards major scientific issues, encourage free exploration, strive to propose original basic theories, master underlying technical principles, and build a solid foundation and foundation for scientific and technological innovation. Secondly, we will solidly promote the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and help develop new quality productive forces. The foundation of integration is to increase the supply of high-quality technology. We need to focus on key areas and weak links in the construction of modern industrial systems, and address bottlenecks such as integrated circuits, industrial motherboards, basic software, advanced materials, scientific research instruments, and core seed sources. We will increase our efforts in technological research and development to provide technological support for ensuring the independent security and controllability of important industrial and supply chains. We should aim at the high ground of future technological and industrial development, accelerate technological innovation in the fields of new generation information technology, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, etc., and cultivate and develop emerging and future industries. We should actively use new technologies to transform and enhance traditional industries, and promote the high-end, intelligent, and green development of industries. The key to integration is to strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation. We should fully leverage the leading role of technology leading enterprises, encourage small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises to innovate in science and technology, and support enterprises to lead or participate in major national science and technology projects. We should guide enterprises to closely cooperate with universities and research institutions, jointly condense scientific and technological issues, jointly carry out scientific research and development, and jointly cultivate scientific and technological talents in response to industrial needs, promoting enterprise led innovation in industry university research integration. The way of integration is to promote the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements. We should rely on the advantages of China's industrial foundation and large-scale market, strengthen the construction of the national technology transfer system, improve policy support and market services, promote the promotion and application of independent research and development products, and iterate and upgrade, so that more scientific and technological achievements can be transformed from samples into products and form industries. To do a good job in technology finance, we should guide financial capital to invest in early, small, long-term, and hard technology. Thirdly, comprehensively deepen the reform of the scientific and technological system and mechanism, and fully stimulate the vitality of innovation and creation. We must adhere to the combination of goal orientation and problem orientation, and deepen the reform of the science and technology management system, coordinate the construction of various innovation platforms, strengthen the coordination of innovation resources and the organization of strength, in response to the low degree of organization and collaboration in China's scientific and technological innovation, as well as the dispersion and duplication of scientific and technological resources. Improve the layout of regional scientific and technological innovation, strengthen the coordination and linkage between central and local governments, and create an innovation highland with global influence. We need to improve the management of science and technology plans, deepen the reform of the allocation and management mechanism of science and technology funds, empower scientific research units and personnel with greater autonomy, and enhance the efficiency of scientific and technological innovation investment. In recent years, positive progress has been made in loosening and reducing the burden on researchers, but many researchers have also reported that various non academic burdens are still relatively heavy. We must adhere to the combination of "breaking the four extremes" and "setting new standards", and accelerate the improvement of a classification evaluation system and assessment mechanism that conforms to the laws of scientific research activities. We need to improve incentive systems such as technology rewards, income distribution, and achievement empowerment, so that more outstanding talents can receive reasonable returns and unleash innovation vitality. We need to continue to crack down on the trend of indiscriminate posting of "hats" and "brands", so that researchers can focus and concentrate on research, and effectively reduce the distractions and worries caused by submitting projects, publishing papers, evaluating rewards, and competing for resources. Fourthly, we will promote the development of education, technology, and talent in an integrated manner, and build a competitive advantage in talent development. Technological innovation relies on talent, and talent cultivation relies on education. Education, technology, and talent are internally consistent and mutually supportive. To enhance the system concept, deepen the integrated reform of the education and technology talent system and mechanism, improve the mechanism of science and education collaborative education, and accelerate the cultivation of a large-scale, structurally reasonable, and skilled team