The first lunar back sampling by Chang'e-6, the exploration of the ocean by the "Dream" spacecraft, the surfing of the sea and sky in the deep middle channel, and the rise of the ice sheet at the Qinling Station in Antarctica... Looking back at 2024, each exciting moment of scientific and technological innovation marks the solid footsteps of China's scientific and technological ascent to new heights. The construction of an innovative country has achieved fruitful results, and China's scientific and technological strength continues to strengthen. The "key variable" of scientific and technological innovation is being transformed into the "maximum increment" of high-quality development. In the past year, with strong technological strength, there have been frequent good news of innovation in the technology industry. Chang'e-6 has completed the first sampling of the far side of the moon in human history. On June 25, 2024, the Chang'e-6 spacecraft returned to Earth carrying 1935.3 grams of lunar samples. As the most complex deep space exploration mission carried out by China so far, Chang'e-6 has achieved three major technological breakthroughs: lunar retrograde orbit design and control, intelligent sampling on the far side of the moon, and lunar takeoff and ascent. In just a few months, Chinese scientists have achieved multiple scientific research results, such as revealing lunar magma activity and ancient magnetic field information, using samples from the lunar back of Chang'e-6. The Beidou system built independently by the Chinese has entered a new journey of development. On September 19, 2024, the 59th and 60th Beidou navigation satellites were launched and successfully entered their designated orbit. These are the last two satellites of the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system, marking the official completion of the entire project. Since its establishment, the Beidou system project has gone through an extraordinary 30-year journey, growing into "China's Beidou, the world's Beidou, and a first-class Beidou". Beidou positioning can achieve centimeter level accuracy, further highlighting its application value in various fields such as transportation, disaster relief, agricultural production, and major engineering construction. The Chinese space station has released its "report card" for the first time. On December 30, 2024, the China Manned Space Engineering Office publicly released the "Progress Report on Scientific Research and Applications of China's Space Station" (2024) for the first time. In the two years since the comprehensive construction of the space station, China has organized and completed four manned flights, three cargo supply missions, four spacecraft return missions, five astronaut crews, and 15 long-term stays in orbit. A total of 10 astronaut extravehicular activities and multiple payload extravehicular activities have been carried out, and multiple extravehicular maintenance missions have been carried out, breaking the world record for the duration of a single extravehicular activity by astronauts. Scientific teams in various fields have achieved a series of original, cutting-edge, and innovative results, publishing over 500 high-level SCI papers and obtaining more than 150 patents. Some of the achievements have been transferred, transformed, and promoted for application, significantly promoting the rapid development of space science and applications in China. There are still many exciting news: 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of China's polar exploration, and the opening of the 5th Antarctic research station - Qinling Station, fills the gap in China's long-term observation in the Pacific sector; Create 10 "global firsts" in the Shenzhen Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and press the "acceleration button" for the coordinated development of the Greater Bay Area; The first ocean drilling vessel, the "Dream", with a maximum drilling depth of 11000 meters and independently designed and built by China, has been officially launched, which is expected to realize the scientific dream of humanity to "penetrate the earth's crust and enter the deep earth"... According to the "2024 Global Innovation Index Report" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China ranks 11th in the global innovation index and is one of the economies with the fastest increase in innovation in the past 10 years; It has 26 global top 100 technology innovation clusters, ranking first for the second consecutive year. Innovation enhances driving force. Technological innovation is the only way to accelerate the formation of new quality productivity. Looking back at 2024, the practice of developing new quality productive forces has been rich, vivid, and effective. Accelerate the improvement of innovation capability. The number of invention patent authorizations and technology contract transactions in our country have maintained rapid growth. In 2024, China celebrates the 30th anniversary of joining the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Over the past 30 years, China has become an important pole in the world's innovation landscape, with PCT international patent applications increasing from 98 in 1994 to nearly 70000 in 2023, ranking first in the world for five consecutive years. The upgrading of traditional industries is accelerating. Through the in-depth implementation of the Action Plan for the Core Competitiveness of Manufacturing Industry, traditional industries such as steel, textiles, and machinery are moving towards high-end, intelligent, and green development, and China's manufacturing industry is continuously achieving new results in upgrading. In the first 11 months of 2024, investment in technological transformation in the manufacturing industry increased by 8.5%, significantly faster than the overall investment growth. The development of emerging industries is accelerating. China is deeply implementing the national strategic emerging industry cluster development project, the "East West Calculation" project, and the industrial innovation project. In the first 11 months of 2024, the added value of high-tech manufacturing industry above designated size increased by 9% year-on-year, significantly faster than the growth of industrial enterprises above designated size. The annual production of new energy vehicles in China has exceeded 10 million units for the first time. Accelerate the layout of future industries. China strongly supports the construction of new scenarios in fields such as artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, future energy, and quantum technology. As of the end of November 2024, the National Emerging Industry Entrepreneurship Investment Guidance Fund has participated in 501 sub funds, raising 288.54 billion yuan and supporting 8946 start-up and early to mid stage enterprises. The "2024 World Robot Report" released by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) shows that the application speed of robots in China continues to accelerate, with 470 robots per 10000 employees, surpassing Germany and Japan in robot density and ranking third in the world. The first domestically produced large cruise ship, the "Aida Magic City", has embarked on its commercial maiden voyage; The independently developed AG60E electric aircraft successfully made its maiden flight; The third generation autonomous superconducting quantum computer "Benyuan Wukong" has been launched and put into operation; The first 5G-A base station opened on Mount Everest has ushered the world's highest peak into the 5.5G era; The world's largest 26 megawatt offshore wind turbine has been taken offline; The independently developed 300 MW F-class heavy-duty gas turbine has successfully ignited for the first time... In 2024, China's scientific and technological innovation has achieved fruitful results, injecting strong momentum into economic development. Reform taps into potential, technological prosperity leads to national prosperity, and technological strength leads to national strength. The Third Plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has made comprehensive arrangements for deepening the reform of the science and technology system, requiring the coordinated promotion of the integrated reform of the education, science and technology talent system and mechanism, the improvement of the new national system, and the enhancement of the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. All departments are taking action: the Ministry of Science and Technology is improving the system to ensure that scientific researchers focus on scientific research, insisting on authorizing employers and relaxing the burden on talents, and promoting the systematic reform of national science and technology talent evaluation pilot policies; The Ministry of Education continues to promote the "101 Plan" for basic disciplines, cultivate top-notch innovative talents, and lay a solid foundation for comprehensively improving the quality of talent cultivation; The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other departments have organized and implemented a plan to cultivate high skilled leading talents, striving to drive about 5 million new skilled talents by 2026... Nowadays, the total number of skilled talents in China has exceeded 200 million, and the number of high skilled talents has exceeded 60 million. The scale of graduates majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in China is globally leading, with a total of over 112 million scientific and technological human resources, ranking first in the world. This provides strong talent support for high-quality development. In August 2024, the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the "Guidelines for the Implementation of the Innovation Points System (National Trial Version)" to assist financial institutions in quantitatively scoring the innovation capabilities of technology-based enterprises and guiding various innovation resources to cluster towards excellent enterprises. The "Innovation Points System" has seized the pain point of financing difficulties for technology enterprises, met the urgent need of financial institutions to understand technology, and will help more "hard technology" and "good seed" enterprises stand out. Currently, it has been further expanded from national high-tech zones to nationwide trials. On December 25, 2024, the newly revised Science and Technology Popularization Law was promulgated and implemented. This is the first revision of the Science Popularization Law since its implementation in 2002, clarifying the legal positioning of science popularization in the new era: the country places science popularization in an equally important position as technological innovation. Deepen reform to stimulate innovation vitality and transform institutional advantages into technological competitive advantages. Looking forward to 2025, in order to promote Chinese path to modernization, science and technology should take the lead, and the vast number of scientific and technological workers will not be afraid of risks and challenges, seize development opportunities, and strive to move forward. (New Society)