The Chinese sci-tech community will collaborate with international peers to deepen research cooperation in frontier sciences, promote openness and inclusivity for scientific and technological undertakings, and jointly tackle major global challenges.
COVID-19 vaccine development and anti-pandemic measures, climate change and green development, the digital economy, interconnectivity and scientific ethics are some of the fields where sci-tech communities around the world hope to see more comprehensive collaboration in the future.
Centred on the themes of openness, trust and cooperation, more than 205 experts, including seven Nobel laureates, from 19 countries and regions discussed how to promote science as a global public good, how innovation can introduce new solutions to sustainable development, how to build mutual trust to enhance inclusivity and governance of science and technology, and how to better collaborate with each other to meet shared challenges.
Sci-tech communities around the world should enhance consensus and cooperation based on the foundation of mutual respect, inclusivity and win-win outcomes. The communities should also uphold the principles of open science and facilitate the flow of scientific knowledge and technology, data and output in order to accumulate the wisdom of scientists from various countries to jointly push the frontiers of basic sciences and tackle major global challenges.
– Wan Gang, President of the China Association for Science and Technology
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has established cooperation with research institutions, universities and companies from over 130 countries by establishing overseas research institutions, launching major scientific projects, and promoting exchanges and talent training. Some recent examples include China officially opening its Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope to research proposals from foreign astronomers.
Promoting openness, enhancing trust and deepening cooperation may be the only solution and way out of these problems. Open science and technology allow researchers to communicate and learn from each other, thus ensuring an endless source of new inspirations. Trust and solidarity are the foundation of openness and inclusivity, and the prerequisite for enhancing science, technology and innovation cooperation.
In the last two years, innovations in science, technology and engineering have played a crucial role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and helping China return to normalcy. China needs to open up innovation ecosystems to incorporate more global collaboration. The global sci-tech community must cherish the value of openness and cultivate trust between stakeholders.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences will also continue to support international cooperation in frontier sciences, launch new scientific and technological instruments and platforms and jointly tackle grand challenges facing humanity with the global sci-tech community.
In the future, China will strengthen global exchanges, proactively engage in the global innovation network and jointly promote basic research and the commercialisation of research results. China will also find new engines for economic growth, enhance intellectual property protection, create a first-class innovation ecosystem, foster the principle of using science and technology for the greater good, improve global governance in science and technology and allow it to better benefit humanity.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, Chinese national lawmakers began deliberating a draft revision to the law on scientific and technological progress, as the country seeks to advance the quality and efficiency of its innovation in science and technology.
To strengthen basic research and innovation capabilities, the draft proposes establishing an investment mechanism to provide stable support for basic research, and increasing the proportion of funds for basic research in the total sum of funds for research and development across society.
Highlighting breakthroughs in key and core technologies, the draft urges the construction and strengthening of the country’s strategic scientific and technological strengths: national laboratories, national science and technology research and development institutions, high-level research universities and leading enterprises in science and technology.
