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BEIJING - China's minister of science and technology made a promise on Saturday to foster research and development by opening up the competition for government funding.
Wan Gang said the current system will be improved "to create an innovation-stimulating environment that features scientific democracy, academic freedom, scholastic vigor, open-mindedness and inclusiveness".
In addition, Wan told a news conference in Beijing that a regional innovation system that can offer incentives and other distinct advantages will be established. Services to bridge the science and technology sectors also will be improved, he said.
Some of Wan's presentation on Saturday dealt with the competition for government funding and efforts to overcome problems in the past.
In 1978, the ministry introduced a mechanism to allow programs to compete for national funding.
However, scientists doing basic research were at a disadvantage because their research required long-term investment and had higher failure rates. So in 2008, the ministry instituted a policy of supporting basic research because "some genius ideas and innovations also need more freedom", Wan said.
But some problems developed that tainted the system of awards for merit. Last month, for example, the ministry stripped Li Liansheng, a professor of a top national award for plagiarism and faking data. The ministry said it would take back the prize money, 100,000 yuan ($15,200). He was also dismissed from his post in Xi'an Jiaotong University.
Wan was clear on Saturday in stating his intentions to establish a more transparent mechanism of competition for funding and to punish those who violate the rules.
"We will establish an expert database for application review, and the judges will be randomly chosen to ensure the results are truly objective," he said.
He said that a "reasonable mechanism" for fairness is not a 100 percent guarantee of good results. "Therefore, public supervision is welcome during the whole process, and I promise we will hold responsible persons accountable," he said.
The regional innovation system mention by Wan aims to provides advantages in certain geographic areas to boost the development of national high-tech industrial zones and innovation demonstration zones.
"The regional favorable policies for talent, (good) funding and government service are factors that attracted my team to join the Yantai high-tech industrial zone," said Sui Xueqing, a professor at the Institute of Computing Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He spoke during a talent recruitment signing ceremony in Beijing on Saturday.
The ministry announced additional objectives over the next five years:
To build technology service platforms and foster a number of innovative enterprises with Chinese intellectual property and strong competitiveness in the international market.
To formulate medium- and long-term talent development programs, with special plans for high-caliber professionals in key fields.
To push forward the central government's existing programs to attract and nurture leading scientists.
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