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CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science and
Technology
People's Republic of China
N0.297 June 10,2002
IN THIS ISSUE
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*
Bidding and Evaluating Research Topics
* China's
Basic Studies Aiming at the Nobel Prize
* 400
Millions for Water Efficient Farming
* Vegetation
Variations
* China-France Cooperation in Electric
Vehicles
* Campus S and T Parks Blooming
*
Innovative Productivity Promotion
Center
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SPECIAL
ISSUES
Bidding and Evaluating Research Topics
To be part of the reform of topic selecting
and distribution process for national research programs, the
Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of
Finance and the State Economic and Trade Commission have
recently under the approval of the Chinese State Council
jointly issued the Interim Act for Management of Bidding
Process for National Research Programs and Interim Act for
Evaluation and Approval of National Research Topics. The
development has indicated that China will place the
management of its research programs and topic selecting
entirely under a bidding and evaluation system, which will
play a positive role in establishing an open, just, fair,
scientific and efficient research management mechanism.
As stipulated by the Interim Act for
Management of Topic Bidding Process for National Research
Programs, the topics under national research programs with
defined research objectives and contents, time limit for the
completion and evaluation and approval standards shall be
granted through bidding process. The Act has made clear
provisions on the whole bidding process and associated legal
liabilities. On the basis of PRC Law on Bidding, the
provisions on bidding process of research topics have taken
into account the special aspects of research topics and are
of positive significance to optimizing the distribution of
S&T resources, improving the utilization of research
budgets and promoting fair competition.
The
Interim Act for Evaluation and Approval of National Research
Topics stipulates that national research programs shall
employ evaluation and approval mechanism when determining
research topics. The governmental decision making process
shall take full advantage of the roles of experts and
non-governmental brokerage firms. The Act has made explicit
provisions on the main contents of evaluation and approval
of research topics and associated budget, and the
requirements for the qualification of evaluating agency and
experts and associated evaluation behaviors. In addition,
the Act has defined clear legal liabilities for the whole
evaluation and approval process. The introduction and
implementation of the Act will be of importance to enhancing
the transparency of topic selection process and improving
the scientific nature of research topics management.
It is reported that from now on all national
research topics meeting with bidding conditions shall be
established through bidding process and those unqualified
for the bidding shall be subject to assessment or approval.
China's Basic Studies Aiming at the Nobel
Prize
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
will make its basic research activities in the early 21st
century aim at the Noble Prize level. This means China will
work out the world first-class research results before 2025,
create a number of new orientations and fields dominated by
Chinese scientists, achieve major basic research results in
major cutting edge areas and brew up research findings of
Nobel Prize winning quality on Chinese soil.
It is reported that CAS will adopt a series of
measures to translate this goal into reality. CAS will give
its priority support for cutting edge research topics
related to national economic and social development and
national security, and screen out key S and T issues closely
linked with the economic and social development. CAS will
also intensify its efforts for breakthroughs through
selecting major scientific orientations that may result in
revolutionary impacts on the technical and industrial
development.
Facing increasingly
enhanced trends of interweaving, infiltration and marriage
of different disciplines, CAS will secure its priority
support for major cutting edge studies, especially the ones
calling for the involvement of multiple disciplines. In the
meantime, priority support will be given to the basic
studies needing large scientific experimental devices and
massive involvement of research teams. Equipment will be
selected to make platforms for multi-disciplinary studies
and technology development. In addition, CAS will construct
high caliber scientific research bases and comprehensive
inter-disciplinary research centers.
CAS will
continuously support basic studies of strategic importance
to the construction of national economy and needinglong-term
accumulation. On the basis of the basic activities such as
collecting, observing, analyzing and consolidating basic
scientific data and information, gathering and preserving
samples, basic studies will make fine foundations for the
national macro decision making process and sustainable
economic and social development.
400 Millions
for Water Efficient Farming
The Chinese
Ministry of Science and Technology has recently announced
that to address the shortage of farming water resources and
outdated water efficiency technology in the same field,
China will budget an investment of RMB 420 million including
RMB 200 million from the state treasury to develop key
technologies for modern water efficient farming in the 10th
Five- Year Plan period(2001-2005). Aiming at establishing a
modern water efficient agricultural system of Chinese
characteristics, the said project will focus on improving
agricultural water resources utilization, crop moisture
utilization and agricultural production earnings with a
three-level design for cutting edge and key technologies for
water efficient agriculture, research and development of key
equipment and major products and associated
industrialization and technology integration and
demonstration for the same purpose. Priorities
will be placed on the organic combination of biological,
technical and engineering approaches to water efficiency
plus administrative measures.
It is reported
that upon the completion of the project, China's water
efficient agriculture will reach the internationally
advanced level in the mid 1990s with 90- 100 new materials
for drought resistant varieties, 20-30 large water efficient
farming equipment and products manufacturers and 10-15
modern water efficient agriculture technology demonstration
zones.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
A Chinese University Becomes the AMS Member
The AMS experiment, looking for counter and
dark matters in the cosmos, with a budget of USD 100 billion
has officially absorbed the Chinese Southeast University to
be a member of its research efforts. Zhaozhong Ding, a Noble
Prize winner and Chinese-American scientist inked an
agreement on the cooperation with Guanqun Gu, President of
Southeast University on May 30, 2002. Starting from the date
of signature, the University participates in the instrument
manufacturing and personnel training of the Lab, and the
Data Analysis Center to be established on the campus will
have a direct reception of data transmitted by NASA in 2005
for independent data analysis. Before the launch
of the sounding unit, the University will be allowed to send
its scientists to work at NASA's Kennedy and Johnson
launching centers. In the meantime, the University will be
involved in the manufacturing of a number of important
experimental instruments.
The AMS II sounding
unit with the University's involvement in its manufacturing
has been scheduled for its launch in 2005 by spaceshuttle
for a 3-5-year operation at the international space station.
The project is the collaborative efforts among 16 countries
including the United States, Sweden, France and China.
Vegetation Variations
Study
findings jointly revealed by Chinese and Belgium scientists
not long ago in Beijing have shown that climate change,
serious water resources shortage and the increase of human
activities are the major contributors causing the changes of
vegetation coverage in China's northwest regions. The
findings of "Remote Dynamic Monitoring System for
Vegetation Variations in Northwest China" jointly
worked out by China 5-Province Remote Sensing Center,
Belgium VITO and UCL have indicated that China's northwest
section can be divided into two periods in terms of air
temperature, namely cold climate period from 1940 to 1970
and warm climate period from 1970 to 1990 with limited
changes in precipitation but remarkably reduced cumulative
temperature in a period of 5 decades. Scientists believe
that climate change is one of the major elements causing
vegetation variations over the region.
On the basis of collected and
processed data, VITO worked out the ten-day vegetation data
charts for the years of 1990 and 2000 respectively, and
established remote sensing dynamic monitoring system for
vegetation coverage. UCL, in collaboration with remote
sensing centers of Shanxi, Ningxia and Xinjiang and with the
help of land utilization and cover classification
approaches, studied dynamic elements related to vegetation
coverage, variation rate and potential implications over the
northern part of the Loess Plateau, Maowusu desert rim
sitting in the northern part of Ningxia, the northern
section of Ningxia and the middle and lower reaches
of Talimuhe River in Xinjiang. In addition, they combined
the study with relevant analysis of data on social and
economic development in the regions.
It is
reported that Belgium has made a fund support of 15 million
Belgium Francs available for the collaborative study. The
smooth cooperation between the scientists of the two
countries has led to the production of a series of data and
findings on the vegetation variations over the northwest
regions and the completion of assignments ahead of schedule.
China-France Cooperation in Electric Vehicles
China-France Steering Group on Electric
Automobile recently had its meeting in Beijing with the
participation of relevant authorities and experts. The
meeting has reached the following 4 agreements:
1) Chinese and French standardization
committees will start their exchanges and cooperation in the
field of standards related to pure electric automobiles;
2) China and France will have exchanges on
electric automobile related policies such as urban
application planning, taxation and environmental protection.
3) Both sides will support the cooperation and
exchanges at local levels in establishing the demonstration
park for electric automobile applications. Both sides will
support the cooperation between Wuhan and Bordeaux, Qingdao
and La Rochelle, and work out relevant local policies.
Meanwhile both parties will support the cooperation between
Beijing and Paris and encourage the applications of electric
autos in the Olympic Games.
4) China
will send a technology delegation to visit the relevant
research centers and fuel battery manufacturers in France
and France also expressed its willingness to receive the
visit so as to promote the technical exchanges and secure
concrete collaboration institutions in the field of PDR.
China-German S and T Show
Being
part of celebrating the 30th anniversary of establishing
diplomatic relations between China and Germany, an Exchange
Show, or China-German S and T Exchange and Cooperation
Exhibition lifted its curtain on June 10, 2002 in Berlin.
The Show displayed bumper harvests reaped in the course of S
and T exchanges between the two countries from repairing
ancient terracotta soldiers to cutting edge nanometer
technology, and from exploring the mystery of genes to
seeking for the road leading to sustainable development. The
exchanges and cooperation in numerous fields between the two
countries have gone into a deeper and broader perspective.
The Show introduced renowned Chinese and
German scholars who started to build the bridge of science
and culture exchanges between the two nations 400 years ago
and rich results achieved in recent years in the fields of
space exploration, molecule medical science, nanometer
technology, biotechnology, agricultural environment and soil
and architecture. In the meantime, the Show reported the
exchanges and cooperation between the two nations in the
fields of education and culture.
NEWS BRIEFS
Campus S and T Parks Blooming
China has witnessed eye-catching achievements
in its construction of campus S and T parks. As is shown by
the statistics, 22 campus S and T parks have been
established with the existing campus or associated
resources. These parks have recorded a constructed area of
13,000mu (1mu=0.0667ha.) of total planned area for 29,000 mu
and an area approaching 910,000 m2 for incubators. It is
reported that 2,564 enterprises have stationed in these
parks with 245 enterprises incubated out from within and
1,486 others in the process of incubation. As of 2001, these
campus S and T parks had produced an annual output value of
RMB 28.7 billion with 4,813 proprietary new products, of
which 2,191 were rated as national priority new products,
and 9,184 patent applications, of which 3,482 were granted
with patents. Campus S and T parks are becoming the bases
for spinning off university research findings and incubators
for high-tech industries as well as the ties linking
universities with social and economic development and new
economic growth point.
Campus S and T Parks
Blooming
China has witnessed eye-catching
achievements in its construction of campus S and T parks. As
is shown by the statistics, 22 campus S and T parks have
been established with the existing campus or associated
resources. These parks have recorded a constructed area of
13,000mu (1mu=0.0667ha.) of total planned area for 29,000 mu
and an area approaching 910,000 m2 for incubators. It is
reported that 2,564 enterprises have stationed in these
parks with 245 enterprises incubated out from within and
1,486 others in the process of incubation. As of 2001, these
campus S and T parks had produced an annual output value of
RMB 28.7 billion with 4,813 proprietary new products, of
which 2,191 were rated as national priority new products,
and 9,184 patent applications, of which 3,482 were granted
with patents. Campus S and T parks are becoming the bases
for spinning off university research findings and incubators
for high-tech industries as well as the ties linking
universities with social and economic development and new
economic growth point.
Innovative Productivity
Promotion Center
As is shown by the
statistics, as of December 31, 2001 there were 701 so-called
productivity promotion centers in the country, of which 631
are at local level and 70 sectional level with a total
population of 9,564. 45.9% of the employees working for
these centers are of bachelor's degree. With a total asset
of RMB 3.12 billion, these centers have enjoyed the input of
RMB 390 million from government at different levels and a
total revenues of RMB 1.13 billion. Under these centers,
there are 49,600 service enterprises providing 9,293 pieces
of technical service for the development of common
technologies, products diffusion and testing with sale
revenues amounting to RMB 40.7 billion, and profits and
taxes RMB 6.89 billion. These centers also created
employment opportunities for 345,000 people and provided
339,000 person/time training for both enterprises and
society.
Li Jian, Director of the Dept. of
High and New Technology under the Chinese Ministry of
Science and Technology (MOST) recently expressed that
productivity promotion centers should further enhance their
core competitiveness including creating new working
platforms for these centers through the implementation of
national S&T programs and relentlessly promoting
"productivity promotion action for west China".
In the next few years, MOST will allocate RMB
30 million to support the construction of information
infrastructures of productivity promotion centers in the
west and associated personnel training, so as to improve the
technical innovation capacity and market competitiveness of
small and medium enterprises in the west.
Productivity promotion centers will also
introduce full-fledged quality management and
standardization service and further stimulate their system
and mechanism innovation.
S and T Support for
the 29th Olympic Games
China's Science and
Technology Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (Olympic S
and T Committee) announced its establishment on June 7, 2002
in Beijing. With its members from 10 organizations including
Beijing Municipal Government, the Ministry of Science and
Technology and the Ministry of Education, the Olympic S and
T Committee is a non-standing advisory and consulting
organization providing major science and technology related
consultations for the organizing committee of the 29th
Olympic Games and promoting the implementation of Olympic S
and T Action Plan for 2008.
Following the
Olympic S and T Action Plan jointly proposed by ten
organizations including the Ministry of Science and
Technology and Beijing Municipal Government and the
selection of the first 60 Olympic S and T projects, to
further screen out priority targets in the construction of S
and T Olympics, nine major S and T Olympic projects were
preliminarily defined to meet S and T requirements of
Beijing Olympic Game. These projects are: planning and
implementation of Beijing urban intelligent traffic system,
electric automobile demonstration, R and D and
industrialization, clean energy demonstration project,
Beijing sand prevention and control technology development
and demonstration, high performance land observation mini
satellite technologies and applications, multi-linguistic
intelligent information service network system, analeptics
testing technology and associated instruments, key food
security technologies, and key simulation and testing
technologies for the Olympic information security and
software system.
Innovative Productivity
Promotion Center
As is shown by the
statistics, as of December 31, 2001 there were 701 so-called
productivity promotion centers in the country, of which 631
are at local level and 70 sectional level with a total
population of 9,564. 45.9% of the employees working for
these centers are of bachelor's degree. With a total asset
of RMB 3.12 billion, these centers have enjoyed the input of
RMB 390 million from government at different levels and a
total revenues of RMB 1.13 billion. Under these centers,
there are 49,600 service enterprises providing 9,293 pieces
of technical service for the development of common
technologies, products diffusion and testing with sale
revenues amounting to RMB 40.7 billion, and profits and
taxes RMB 6.89 billion. These centers also created
employment opportunities for 345,000 people and provided
339,000 person/time training for both enterprises and
society.
Li Jian, Director of the Dept. of
High and New Technology under the Chinese Ministry of
Science and Technology (MOST) recently expressed that
productivity promotion centers should further enhance their
core competitiveness including creating new working
platforms for these centers through the implementation of
national S&T programs and relentlessly promoting
"productivity promotion action for west China".
In the next few years, MOST will allocate RMB
30 million to support the construction of information
infrastructures of productivity promotion centers in the
west and associated personnel training, so as to improve the
technical innovation capacity and market competitiveness of
small and medium enterprises in the west.
Productivity promotion centers will also
introduce full-fledged quality management and
standardization service and further stimulate their system
and mechanism innovation.
S and T Support for
the 29th Olympic Games
China's Science and
Technology Committee for the 29th Olympic Games (Olympic S
and T Committee) announced its establishment on June 7, 2002
in Beijing. With its members from 10 organizations including
Beijing Municipal Government, the Ministry of Science and
Technology and the Ministry of Education, the Olympic S and
T Committee is a non-standing advisory and consulting
organization providing major science and technology related
consultations for the organizing committee of the 29th
Olympic Games and promoting the implementation of Olympic S
and T Action Plan for 2008.
Following the
Olympic S and T Action Plan jointly proposed by ten
organizations including the Ministry of Science and
Technology and Beijing Municipal Government and the
selection of the first 60 Olympic S and T projects, to
further screen out priority targets in the construction of S
and T Olympics, nine major S and T Olympic projects were
preliminarily defined to meet S and T requirements of
Beijing Olympic Game. These projects are: planning and
implementation of Beijing urban intelligent traffic system,
electric automobile demonstration, R and D and
industrialization, clean energy demonstration project,
Beijing sand prevention and control technology development
and demonstration, high performance land observation mini
satellite technologies and applications, multi-linguistic
intelligent information service network system, analeptics
testing technology and associated instruments, key food
security technologies, and key simulation and testing
technologies for the Olympic information security and
software system.
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