A report from Science and Technology Daily:

Two years ago, Wang Pu, CPPCC member and professor at Faculty of Materials and 
Manufacturing, Beijing University of Technology, suggested that it is crucial 
to own core technologies, materials and crafts. 

With the idea of "self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology" 
promoted, Wang reaffirmed the direction of his efforts and became even more 
energetic.

"In order to deeply integrate into the global innovation network, we need to 
generate real self-confidence in science and technology based on self-reliance 
and self-improvement in science and technology. Thus, China can greatly 
contribute "eastern wisdom" to the global challenges.

Many experts we interviewed in academia and industry echoed his thoughts.

"Changes unseen in a century": Is international cooperation still okay?

The idea of "removing international industrial supply chains from China" has 
been spreading overseas. "American media have been talking about 'China Threat 
Theory'." Wang did not deny the challenges China is now faced with.

Guo Tiecheng, scientific and technological strategy expert and Vice President 
of Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, gave his 
analysis.

"Although the challenges are tough and the suppression is frequent, the 
opportunity of cooperation in science and technology between China and other 
countries is being enlarged and there is much room for manoeuvre for China's 
strategies." Guo noted.

As China's ability of innovation is improved, the country has an advantage in 
rich talent pool and an economy of a large quantity and a complete range, etc.

The cooperation with other countries can be full-scale or gradient depending on 
how the counterpart performs in the relative field.

Guo suggested, "As long as we keep stable strategies and firmly stick to 
innovation development and reform and opening up, the influence of the 
restrictions caused by 'partly decoupling' will be limited and no subversive 
effect will take place."

"Self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology": The basic logic 
is the prosperity of science

Wang kept emphasizing, "Do not undertake tough tasks unless you have necessary 
skills. In the long run, we can only claim that we have a spot in the modern 
science system if basic theories, original concepts and technologies are to be 
greatly developed in China."

Guo also expressed his views on the essence of "self-reliance and 
self-improvement in science and technology": Only by taking the prosperity of 
science as the underlying logic can we achieve self-reliance. 

He further explained: "Besides, we ought to encourage some market players to 
take the lead in upgrading to the medium-to-high-end level, provide innovative 
factors of production such as human resources and data for economic 
development, and stimulate the enthusiasm and creativity of scientific and 
technological experts to unleash the vitality of innovation. With this essence, 
self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology should become the 
strategic focus of our country in the coming period." 

Digital economy: a new innovation arena

Recently, China has been focusing on the "digital economy".

As to the role of data in empowering high-quality development, Xu Wei, who is 
the Associate Professor at Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences 
of Tsinghua University, highly praised China for taking the lead in putting 
forward "data as a factor of production". 

It is not easy to manage data elements, especially in data circulation, where 
data providers, users and even regulators are faced with high risks. However, 
China has practiced exploring solutions to problems at the technical level. A 
solution based on the underlying theoretical innovation of Academician Yao 
Qizhi's "multi-party computing (MPC)", which can achieve the idea that "data is 
available, invisible, controllable, quantifiable and supervised", is being 
transformed by the technology enterprise Hua Kong Tsingjiao, with Xu Wei as the 
chief scientist, to accelerate its application in practical scenarios such as 
the circulation and integration of data elements.

Practice always steps ahead: new forms and features have emerged in 
international cooperation

Guo offered his analysis, "As China gradually integrates into the global 
innovation network, China will be more inclined to conduct strategic 
cooperation on governance in the future.

Apart from traditional national and international projects and international 
cooperation on major scientific engineering devices, more non-governmental 
innovation cooperation modes, such as off-shore innovation, transnational 
technology platform, open-source ecosystem and scientific volunteer 
organizations without borders, display a flexible and efficient global 
innovation network.

"In terms of further opening up, it is possible for China to consider setting 
up an open 'innovative procurement fund' to carry out emerging procurement such 
as innovative customized procurement and pre-commercial procurement to the 
world." Guo suggested.

Aiming to solve problems: Confident but not arrogant

Wang told Science and Technology Daily reporter, "Academic papers are only a 
basic tool of academic communication, and partly represent the achievements of 
scientific and technological innovation. The fundamental criteria for the 
achievements of scientific research should be whether they take the lead in the 
frontier of scientific development or solve actual scientific or technological 
problems."

Xu also pointed out that many investors or users of new technologies always ask 
him about against which the "multi-party computation" can be benchmarked. He 
suggested, "China is no longer a "me-too" follower in terms of innovation. We 
should believe in and support China's innovative edge in emerging industries, 
which our scientists have developed and maintained. "

Written by Fang Linlin & Zhang Jiaxin. 

Source:Science and Technology Daily