The General Office of the Ministry of Science and Technology and five other departments have issued a notice titled “Several Key Measures for Strengthening Basic Research under the New Context.”

National Science and Technology Office Basic [2020] No. 38 Number

To all relevant units:

    To thoroughly implement the "Several Opinions of the State Council on Comprehensively Strengthening Basic Scientific Research" (Guofa [2018] No. 4), No. ), in the new context, to further strengthen basic research and enhance our country’s capabilities in basic research and scientific and technological innovation, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the National Natural Science Foundation have jointly formulated “Several Key Measures for Strengthening Basic Research in the New Context.” This document is now being distributed to you. Please carefully implement these measures in light of your unit’s specific circumstances.

                　　　　 General Office of the Ministry of Science and Technology

General Office of the Ministry of Finance

General Office of the Ministry of Education

Office of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Office of the Academy of Engineering

Office of the National Natural Science Foundation

April 29, 2020 day

Several Key Measures to Strengthen Basic Research under the New Situation

　　Basic research is the source of the entire scientific system and the overarching hub for all technological challenges. With the advent of the era of big science, modern science and technology are accelerating their integration and convergence, and the paradigm of scientific research is undergoing continuous restructuring. Interdisciplinary collaboration, cross-sector partnerships, and synergistic cooperation among industry, academia, and research institutions have become the prevailing trends. High-quality economic development urgently calls for a robust supply and strong support from high-level basic research; thus, the strategic significance of goal-oriented, application-driven basic research has become increasingly prominent. Under the new circumstances, further strengthening basic research requires taking Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guiding principle, respecting the laws governing scientific development, emphasizing goal orientation, supporting free exploration, optimizing overall planning, deepening institutional and systemic reforms, innovating support mechanisms, fostering an innovative environment, enhancing our capacity for original innovation, and striving to reach the world’s scientific frontiers. This will provide powerful support for building an innovative nation and a global leader in science and technology.

　　To implement the "Several Opinions of the State Council on Comprehensively Strengthening Basic Scientific Research," further enhance basic research, boost China's capacity for basic research and technological innovation, and achieve major breakthroughs in forward-looking basic research and pioneering original achievements, we hereby propose the following key measures.

　　I. Optimize the overall layout of basic research

　　1. Strengthen the coordinated planning of basic research. Adhere to a holistic approach to basic research, keep abreast of the growing trend toward integration between basic and applied research, focus on addressing practical problems, use applied research to drive basic research, and enhance the deployment of basic research projects that are guided by major scientific and application-oriented goals. Prioritize tackling common foundational issues in industrial development and production practice, thereby providing support for major national technological innovations. Reinforce goal-oriented approaches, encourage free exploration, highlight original innovation, strengthen strategic and forward-looking basic research, and foster the generation of new ideas, new theories, and new methodologies. Develop a plan for basic research for 2021. —The master plan for 2035.

　　2. Improve the national science and technology planning system. Fully leverage the role of the National Natural Science Foundation of China to fund basic research and exploration of scientific frontiers, support talent and team development, strengthen the deployment of projects oriented toward national needs, and enhance the Foundation’s capacity to support economic and social development. Focusing on the international scientific frontier and major national strategic needs, emphasize strategic, forward-looking, and disruptive approaches; optimize the support system for basic research within major national science and technology programs, the National Key R&D Program, and various base and talent programs; and reinforce the systematic deployment and coordinated implementation of goal-oriented basic research.

　 　II. Stimulating the Vitality of Innovation Actors

　　3. Truly put into practice the principle of respecting the primary status of researchers in their scientific research activities. Improve the financial management system to better suit the characteristics and rules of basic research, adhere to a people-centered approach, and increase support for “people.” Focus on allocating scientific and technological resources around outstanding talent teams, and encourage scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to collaborate closely on research projects. Implement researchers’ autonomy in project proposal selection, fund utilization, and resource allocation, thereby unleashing their innovative and creative potential. Effectively ensure favorable working and living conditions for researchers, strengthen incentives for those and their teams undertaking major national tasks in basic research, implement distribution policies oriented toward enhancing the value of knowledge, explore the introduction of annual salary systems and academic sabbatical programs, and give preferential treatment to core research personnel when distributing internal performance-based wages. Accelerate the implementation and rollout of the “lump-sum funding” approach for research expenditures. Diligently carry out the "Notice on Optimizing Research Management and Enhancing Research Performance," and properly allocate indirect costs for basic research projects that are purely theoretical, have low reliance on experimental equipment, and consume minimal experimental materials.

　　4. Support enterprises and new R&D institutions in strengthening basic research. Guide enterprises to proactively plan for basic research with a view to long-term development and enhanced competitiveness. Remove institutional barriers to the flow of talent among universities, research institutes, and enterprises. Encourage enterprises to undertake national research projects. Support new R&D institutions in innovating their institutional frameworks, actively exploring and piloting new approaches in areas such as research models, evaluation systems, talent recruitment, professional title assessments, and internal control mechanisms. Support these new R&D institutions in building innovation platforms and taking on national research tasks. Promote seamless collaboration among industry, academia, and research institutions, fostering an innovation ecosystem that integrates basic research, applied research, and technological innovation for comprehensive and sustained development.

　　III. Deepen project management reform

　　5. Establish a mechanism for shaping reform projects. Improve the mechanism for soliciting proposals for basic research tasks, and organize industry departments, enterprises, strategic research institutions, scientists, and other stakeholders to jointly assess cutting-edge scientific trends and strategic development directions. Through multi-party collaboration, identify major scientific issues arising from economic and social development as well as frontline production activities. Enhance the openness of guidelines by simplifying their content and refraining from specifying particular technical approaches. For highly original research explorations, use directional guidance instead of detailed guidelines. Reasonably determine project scales to avoid piecemeal or bundled approaches, thereby ensuring competitiveness and broad participation. Implement a responsibility system for review experts, strengthen “peer review among close peers,” and when conducting goal-oriented basic research reviews, include more experts from application and industrial fields. Promote the internationalization of review activities. Optimize and refine the selection and funding mechanisms for non-consensus projects, establish an “online fast-track” for proposals on non-consensus and disruptive projects, and continuously solicit suggestions on major research priorities around the clock. For original projects characterized by “disruptiveness, non-consensus, and high risk,” set up separate channels, innovate selection methods, and explore establishing selection mechanisms that differ from current practices. Open a green review channel specifically for original projects.

　　6. Improve project implementation management. Grant project leaders greater autonomy in adjusting personnel involved, research protocols, technical approaches, and budget expenditure items. Implement the “Reduce Reporting Requirements Initiative” to simplify budget estimation explanations and reporting forms. Establish an evaluation system that combines regular assessments with flexible, ad hoc evaluations, reducing the frequency of formal assessments. Project leaders may independently request mid-term evaluations as needed; projects lasting less than three years will no longer be subject to mid-term evaluations. Develop a dynamic adjustment mechanism for projects, strengthen full-process monitoring, provide continued support for well-implemented projects, and promptly adjust underperforming ones. The completion status of projects must be evaluated objectively, and the level of achievements must not be exaggerated. Make science communication a mandatory requirement for assessing basic research projects. Steadily enhance the openness of basic research programs, projects, and institutions. Promote multi-level, comprehensive, and high-quality exchanges and international cooperation involving basic research talent and projects.

　　4. Foster an innovative environment conducive to the development of basic research.

　　7. Enhance the evaluation of basic research. Innovate talent evaluation mechanisms and establish a sound science and technology talent evaluation system that is oriented toward innovation capability, quality, and contribution. Pay attention to combining individual evaluations with team evaluations, and respect and recognize the actual contributions of all team members. The evaluation of basic research should conform to the laws of scientific development, reflect the distinctive characteristics of basic research, implement categorized evaluations and long-term evaluations, and promote a system of evaluating representative works. Emphasize in-depth follow-up studies after the publication of basic research papers, mid- and long-term evaluation of innovation performance, and post-evaluation of research成果 transformation. Establish an exemption mechanism for activities involving free exploration and disruptive innovation, and adopt a tolerant attitude toward failure. Higher education institutions and research institutes must strictly implement the requirements set forth in the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Project Review, Talent Evaluation, and Institutional Assessment," and eliminate the tendency to focus solely on publications, titles, academic degrees, and awards.

　　8. Promote the open sharing of scientific and technological resources. Strengthen the construction of the national network management platform for research facilities and instruments, improve the evaluation, assessment, and post-subsidy mechanisms for open sharing, deepen the duplicate-check and review process for newly purchased instruments and equipment, reinforce the principal responsibility of managing institutions, and accelerate the advancement of open sharing of research facilities and instruments. Promote the construction of a national platform for sharing scientific and technological resources, and establish a number of national scientific data centers and national repositories (libraries) of scientific and technological resources. Enhance the research and development and application of experimental animal resources and reagents for scientific research. Build a comprehensive national service system to ensure access to scientific and technological literature and information.

　　V. Improve the support mechanism

　　9. Strengthen stable support for basic research. Improve the investment mechanism for basic research and increase stable support for long-term, key basic research projects, leading research teams, and scientific research bases. Support outstanding young scientists in conducting basic research on a long-term, stable basis, and pursue both domestic talent development and the recruitment of overseas experts. Diligently implement the “Several Opinions on Expanding the Autonomy of Universities and Research Institutes in Scientific Research,” and encourage universities and research institutes to independently organize and carry out basic research around important strategic directions. Reconstruct the national laboratory and key national laboratory systems, establishing a stable mechanism that is oriented toward major scientific challenges and promotes collaborative, interdisciplinary efforts in tackling significant basic research issues.

　　10. Improve the diversified investment system for basic research. Broaden channels for funding basic research and gradually increase the proportion of basic research expenditures in total R&D investment across society. The central government will continue to significantly boost its support for basic research. By jointly organizing and implementing major national science and technology initiatives with provincial governments and co-building research bases, we will encourage localities to step up their investment in basic research and strengthen local fiscal support for applied basic research. We will actively promote the establishment of joint funds with various industries to address deep-seated scientific issues that constrain industry development. We will guide and encourage enterprises to increase their investment in both basic research and applied basic research. We will also encourage private capital to invest in basic research and support all sectors of society in setting up endowment funds for basic research.