Time:2020-04-02 Reading:13015
Abstract: The two
sets of scientific and technological systems corresponding to China's national
defense construction and economic construction need to make new breakthroughs
and explorations in the system mechanism, resource allocation, scientific
research organization and so on in order to achieve integrated development and
collaborative innovation. This paper systematically analyzes the basic
characteristics of new R&D institutions which have shown strong innovation
competitiveness in recent years and their superiority in overcoming innovation
barriers. Combining the problems in the integration and innovation of the two
major science and technology systems and the existing practical exploration, it
is proposed that the military-ground collaborative innovation platform of the
nature of new R&D institutions is the core. To build an innovation ecology
composed of enterprise clusters, parks, investment and financing and policy
systems, and form a "platform + environment" mode of integration and
innovation of the two major science and technology systems.
Key words: new research and development institutions; Science and technology system
integration innovation; Innovation platform
In recent years, a
number of new R&D institutions have emerged in Guangdong, Beijing,
Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places, which are different from the traditional
research institutions in terms of their nature, objectives, orientation,
functions, and operation, and lie between universities, institutes,
enterprises, and public institutions. Known as the "four unlike"
institutions [1] (unlike universities, research institutes, enterprises, and
institutions), but in a short period of time, they have produced a number of
high-level scientific research results and outstanding transformation and
application results, and have made new breakthroughs in some "stuck"
key technologies, showing strong technological and market competitiveness and
innovation potential. It has created a new road for accelerating scientific and
technological innovation and achievement transformation. At present, the
coordinated development of national defense and economic construction has
become a national strategy. The integrated development and collaborative
innovation of the two major scientific and technological systems corresponding
to national defense and economic construction are not only an important area of
this national strategy, but also one of the core contents of building an
innovative country and rejuvenating the military through science and
technology. In the process of promoting the integration of the two scientific
and technological systems, certain progress has been made, but there are also
some pain points and difficulties, especially in the form and mechanism of the
collaboration of military and civilian scientific and technological forces, the
two-way transfer and application transformation of military and civilian
scientific and technological achievements, the lack of effective means and ways
to make substantive breakthroughs. The practices and experiences of these new
research and development institutions have brought us new ideas and
inspirations for promoting the integration and innovation of science and
technology systems, the sharing and sharing of scientific and technological
resources and the two-way transformation of achievements. At present, domestic
research on new R&D institutions has a certain scale, mainly focusing on
the construction mode, operation mechanism, application and industrialization
of new R&D institutions, etc. There are few studies on the application of
this institutional model to the coordinated development of national defense
construction and economic construction in the field of science and technology. This
paper is mainly based on the extensive research on the practice and problems in
the current integration of the two major science and technology systems. This
paper refined the advantages of new R&D institutions in solving the
integration obstacles, combined with the reform process of national defense and
the army, in view of the current urgent needs to promote the integration and
innovation of military and civilian science and technology systems, put forward
a systematic solution.
1. Innovative characteristics of new R&D institutions in construction management
At present, there is
no unified definition of new R&D institutions, which are generally scientific
and technological innovation institutions with multi-subject investment,
diversified mode establishment, market and application demand-oriented,
enterprise-oriented management and operation, and industry-university-research
integration. Joint investors include multiple subjects such as government,
research, education, industry and capital, and implement separation of
investment and management. It is directly aimed at transforming and applying
basic frontier scientific research results and even generating and creating new
industries. Its main characteristics include diversification of investment
subjects, scientific governance structure, independent scientific research
management, integration of industry, university and research, capitalization of
scientific and technological achievements, modernization of management system
and internationalization of development mechanism [2]. The Guiding Opinions on
Promoting the Development of New R&D Institutions issued by the Ministry of
Science and Technology in September 2019 pointed out that: A new type of
R&D institution is an independent legal entity focusing on the needs of
scientific and technological innovation, mainly engaged in scientific research,
technological innovation and R&D services, with diversified investment
subjects, modernized management system, market-oriented operation mechanism and
flexible employment mechanism. It can be registered as a private non-enterprise
unit (social service agency), public institution and enterprise in science and
technology according to law.
1.1.
Innovation in the construction mode of new R&D institutions
In 1996, the
Shenzhen Research Institute of Tsinghua University, jointly invested by
Shenzhen Municipal Government and Tsinghua University, is one of the earliest
new research and development institutions in China. After more than ten years
of rapid development, the construction mode of new research and development
institutions has been continuously innovated. Various types have emerged, such
as co-construction between national research institutes and local governments,
co-construction between universities and local governments, social capital or
self-construction by enterprises, industrial public technology innovation
alliances or platforms, and reconstruction of traditional research institutions
[3-4][4]. Divided according to the nature of institutions, there are many
types, such as institutions with a difference in financial allocation,
institutions with no establishment and self-support, private non-enterprise
units, enterprise legal persons, non-independent legal research and development
institutions within enterprises and public welfare social organizations. At
present, there are hundreds of new research and development institutions across
the country, which are built by provincial and municipal governments, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, research universities, high-tech enterprises, technology
alliances and other types. A number of well-known new R&D institutions have
emerged, such as Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy
of Sciences, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of Chinese Academy of
Sciences, BGI Research Institute [5], Beijing Academy of Life Sciences, Beijing
Collaborative Innovation Research Institute [6].
1.2 Innovation in
the management and operation mechanism of new R&D institutions
First, the
organizational structure generally implements the institutional director
responsibility system under the leadership of the Council. The highest decision-making
body is the board of directors composed of representatives of the principal
contributors to the fund, which determines the development direction and major
decisions of the institution. The institute and the directors are the "CEOs"
[7] who are openly selected and recruited from all over the country and even
the world according to the orientation and research direction of the
institution and their ability level to take charge of daily operation. They
have a term of office, and do not need to have the "identity" of
administrative rank and career establishment.
The second is to
establish a source of funds for multi-channel investment and capitalized
operation. In addition to the investment of institutional co-construction
subjects, financial funds at all levels, enterprises, individuals and other
social capital, the in-depth marketization and industrialization have also
brought results conversion benefits [8-9][9]. Many new research and development
institutions have participated in the establishment of corresponding funds,
carried out capitalization operation, and generated capital gains. A typical
example is the Beijing Collaborative Innovation Research Institute, which is
jointly funded by the municipal government and a number of universities, and
adopts the "Collaborative innovation center-fund dual coupling"
operation structure [2]. The government funded the establishment of a 1 billion
yuan collaborative innovation fund, and the institute organized relevant
universities and enterprises to set up a number of collaborative innovation
centers within the institute. Relying on the mother fund, the institute
attracted members of the collaborative innovation center to jointly fund the
establishment of18 sub-funds and 11 intellectual property funds exclusive to
each center, with a scale of 3.5 billion yuan. The sub-fund carries out the
lead investment, and the government investment is automatically followed up,
which not only gives full play to the purpose of guiding innovation by the
government, but also ensures that the innovation direction is dominated by the
market subject and the innovation results are tested.
Third, implement the
"three independent" scientific research model. Take the Beijing
Institute of Life Sciences as an example, the chief scientist responsibility
system is implemented within the institute, and the chief scientist is endowed
with great autonomy, that is, to "independently determine research topics,
independently select and employ research teams, and independently arrange the
use of research funds" [2]. There is no preset plan, and the chief
scientist can freely choose cutting-edge research projects according to his/her
own strengths and interests and according to the laws of scientific research.
In addition, it is fully responsible for project implementation, fully
stimulating the sense of mission and scientific exploration spirit of
scientific research leaders and experts, and conducive to the production of
breakthrough scientific and technological achievements.
Fourth, a
flexible system for the use, training and evaluation of talents should be
adopted.
The Beijing
Institute of Life Sciences, which focuses on basic research, does not establish
a title system, does not put forward specific assessment indicators, and
selects and employs "not only titles, not only papers, not only
background", valuing ability and potential, and implementing the survival
of the fittest. The emphasis on the market-oriented Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology does not put the career establishment
provided by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on the specific personnel, but
adopts enterprise management, respectively designed the performance appraisal
indicators of scientific research, engineering, industrialization and management
of four categories of personnel, and there are 5% ~ 10% salary reduction and
elimination rate every year. At the same time, the institute also pays social
security for employees in the form of "five social insurance and one
fund", which solves the problem of social security connection in the flow
of personnel [2].
To sum up, the
innovation of the new R&D institutions in the system and mechanism and the
reform of the functional structure are an adaptation to the changes in the
relationship between science, technology and industry [10]. With the
development of The Times, the requirement of innovation is constantly
increasing, the transformation of knowledge productivity to material
productivity needs to be accelerated, and the factors of innovation need to be
reconfigured. The emergence of new R&D institutions is the inevitable
result of adapting "production relations" in the field of science and
technology to the development of "productivity" in order to achieve
the goal of building an innovation-oriented country.
2. the new R & D
institutions have the comprehensive advantage of breaking through the barriers
of scientific and technological system integration and innovation
The
problems [11-12][12], such as difficulty in forming joint forces when military
and civilian scientific and technological forces are fragmented, difficulty in
sharing military and civilian scientific and technological resources, and
difficulty in transforming scientific and technological achievements, have not
been well solved for a long time, especially in carrying out the integration
and innovation of the two major military and civilian scientific and
technological systems. In solving such problems, new R&D institutions have
some innate advantages and unique features worthy of reference.
First, to solve the
problems of difficult cross-departmental and cross-institutional coordination
and fragmentation of resources, new R&D institutions rely on the joint
construction of multiple entities involved in collaborative innovation, such as
government, research, university, industry and capital, adhering to the common
idea, pooling of resources required for various innovations, and positioning of
the institution itself as a collaborative platform. With the aim of becoming a
bridge and link connecting the whole innovation chain and industrial chain, the
new R&D institutions can use the tangible and intangible resources
(policies, land, infrastructure, technology, capital, talents, equipment, etc.)
of all parties involved in collaborative innovation to form a joint force for
innovation research and achievement transformation services, and form a
gathering place of innovative superior resources. On this common platform, the
government, institutions and enterprises can give full play to their respective
advantages according to the different needs of resources at different stages of
innovation, draw on each other's strengths, integrate multi-channel efforts,
and have more comprehensive resources available than one party to promote
collaborative innovation and transformation of results, and have a stronger
overall ability to crack institutional barriers, which can effectively improve
the success rate of innovation.
Second, as
innovation requires high investment, flexible use of funds and high risks,
traditional scientific research institutions mainly rely on financial planning
funds, with limited funds, long application cycle and many restrictions on use,
which do not meet the requirements of innovation [13]. New R & D
institutions generally adopt diversified funding channels and capital operation
modes. According to different stages of innovation and characteristics of R
& D projects, they combine and focus on the use of funds with different
characteristics, such as co-construction investment, financial capital, fund,
venture capital, enterprise capital and social capital. For example, innovation
and R&D based on basic research or key generic technologies with public
welfare, actively apply for financial support of national and local science and
technology planning projects at all levels; Relatively frontier and exploratory
innovation, in addition to self-financing and self-investment, extensively seek
support from venture capital and innovation funds to effectively reduce risks;
To actively introduce enterprise funds for engineering research and development
related to the transformation of results, and accelerate the process of
marketization and industrialization by investing in intellectual property
rights, seeking national and local capital for mass innovation and innovation,
or attracting commercial investment. Compared with relying on a single source
of investment such as financial plan or self-investment, first, the funds are
more abundant, timely and flexible; Second, the market-oriented mode of
operation and the joint decision of the government, enterprises and commercial
capital on the amount of capital investment can effectively give full play to
the advantages of different capital in different stages and types of
innovation, restrain irrational investment impulse, and improve the efficiency
of fund use and the success rate of projects.
Third, in view of
the lack of innovation capacity and innovation willingness of traditional
research institutions in collaborative innovation and achievement transformation[14],
new research institutions can make use of their flexible research models and
employment mechanisms to create an innovation atmosphere that stimulates
creativity. In terms of team building, they can recruit the most suitable
high-level talents for the whole society and even the whole world, and organize
the best team; In terms of resource integration, extensive scientific research
collaboration can be quickly established through market operation, and
multi-party research and development resources can be used to improve
innovation ability in a short period of time, which is much more efficient than
the traditional research mode. In the research mode, it cannot be affected by
non-technical factors such as planning, preparation, administration and use of funds,
and provide much greater scientific research autonomy than traditional research
institutions. Moreover, the research objectives directly serve enterprises,
markets and users, and the application needs are clearer, especially for the
research projects related to the transformation of results. New research and
development institutions can quickly provide funds, information, equipment and
other resources for researchers with real ideals and perseverance, and
establish a flexible scientific research mechanism and environment that allows
them to free their hands and hands and display their talents. Researchers have
a relatively stronger willingness to innovate, motivation to innovate and sense
of achievement, which is of great significance for overcoming the "valley
of innovation death" in the innovation process.
Fourthly, in view of
the problem that the imperfect intellectual property system and incentive
mechanism affect the enthusiasm of innovation [15], the new R&D
institutions, as independent legal innovation subjects, implement
market-oriented management, can break through the restrictions on individual
intellectual property rights and rewards of scientific research institutions
within the system. Through direct income distribution, patent licensing,
transfer and other intellectual property operations, as well as technology
shares, equity incentives and other means to fully protect and reflect the
value of technological achievements and intellectual creation of researchers,
the income distribution and equity agreement between institutions and
individuals are made clear in the form of agreements and contracts in
accordance with national laws and market rules. It fully guarantees the
legitimate income of innovators and the expression of the value of creative
labor, and encourages long-term investment and common development through
equity incentives and other means, which can effectively mobilize and stimulate
the innovation enthusiasm and enthusiasm of researchers [16].
3. Accelerate the
integration and innovation of the two major science and technology systems by
building new research and development institutions
At present, in
promoting the integration and innovation of the two major science and technology
systems of national defense and civil use, the root cause of many problems lies
in the large differences in the system and mechanism, resource allocation,
scientific research organization, personnel management, incentive guarantee,
cultural atmosphere and other aspects of the collaborative bodies of different
nature, and the gap with the scientific and technological innovation
requirements of the new era is also very different. In particular, national
defense and military scientific research institutions face greater difficulties
in adaptation and reform, but this is a "hurdle" that must be
overcome in the integration and innovation of science and technology systems,
and new breakthroughs and explorations are needed. The emergence of a new type
of research and development institution, which is jointly built by various
subjects with different natures and adopts an innovative management model,
provides a new way to solve this problem. In recent years, the National
University of Defense Technology and other institutions have carried out the
practice of building a science and technology collaborative innovation platform
with the nature of new R&D institutions with local governments, and
accumulated valuable experience [17]. [17] The superiority of this new type of
platform in overcoming innovation barriers and the innovation potential and
development momentum shown in practice are very targeted to solve the problems
in integrated innovation. From the perspective of military scientific research
units, the new R&D institution platform jointly built with the government
has effectively solved the problems of insufficient innovation manpower,
inability to engage in production and operation, lack of innovation and
achievement transformation funds and local policy and basic support, limited
incentive measures, and difficulties in international cooperation. From the
perspective of local governments, this new type of institution has introduced
advanced military technology and scientific and technological resources to local
areas, trained talents, enhanced scientific and technological strength and
level, and the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements
has added new momentum to local economic development, which is difficult to
achieve by relying on the traditional system of military and civilian
separation of scientific and technological research institutions. Therefore, we
believe that the current "platform + environment" model, which is
composed of a new type of R&D institution jointly built by Israel and the
army as a platform for collaborative innovation of science and technology,
while creating an innovation environment integrating industry, finance and
service, is an effective way to promote the in-depth development of integrated
innovation of science and technology systems. The basic model is to take the
platform of new R&D institutions jointly built by the military and the
ground as the main organizer of collaborative innovation and the bridge and hub
between scientific research and the market, the military and the government and
enterprises, to radiate the innovation source such as military and ground
scientific research institutions upstream of the innovation chain, and drive
the enterprises to industrialization of innovation achievements; An innovation
environment consisting of enterprise groups that support and undertake
innovation achievements, financial means that provide funds for innovation and
a set of military-civilian innovation policies and systems that connect up and
down are taken as the necessary conditions and key supports for promoting the
integration and innovation of science and technology systems.
The technology collaborative innovation platform of the nature of a new type of R&D institution jointly built by the military and the local government will serve as the hub of the integration and innovation link of the entire science and technology system. It should become a comprehensive R&D institution with independent market position that radiates all innovation links and subjects. Its main functions include basic frontier technology research and exploration, technology transformation evaluation and screening, intellectual property transaction, investment and financing services, organization of secondary research and development, enterprise incubation, organization and collaboration, market promotion, and coordination between the government and the military. Since military units cannot engage in production and operation, the platform serves as the only interface for the military to connect with the market and users. The military and civilian subjects of the platform jointly determine innovation goals and projects, and the platform acts as the organizer of collaborative innovation to coordinate joint research and development of military and local scientific and technological forces, negotiate investment and financing, establish or incubate enterprises, carry out pilot test, mass production and market promotion, and finally realize industrialization.
In terms of platform
construction, the next step of the military reform policy should clarify and
standardize the specific standards and procedures of military scientific
research units and local innovation institutions, in order to make it develop
healthily and truly improve the benefits of collaborative innovation of science
and technology. The practice in recent years has shown that the joint
construction of professional entity platform institutions by military
scientific research institutions and local governments is the best model for platform
construction at present. First, the cooperation between the military and the
government is in line with the requirements of national strategy and planning.
Second, most of these co-construction platforms are public institutions
affiliated with government departments, which have many advantages and
resources in project approval, organization and cooperation, and financial
support that enterprise platforms do not have. Third, it is in line with the
current military "stop and pay" policy. Military units can transfer
the intellectual property rights of scientific and technological achievements
to the co-construction platform in the form of authorization or transfer, so
that the platform can initiate projects and organize research and development.
Many such projects are included in national and provincial science and
technology plans and receive financial support. Moreover, the participation of
military scientific research units and personnel in such research and
development is also in line with the policy.
In the operation of
the platform, as an independent market entity and a pilot field for scientific and technological innovation, it can learn from the
experience of new research and development institutions, boldly innovate, and
establish a platform architecture mode, management and operation mode,
financing mode, scientific research organization mode, personnel management
mode, results, salary and service guarantee system that ADAPTS to innovation
requirements and faces the market. To realize the rapid concentration and
efficient utilization of the optimal innovation resources, fully mobilize and
stimulate the enthusiasm of scientific researchers for innovation, and improve
the success rate of technological breakthroughs and market-oriented
transformation benefits.
Such
platforms are a new type of research and development institution with
"five different characteristics" : they are both universities but not
exactly like universities, with different cultures; They are both research
institutions, but not completely like research institutes, with different
functions; Both enterprises, but not completely like enterprises, different
goals; Both are public institutions, but not public institutions, the mechanism
is different; They are both national defense research organizations and not
entirely national defense research organizations, with different orientations.
4. Conclusion
New R & D institutions
are to adapt to the requirements of the new era of China's science and
technology field "production relations" to actively adapt to the
development of "productive forces", the existence of rationality and
inevitability. The integration and innovation of the two major science and
technology systems corresponding to national defense construction and economic
construction rely solely on the reform within the internal framework of their
respective systems, and the solution of some deep-seated contradictions will
take a long time and cost. At present, it is necessary to speed up the deep
integration in the field of science and technology, especially in the
integration and innovation involving the military. This kind of platform with
the nature of a new research and development institution and its new
construction and operation mechanism are especially needed. The "platform
+ environment" model provides a new thinking and systematic feasible plan
for integration and innovation from both theory and practice.
References
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