There are new changes in the national key R&D plan! Ad hoc list of ＂unveiling the list＂

China’s scientific research project management reform has ushered in new changes.

On May 10th, in the first batch of key projects launched in 2021 by the "14th Five-Year Plan" national key R&D plan announced by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the task of unveiling the list was specially set up. This is the first time that the list of "Uncovering the List" has been listed separately, and it has been released together with the project application guide, involving indicators such as application instructions, research requirements and list tasks.

The reporter found that in the notice issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology on the 11th, the 2021 annual project application guide for key projects such as "Information Photonic Technology" in the 14th Five-Year Plan (hereinafter referred to as "the guide"), a number of projects were listed separately, together with the key project of "Mathematics and Applied Research" published on the 10th, the list of key projects in 2021 was increased to five.

Zheng Jianjian, director of the Planning Department of the Asset Management Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said in an interview with the media that the "Uncovering the List" project highlights the role of end users, and takes "list-based" management as the core in the management system, and the tasks that are not implemented well are stopped in time; In the responsibility system, the "military order" system is the core to ensure that the goal is completed on time; In terms of policy system, we will focus on stimulating the vitality of innovative subjects and strive to improve the performance of project implementation.

In addition to "unveiling the list", the guide shows that the project management reform measures also involve two aspects: the young scientist project and the Ministry-province linkage project.

On May 11th, The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) and Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China of the Communist Party of China hosted a symposium on high-level and high-skilled talents with special government allowance system. Li Keqiang said that it is necessary to create an atmosphere in which all kinds of talents can display their talents. It is necessary to deepen the "streamline administration, delegate power, strengthen regulation and improve services" reform, promote the reform of the education system and the science and technology system, get rid of all kinds of unreasonable restrictions, give the scientific research team greater autonomy, make all kinds of talents concentrate on their research and skills, and promote the 360-line champion. Innovate the new organization and management methods of scientific research projects such as "revealing the list and taking the lead", and give platforms, honors and incentives to talents who can be officers and do things. Young talents have the greatest potential for innovation. It is necessary to support more outstanding young people to take the lead in major scientific research tasks and promote them to achieve more results in the golden stage of scientific research.

What are the key points of "unveiling the list"

This year’s government work report puts forward that in 2021, it is necessary to reform the implementation mode of major science and technology projects and promote mechanisms such as "revealing the list and taking the lead". The "14th Five-Year Plan" also proposes to reform the way of establishing and organizing major scientific and technological projects, give scientific research units and researchers more autonomy, implement the responsibility system of technical chief engineer, and implement the systems of "revealing the list and taking the lead" and "horse racing".

The guide shows that there is no requirement for the registration time of the company that unveiled the list, and there is no requirement for the age, education and professional title of the person in charge of the team that unveiled the list. The advantageous team that has the confidence and ability to organize key core technologies to attack is encouraged to actively declare. Clarify the amount of funding for list tasks, simplify budget preparation, and explore the implementation of "negative list" in fund management.

Take the 2021 list of the key project of "Mathematics and Applied Research" as an example. The list says that we will strive to make a breakthrough in solving the deep-seated mathematical problems that restrict the development of technology around major application scenarios such as 5.5G communication system design, base station filter production design, satellite electromechanical system performance prediction, integrated circuit design, etc. It is planned to allocate no more than 45 million yuan from the state. Unless otherwise specified, the number of items to be supported by each list task is 1.

With regard to the requirements for tackling key problems, after the project is established, the team of uncovering the list must sign a "military order", and make specific agreements on the assessment requirements, funding allocation methods, reward and punishment measures and the attribution of achievements of the milestone, and put the task objectives of the list in a prominent position, concentrate superior resources and make every effort to tackle key problems within a limited time. The person in charge of the project (project) shall not be transferred or resigned from his post in principle during the period of tackling key problems.

In terms of specific list tasks, this "unveiling the list" list covers four tasks, and each task has its own research and development time limit and list amount.

As early as the end of February this year, Xie Xin, director of the Department of Resource Allocation and Management of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said at the press conference of the State Council Office that the national science and technology plan is an important carrier for the government to organize scientific and technological innovation activities, and the reform will continue to deepen during the 14 th Five-Year Plan. In terms of specific reform measures, Xie Xin said that the first one is "revealing the list and taking the lead", which is the top priority of the reform of the "14 th Five-Year Plan" science and technology projects.

He said that the core of the reform is to design research and development tasks closely around the urgent needs of high-quality economic and social development. In the process of implementation, the responsibility is compacted through reform measures such as "military order", and finally the results are assessed by users, so that the science and technology plan can focus more on the national needs and enhance the ability to attack.

Xie Xin revealed in an interview with the media a few days ago that in the future, the key project of "subversive technological innovation" will be launched in the "14 th Five-Year Plan", and priority will be given to the technical fields that may have major subversive breakthroughs, such as electronic information, artificial intelligence, future communication and virtual reality. In addition, the pilot project of "Chief Scientist Responsibility System" will be carried out in the major project of Science and Technology Innovation 2030- "New Generation Artificial Intelligence".

Vigorously support young scientists

As the main body of scientific and technological activities, young scientists are paid more and more attention in the national key R&D plan.

It is clear in the guide that in order to create more opportunities for young researchers to organize and implement major national goal-oriented R&D tasks, key R&D plans will set up young scientists’ projects on a larger scale. According to the characteristics of the field and special projects, various ways are adopted, such as setting up a young scientist project or setting up a young scientist topic under the project. There is no subject under the Young Scientists Program, and in principle, no budget evaluation will be organized. Young scientists are encouraged to boldly explore more innovative and subversive new methods and paths to better serve the realization of the overall goal of the special project.

The reporter consulted the guide and found that 80% of the eight key projects have young scientists’ projects. Regarding the age limit, it is clear that "men should be born after January 1, 1986 and women should be born after January 1, 1983. In principle, the age requirements for other team participants are the same as above".

Lei Zhu, an associate professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, said in an interview with the First Financial Reporter that the young scientist project has existed for a long time. "In 2016, we got the first batch of key special youth projects, and it was still a pilot."

In Lei Zhu’s view, the young scientist project is very important to young people, because generally large projects can only be done with strong team support; For a small young scientist project like this, it is not mandatory to set up a topic, just find some participating units to cooperate to complete this matter. In addition, the acceptance of the final engineering or indexing will not be limited to be rigid, and everyone is encouraged to have technological innovation or principle innovation.

"And this time there is a clear age limit, so young researchers are very encouraged to start undertaking large-scale scientific research tasks independently. This is a milestone encouragement." Lei Zhu said.

According to the data of the Ministry of Science and Technology, from 2016 to 2020, there were 235 projects supporting young scientists, involving 874 million yuan of state funding and an average support intensity of 3.72 million yuan. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the national key research and development plan set up young scientists’ projects in eight key projects, including nanotechnology, synthetic biology and digital diagnosis and treatment equipment research and development in the basic field and social development field.

At the press conference of the State Council Office in February, Xie Xin said that the national science and technology plan will fully implement the young scientist project during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period.

He said that young people are already the main force in the implementation of our current science and technology plan, but we should build a higher and bigger platform for them in the 14 th Five-Year Plan, let outstanding young researchers take the lead, let them independently undertake tasks, take the lead in organizing national projects, and make bold innovations in the process of implementing projects. At the same time, we will cultivate a group of young reserve troops who can lead the way in the future for the development of science and technology in our country. All these reform measures will be implemented in the deployment of the first batch of projects in the 14 th Five-Year Plan this year.