The official website of the Ministry of Science and Technology recently released the newly revised “Interim Measures for the Management of National Key Research and Development Programs” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”), which were jointly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance. The core principles of the “Measures” include demand guidance, dynamic deployment, full authorization and responsibility, open innovation, collaborative tackling of key problems, target management, and acceleration of the transformation and application of results.
In the critical implementation process, the “Measures” advocate setting clear task goals around the major issues expected to be resolved, to drive progress with significant landmark achievements and exercise target management throughout the process. At the same time, strengthen assessments at key nodes and enhance the practicality of scientific and technological achievements to speed up the transformation of results into productive forces and industrial competitiveness.
In terms of the establishment of key special projects, the “Measures” stipulate that relevant departments, institutions, local governments, and enterprises should propose initiatives for key special projects. According to the specific procedures of project initiation management, the Ministry of Science and Technology will organize demonstrations and comprehensive balancing, form proposed project initiation proposals, and submit them for approval as per the procedures. For those urgent topic proposals that need a response, they will follow the principles of rapid response and flexible deployment, and accelerate the project startup using a “one issue, one discussion” approach.
The “Measures” particularly emphasize that the main responsible units should innovate the organization and implementation mechanisms in line with the characteristics and implementation needs of the special projects. By using various project selection methods such as pioneer selection, directed entrustment, phased rolling support, etc., excellent project responsible units will be selected from across the country. Possible organizational models include “posting commanding stakes”, “horse-racing system”, “chain-master system”, young scientists projects, long-cycle projects, etc. And by using third-party evaluations, real-world scenario assessments, etc., to promote the deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and enhance the organizational implementation efficiency of the projects.
Regarding the management and final acceptance of key special projects, the “Measures” indicate that the acceptance should adhere to results orientation, focusing on the evaluation of landmark achievements and the transformation of results into applications. Methods such as test platform validation, real-world scenario assessments, and user unit evaluations are used to enhance the objectivity, relevance, and scientific nature of acceptance evaluations.
In terms of diversification of funding input and funding management, the “Measures” follow the principle of “combination of deregulation and responsibility equivalence”, implementing strategies such as simplified budget preparation, devolution of budget adjustment authority, “fixed-sum” management, “negative list”, etc., aiming to expand the autonomy of scientific research fund management, reduce the transactional burden on scientific researchers, and stimulate the innovative vitality in the field of scientific research.
