■ our reporter Hu Minqi

“Implement the ten-year plan for basic research and strengthen long-term stability support.” At the fifth session of the 13th National People’s Congress, this proposal in the government work report received a positive response from representatives and members of the scientific and technological community.

The level of basic research determines the inside information and aftereffect of a country’s scientific and technological innovation. Therefore, the country pays more and more attention to and supports basic research. However, what basic research should be supported, how to support it, and how to allocate resources are issues of great concern to the members during the discussion.

Respect diversity and be a “long-term investor”

“Historically, when science was just born, basic research was to create new knowledge and expand human understanding of nature and its laws. At that time, scientists basically did not consider practical purposes and were driven by curiosity. This kind of research was later called pure basic research. But when this knowledge gradually formed a system through accumulation, it was able to promote the solution of practical problems ‘capital’

Xu Xudong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese people’s Political Consultative Conference and researcher of the Institute of aquatic biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained that when people explore the application of scientific discoveries, or encounter unsolvable technical problems in production and life, the existing knowledge is not enough to support them. In retrospect, scientists need to clarify the mechanism behind these problems. This kind of research has a clear application orientation, which is later called applied basic research, or directional basic research.

“The basic research we are talking about now includes these two types, but some also classify applied basic research as applied research.” Xu Xudong told China Science Daily.

He believes that the reason why we should emphasize the importance of basic research is that we were relatively weak in these two directions in the past, which affected the stamina of the country’s overall scientific and technological innovation.

“At present, we should focus on the basic research of the country, but we should not ignore the appropriate proportion of domestic basic research, which should be in line with the actual needs of the country.” On the one hand, he should answer all kinds of problems behind scientific and Technological Development and serve the actual needs of the country; On the other hand, we should also ensure enough pure scientific exploration, build a knowledge system and provide new growth points of the knowledge system.

“Generally speaking, our scientific research is too utilitarian, resulting in insufficient original innovation. There are few opportunities for major achievements that break through existing concepts and models.” Xu Xudong believes that the proportion of pure basic research needs to be improved.

Zhou Zhonghe, member of the CPPCC National Committee and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also mentioned the need to ensure that a certain proportion of people do free exploration. “At this time, the national investment is equivalent to a risky long-term investment project. This part of the capital is often not too much, but it will spread the net. As a ‘long-term investor’, it aims at the opportunity return in the future.”

In fact, these benefits do not just stay in the results themselves and the economic benefits it can bring. “The investment in basic research is bound to play a positive role in the cultivation and reserve of talents and teams. It is also conducive to international exchanges, establish a good international image and enhance the country’s soft power.” Zhou Zhonghe admitted that if we ignore these, our evaluation and measurement of basic research will become narrow.

Zhou Zhonghe stressed, “the state should maintain a diversified level of support for basic research and be more tolerant of pure basic research.”

The total investment has increased, and enterprises have made greater efforts

On January 26, the National Bureau of statistics released the latest investment in research and experimental development (R & D) in China. In China’s R & D expenditure in 2021, basic research expenditure was 169.6 billion yuan, an increase of 15.6% over the previous year, and the proportion of basic research expenditure in R & D expenditure reached 6.09%. In contrast, over the past 20 years, the proportion of R & D funds for basic research in the United States has remained between 15.9% and 19.1%. The interviewed experts agreed that there is still much room for growth in China’s basic research investment.

What will be the impact of insufficient funding for basic research? Xu Xudong cited an example. The eutrophication of large and medium-sized shallow lakes and the outbreak of cyanobacteria bloom are the key issues in the field of water environment protection and restoration in China. Since the beginning of the 21st century, various major national science and technology plans have successively supported the research on this issue. However, the vast majority of these science and technology plans focus on engineering demonstration, and the funds for basic research of cyanobacteria bloom are inadequate.

“As a result, due to the unclear understanding of the mechanism of cyanobacteria bloom, engineering demonstration only through the improvement and combination of existing technologies does not really solve the problem. To develop new technologies, we need more in-depth supply of basic knowledge. Looking back, our input and output have not been in direct proportion for more than 20 years, which needs reflection.” Xu Xudong stressed.

Huang Zhengren, deputy to the National People’s Congress and director of Ningbo Institute of materials technology and engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned another problem: “from the perspective of the source of basic research funds, the proportion of enterprise investment is too low”.

According to the data given in the article “Analysis on the current situation, problems and Countermeasures of investment in basic research of enterprises in China”, although the total R & D expenditure of enterprises is increasing rapidly every year, the proportion of investment in basic research is less than 0.3%. In the past 10 years, enterprises accounted for 1.5% ~ 3% of the total national basic research funds, while in the United States in the same period, their enterprise investment accounted for 28.8%.

“Because of its long-term and high-risk characteristics, basic research always discourages social capital. State owned enterprises should do more in this regard.” Huang Zhengren said.

With more money, how to use it is also a problem

Compared with how to make the plate of basic research bigger, Zhou Zhonghe is more concerned about how to rationalize the distribution mechanism. “Too much money and bad use will not only cause waste, but also make it difficult to achieve the expected results.”

He mentioned that the current allocation of scientific research funds places too much emphasis on competitiveness. How to judge who to give or not to whom?

“Basic research needs to be highly original and forward-looking, which tests the academic appreciation of reviewers. At this time, it is necessary to give full play to the strength of strategic scientists in this field. They are generally small peers with professional vision and certain taste. At the same time, some large peers can be invited appropriately