Be vigilant about scientific research "fast food" and "backlash" innovation ability

【Strong Country Password】　

　　In recent years, my country's scientific and technological development has made great progress, basic research funding has nearly doubled, and the global innovation index ranking has risen from 29th to 14th.

However, academic research and technological innovation still have some urgent problems to be solved, and "fast food" is one of them.

Many scholars are keen to "fry cold rice", "changing packaging", chasing hot spots, playing with concepts, researching problems, glimpsing and tasting, and even using "smuggling", "blending" and "packaging" to obtain so-called scientific research results, which is undoubtedly useful for accelerating the construction of a scientific and technological power. It is harmful and unhelpful.

Speed ​​anxiety spawns "fast food" style results

　　General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that in the face of fierce international competition and against the backdrop of rising unilateralism and protectionism, we must take a path of innovation that suits our national conditions, and in particular, we must put the improvement of original innovation capabilities in a more prominent position and work hard. To achieve more "from 0 to 1" breakthroughs.

　　The "fast-foodization" of academic research has shaken the spirit of scientists who have worked for a long time and "cannibalized" the key foundation for enhancing the original innovation ability.

Reflected in the results of scientific research, the tendency of "fast food" can easily cause and aggravate the imbalance in three aspects:

　　First, the quantity scale and the quality of the results are not balanced.

Take the publication of papers in the natural sciences as an example. According to statistics, from 2016 to 2018, the number of papers published by Chinese researchers each year ranked first in the world, and the world share of papers ranked first.

But in terms of the quality of papers, my country's natural index in 2019 is 3566.11, which is 2/3 of that of the United States, and papers have significantly more moisture.

　　Second, the publication of papers and the transformation of results are not balanced.

Statistics show that the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements in my country is only 6%, while the figure in the United States is 50%.

　　Third, there is an imbalance between market applications and basic research.

In 2019, my country's total research and experimental development (R&D) funding input was 2214.36 billion yuan, of which basic research funding was 133.6 billion yuan, accounting for only 6%, while in developed countries it was basically between 15% and 20%.

　　If you want to grow its branches, you must deepen its roots.

Behind the tendency of "fast food" in academic research, it reflects performance culture and speed anxiety.

To curb the "fast-food" tendency of academic research, the core is to improve the ecology of scientific and technological innovation, and the key is to make good use of the "baton" of talent evaluation.

Scientific research also needs a "gourmet"

　　It is necessary to set a reasonable "buffer period" for evaluation and assessment, and guide and support young researchers to complete the "warm-up" and "run-up" of scientific research.

　　Warm-up and run-up are an important part of the field event technology. A good warm-up helps to improve the adaptability of the body, and a good run-up helps to improve the performance of the competition.

The same is true for scientific research, especially for young researchers, the early "warm-up" and "run-up" will largely affect the quality of the later results.

　　The Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences will not evaluate new researchers within 6 years, and give them enough time to concentrate on research.

This makes it unnecessary for them to change the research direction for evaluation and funding.

The epitaxial preparation and physical properties of silicon germanium quantum materials of the Institute of Physics are typical examples.

The research team spent more than four years setting up equipment and developing high-quality quantum semiconductor materials, which solved the urgent need for semiconductor quantum computer research in China.

　　It is necessary to distinguish between basic research, applied research and strategic scientific research reserves, classified support, classified assessment, and prevent "measure to the end with one ruler."

In recent years, the country has made a lot of exploration and efforts in "breaking down the Four Virtues", but in the practice of professional title review and tenure assessment, the problem of heavy quantity is still more prominent. Depending on the amount of funds and the number of articles, the "fast food-style results" are forced to emerge endlessly. .

Just as different evaluation standards should be adopted for different cuisines, and the evaluation of scientific and technological talents should also be set up differentiated evaluation standards based on the nature of their research. The basic principle is that basic research emphasizes originality, applied research emphasizes efficiency, and is strategic. Research to see the direction.

In terms of evaluation criteria, it is necessary to shift from "quantity-based" to "quality-based", emphasizing the quality and value of the results, and see whether it is international frontier, whether it has solved important academic problems, whether it has major original breakthroughs, and whether it is consistent with national development strategies Demand, establish and improve the evaluation standard system of scientific and technological talents oriented by innovation ability, quality and contribution.

　　It is necessary to adhere to the principle of "letting professional people comment on professional matters", cultivate a group of scientific research "gourmet" and "talents", and give full play to the role of academic committees and international peer experts.

At present, there are some "news" trends in scientific research evaluation. This evaluation method based on "social heat" will affect the attention and support to strategic scientific research fields.

In recent years, the reform of “delegation, management, and service” of professional title review has been deepened. With the decentralization of professional title review authority to the society and private enterprises, who will make the evaluation and what criteria will be used for evaluation will affect the effectiveness of the title system reform and the evaluation of scientific and technological talents.

In the era of specialization, the finer the division of labor, the more benefits can be produced.

With the deepening of cross-field research, the selection of experts for academic committees should take into account the cross-discipline.

Let researchers have "the confidence to slow down"

　　It is necessary to maintain strategic determination and give "evaluation patience" to talents engaged in research in "unpopular" fields.

Duncan Haldane, who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics, published an article on topological energy bands in 1988. It was not until 2006 that everyone realized that it was closely related to the topological properties of the material itself.

　　In fact, things that are truly original are not easy to be recognized immediately.

The same is true for the recent iron-based topological superconductivity work of the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The original idea was put forward by the theoretical research group in the institute 6 years ago. After long-term unremitting efforts, the experimental group has only observed topological superconductivity in the last two years. Evidence confirms the theoretical idea and has become a major hot spot in the current international topological superconductivity research.

In Huawei's performance appraisal system, cutting-edge and basic research allows slow results and slow results. This is also an important institutional advantage for Huawei HiSilicon’s “spare tire plan” to “grind a sword in ten years”.

　　It is necessary to persist in the motivational role of talent evaluation, give full play to the role of wage income, and provide scientific research personnel with the confidence to slow down.

In reality, some scientific researchers, especially young researchers, are still blindly pursuing the number of papers and cannot stop. The reason is that they do not have the confidence to slow down.

The goal assessment of some units requires talents to only succeed, not to fail, to produce more results, and to produce results quickly. The evaluation results are closely linked to career development and income, which causes "speed anxiety" for scientific researchers.

It is recommended to establish a "long-term employment" system, explore the annual salary system, lengthen the evaluation cycle, reverse the "fast-food" tendency of quick success and quick profit, so that researchers have greater scientific research autonomy and devote themselves to the research that interests them.

　　As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, we must promptly advance technologies that can make rapid breakthroughs and solve problems in a timely manner; technologies that are strategic and require long-term success must be deployed in advance.

Systematic integrated innovation requires accumulation, and the building of a scientific and technological power needs to build a "scientific research matrix". There must be both "fast experts" who can solve urgent problems and "slow experts" who can "grind a sword in ten years."

We must make good use of the "baton" of talent evaluation, use "slow" standards, "broad" horizons, and "stable" guarantees to create the confidence that allows researchers to "slow down", and to curb the "fast food" of academic research "tendency.

(Author: Wu handsome, Hu Jiangping, respectively, of the China Academy of Personnel Science Research Associate, deputy director of the Institute of Physics)