Heroes don’t ask about their origins, and innovations don’t ask about their origins.
General Secretary Xi Jinping recently emphasized during an investigation and investigation of Fujian Fuguang Co., Ltd. that our country's entry into the first phalanx of scientific and technological development depends on innovation, and blindly following is not feasible. We must speed up the pace of technological self-reliance and self-reliance.
We must adhere to the core position of innovation in the overall modernization drive, take innovation as a national policy, and actively encourage and support innovation.
Innovation does not ask about "origin", as long as anyone can contribute to the country, we will support whoever.
The outline of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and this year's "Government Work Report" have repeatedly emphasized the need to "reveal the list and put the command in command."
What is "revealing the rankings"?
What are the difficulties in implementation?
How to promote the self-reliance of science and technology through "revealing the rankings"?
1 From the perspective of seniority to eclectic, a group of innovative companies in the AI field have won the task of "national brand" through "revealing the rankings"
Established in 2005, Beijing Haitian AAC Technology Co., Ltd. is the earliest professional provider of artificial intelligence training data services in my country. Its main business is the research and development, design, production and sales of AI training data. The business types include training data customization Services, training data products, and training data-related application services are three major sectors.
On November 14, 2018, Haitian AAC was informed that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced to the whole country the "Working Plan for Revealing the Key Tasks of New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation".
"At that time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued this plan nationwide through its official website, the competent departments of industry and information technology in various provinces and cities across the country, various scientific research institutes under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and central enterprises and other institutions. Extensive publicity appeal and influence." He Lin, founder and chairman of Haitian AAC, recalled.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology focused on the key shortcomings, bottlenecks and current status of the development of my country’s artificial intelligence industry, combined with the overall requirements of my country’s new generation of artificial intelligence industry innovation and development and the future global artificial intelligence development direction, and identified 17 directions and areas as key tasks for the unveiling of the list. Among them, the 13th direction "Industry Training Resource Library" is almost identical to the main business of Haitian AAC, and the task of unveiling the list is exactly related to the company's development goals.
There are no restrictions on the background and conditions of the unveilers. Whether state-owned or private enterprises, colleges and universities, large, medium and small enterprises, those who are capable and wise, whoever has the ability, can take responsibility.
The plan encourages enterprises to apply voluntarily as an innovation subject, and actively undertake the task of revealing the list. Declaring enterprises can set research goals and indicators based on their own conditions. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organizes senior industry experts to conduct professional reviews of the goals and tasks declared by the enterprises, and follow the The principle of the main force of benchmarking education ensures that the goals set by the reporting unit represent the leading level of the domestic and even international counterparts, and it has a forward-looking and guiding role in the development of my country's artificial intelligence industry.
Haitian Ruisheng actively responded to the call and took the initiative to unveil the list, determined the key research goals to be achieved between 2018 and 2020, and reported it through the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology.
After the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized multiple rounds of deliberations by experts, Haitian AAC was selected as the only AI training data company in 2019 as the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Key Task Shortlisted Unit".
After the implementation of the unveiling project from 2019 to 2020, Haitian AAC has produced large-scale and high-quality training data resource clusters based on 12 core technologies accumulated by independent research and development, and successfully completed the initial set goals.
These achievements have provided support for promoting the innovation and development of my country's artificial intelligence industry and improving independent innovation capabilities.
Similar to Haitian Ruisheng, a number of innovative companies in the AI field such as Yitu, Yuntian Lifei, Megvii, and Uisee Technology have all won the task of "national brand name" through the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "revealing the rankings" mechanism.
These explorations are "revealing the rankings" and launching key technology, key products, key materials and other scientific and technological innovation projects in the core areas of artificial intelligence. The signals transmitted are quite obvious: First, regardless of the nature or qualifications of the company, there is no threshold, whoever can represent The highest level of innovation entities in all sub-fields of artificial intelligence in China are treated equally; the second is industrial coordination and formation of joint forces. For key core technologies, the wisdom and strength of all parties are gathered and utilized to the greatest extent, and all regions are encouraged to use the "opening of the list" as the starting point. , Strengthen cooperation between ministries and provinces, gather resources for common development; third, do not "look at it differently", compete on the global arena, break organizational, city, and regional boundaries, and let outstanding talents and wise men who have advanced knowledge and are proficient in technological breakthroughs .
"This enables more innovative subjects and openers to stand out, advance together with the country's overall strategic planning and deployment, and seek development, and have the opportunity to receive attention and support from all parties, and truly realize the transformation from the previous ranking of seniority to the current eclectic innovation. "He Lin said.
2 Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has repeatedly emphasized that “exploiting the rankings and putting in command” has been repeatedly emphasized, and the "14th Five-Year Plan" outlines the implementation of such systems as “showing the rankings and putting in command” and “horse racing”.
In April 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the cyber security and informatization work symposium, and proposed, “We can explore to reveal the list and put the key core technology projects out of the list. No matter where the hero comes from, whoever has the ability will do it. Reveal the list".
Since then, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized on important occasions such as the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee to study the work of responding to the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, and the opening ceremony of the main leading cadres at the provincial and ministerial level to study and implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. "Reveal the list to take command."
"Behind the frequent naming of the'revealing the leader' is the firm determination of the country: do everything possible to improve the ability of innovation. The proposal of this mechanism will establish a set of talents for our country to focus on key core technologies and break through the'stuck neck' problem. The institutional mechanism that allows the capable and allows the capable to stand out provides the fundamental follow." said Chen Jin, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University and the director of the Technology Innovation Research Center.
In October 2020, the “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan” adopted by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee proposed to improve the organization and management of science and technology projects, and implement the system of “revealing the rankings”; in May 2020, the “Government Work Report” proposed and implemented The key projects are "revealing the rankings", let whoever can do it; in December 2020, the Central Economic Work Conference proposed to improve the incentive mechanism and the scientific and technological evaluation mechanism, and implement the key tasks "revealing the rankings" and other mechanisms; March 2021 , The "14th Five-Year Plan" outline proposes to reform the establishment and organization and management of major scientific and technological projects, to give more autonomy to scientific research units and scientific researchers, to implement the responsibility system of the chief technical officer, and to implement systems such as "revealing the rankings" and "horse racing". Improve the financial support mechanism of the combination of rewards and subsidies.
It is the first time that the “Revealing the List and Taking Command” has been written into the five-year plan. It fully reflects the importance the Party Central Committee attaches to the advancement of scientific and technological system reforms and the improvement of the national scientific and technological governance system. The operating mechanism is of great significance.
In recent years, there have been frequent "recruitment" projects in the form of "opening the list", and many local departments and units have begun to implement "opening the list" in areas such as application research and product development.
In 2017, Wuhan East Lake High-tech Zone initiated the “Optics Valley Technology Reward” in order to promote the “Return of Talents to Han” plan in the country. It faces global bidding, looking for project results that can achieve technological breakthroughs; in 2018, Shenzhen was an effective solution to the city’s enterprises. Various technical difficulties and technical needs encountered in the process of its own research and development, hosted the international "Shenzhen Science and Technology Reward Competition", discovered and attracted cutting-edge technology and industrial technical talents, and helped the construction of Shenzhen's global science and technology industry innovation center; in 2018, Ningbo initiated 584 technical requirements are "rewarded" with a total of 850 million yuan...Facts have proved that searching for "heroes" on a larger scale, competing with hundreds of horses, and competing with thousands of sails, is more conducive to the use of sufficient resources and the selection of the best.
3 The essence of "revealing the rankings" is a kind of "reward for science and technology", which embodies the scientific research funding and talent policy regardless of origin and threshold.
At present, in addition to "revealing the rankings", my country's scientific research funding can be roughly divided into administrative funding, science funds, government commissions and other forms, with different positioning.
Administrative appropriations are mainly given to a certain amount of funding for major national needs, such as the construction of a national key laboratory.
The science fund is mainly applicable to the free exploration of individual scientists, focusing on medium and long-term research projects.
The entrustment system mainly solves specific problems, has clear goals and a short time limit, and is directly entrusted to the scientific research team suitable for undertaking.
Although traditional scientific research funding has played an indispensable and important role, there are also some "shortcomings" in actual operation: from the threshold of application, there are requirements for professional titles, corporate titles (such as high-tech enterprises), and preliminary foundations. , Invisibly shut out some institutions or individuals; from the perspective of competition, more emphasis is placed on import competition, which is likely to cause habitual selection of candidates. Whether or not the project can be obtained depends largely on the influence of the applicant in a certain subject area. Force, wait.
Zeng Jingjing, an associate professor at the School of Public Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, has been tracking and researching the issue of "reward for science and technology" since 2013.
In her view, the essence of "revealing the rankings" is a kind of "reward for science and technology", that is, to collect scientific and technological innovation achievements through high bounty, and achieve precise docking in response to the common technical needs of enterprises and the technical needs of social welfare, which reflects the fact that it does not matter of origin. , There is no threshold for scientific research funding and talent policy.
Her research team has been collecting and updating the information of the “Revealing the List” project that is publicly solicited in China.
According to reports, as of March 15, there have been at least 1,131 related projects nationwide, distributed in 23 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities).
According to the content, it can be roughly divided into scientific and technological research, achievement transformation, and platform construction.
Among them, the science and technology research category mainly focuses on specific problems such as "stuck neck" technology and local problems to be solved, and the achievement transformation category mainly focuses on how to implement the patented technology of universities and scientific research institutions.
According to the timeliness, it can be divided into two categories: emergency and daily.
Emergency projects mainly address emergencies such as public safety and public health. Time requirements are tight and there may be many solvers. However, if you don't know where to find them for a while, they will solicit solutions in the form of "Bangbang".
Routine projects, in response to the common technical needs of different companies, accept applications all the year round, and regularly select a batch of projects from the uncovering pool for public solicitation.
It’s worth mentioning that “Revealing the rankings” emphasizes “reward with results”. In some places, a small amount of start-up funds may be given in advance. If R&D fails to produce results, costs must be deducted and a certain percentage of funds must be refunded as required. Those who forced the list to do their best.
4 "Government builds the stage, innovates and sings the opera", "Revealing the list to take command" grafts the needs of enterprises with government actions, and allows financial funds to leverage more social capital to invest in innovation
"Revealing the list and taking command" has received support and attention from many companies.
The first is to value government credit as the endorsement of the technology for revealing the list, and the revealer has real strength; the second is to value the publicity of the demand through the government platform, which will attract more talents' attention; the third is to enter the government’s vision through the completion of the project and contribute to the future Lay the foundation for applying for the national industrial strong foundation project.
"It can be said that the'revealing the leaderboard' grafts the needs of enterprises and government actions. On the one hand, fiscal funds can spur more social capital to invest in innovation. On the other hand, the'government setting up a platform and innovative singing' can use their respective resources. The advantages are strongly integrated." Zeng Jingjing thinks.
Not all items are suitable for "revealing the rankings".
Zeng Jingjing analyzes, "First, the results evaluation criteria must be specific and verifiable, and cannot be generalized or ambiguous, so that it can be clear whether the opener has completed the task; secondly, there must be multiple possibilities for the solution to attract more In the end, companies should have the ability to take certain risks.” According to current statistics, 70% of all openers are high-tech companies, high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises, etc., and nearly 90% of them own Patent, more than half of enterprises have more than 40 patents.
On the whole, there are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises and no micro-enterprises.
This also shows from the side that innovation requires certain R&D capabilities as a foundation.
The evaluation is an important part of the final reward.
Generally speaking, the demand side checks and accepts the results to see if they meet the pre-agreed technical standards, while the government departments mainly check compliance.
The subsequent support that the unveiling party may receive is currently mainly based on financial rewards, and some places will also give specific support in terms of finance, finance, and talent policies depending on the specific situation.
Experts suggest that the benefit compensation mechanism for the losers should be scientifically designed.
Since more participants conduct pre-research on the same project, it will inevitably lead to repetitive work. If there is no scientific and reasonable compensation mechanism for the interests of the loser, it may affect the enthusiasm of the scientific research team to participate in the unveiling.
5 Deepen the reform of the scientific and technological system, vigorously and orderly promote the "opening the list and taking command" institutional mechanism for innovative research, and open up a new situation for scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance development
General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that the most essential feature of building a new development pattern is to achieve a high level of self-reliance. It is necessary to put more emphasis on independent innovation, comprehensively strengthen the deployment of scientific and technological innovation, gather superior resources, and effectively and orderly promote the "opening of the list" of innovation. Institutional mechanisms to strengthen the connection between the innovation chain and the industrial chain.
"'Opening the list and taking command' is a major conceptual innovation and revolutionary system innovation in scientific research management. It is of great significance for establishing a more open innovation system, optimizing the management of scientific research funding, and ensuring that'good steel is used on the blade'." Tsinghua Xue Lan, dean of Schwarzman College of the University, believes that it is necessary to deepen the reform of the scientific and technological system and effectively and orderly promote the "revealing the list and taking command" mechanism: in terms of team selection, it is necessary to select talents with a more open attitude and break the scientific research "small circle"; In terms of resource allocation, it is necessary to shift from academic-driven to demand-driven, and implement problem-oriented and demand-oriented implementation; in terms of assessment and evaluation, it is necessary to fully stimulate the enthusiasm of various innovative entities to overcome difficulties, and truly reward the good and punish the bad.
"The mechanism of'opening the list and taking command' not only contains the core advantages and essence of the frontier innovation paradigms such as user innovation, open innovation, and public innovation in integrating external resources of the enterprise, but also can give full play to the advantages of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics in concentrating on major tasks. An innovative mechanism with transformational and transcending significance will surely release greater value in the process of continuous practice and improvement, and help us open up a new phase of technological self-reliance and development." Chen Jin said.
Not rejecting the crowds, Fang Cheng Jianghai.
To let innovation truly land regardless of "begin" is to remove all ideological barriers and institutional barriers that restrict technological innovation, attract more outstanding talents to display their talents on the innovation stage, and promote the explosion of innovation vitality and the full flow of innovation sources.
(Our reporter Guan Xiaopu and Han Yadong)