Our reporter He Xinrong and Shang Yiying
It is proposed to initiate an alliance of research universities in the Yangtze River Delta, to build the Zhijiang Laboratory with Zhejiang Province, to build the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study of Zhejiang University with Shanghai, and to set up the Starry Science Fund in Shanghai with the Fanxing Charity Fund... In recent years, in the Yangtze River Delta On the map of science and technology innovation, Zhejiang University has been active, bringing together multiple subjects such as universities, governments, enterprises, and social organizations.
According to the "Development Plan for the Construction and Development of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community" issued at the end of 2020, by 2035, the Yangtze River Delta will fully build a world-leading scientific and technological innovation community.
In the process of building the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community, what kind of responsibility should first-class universities show?
Recently, the reporter interviewed Wu Zhaohui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president of Zhejiang University.
Innovative Yangtze River Delta will rise on the world map
In the face of major changes in the world unseen in a century, technological innovation is the key to victory in the future for all countries and regions.
According to the "Global Innovation Index 2020" released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, China's innovation power ranks 14th globally, the same as in 2019, and remains the only middle-income economy in the top 30.
China has 17 technology clusters among the top 100 global technology clusters, second only to the United States in number and second in the world.
"From the perspective of the history of science and technology, the world's science and technology centers will change every 80 to 100 years. Looking at the future of science and technology innovation, in addition to Europe and the United States, the Asia-Pacific region represented by China will also become an important growth pole." Wu Zhaohui Say.
Wu Zhaohui believes that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta are the three regions where China's innovation is currently concentrated.
Take the Yangtze River Delta as an example. Nearly a quarter of the country's "double first-class" universities, state key laboratories, and national engineering research centers are concentrated here, providing a basic platform for the Yangtze River Delta to build a science and innovation community.
"As the integrated development strategy of the Yangtze River Delta has risen to a national strategy, the convergence and connection of innovation resources in the three provinces and one city has become more frequent, the energy level has been continuously improved, and the ability to represent the country in international cooperation and competition."
In the construction of the Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community, Wu Zhaohui believes that special attention should be paid to the role of basic research and original innovation.
He mentioned that Zhejiang University is promoting the "Innovation 2030 Plan" in various fields such as brain science and artificial intelligence, ecological civilization and environmental protection innovation, design and breeding, and strive to "from 0 to 1" basic research and "stuck neck" key core technologies. Major original achievements have been produced in other aspects.
For example, the Quantum Computing and Perception Convergence Research Project has successfully developed a quantum chip with 20 superconducting qubits, helping Chinese scholars to rank among the world's first echelon of quantum computing.
Carry out collaborative innovation with the idea of "stretching a long board"
A G60 science and technology innovation corridor connects nine cities in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, focusing on seven major advanced manufacturing industry clusters, including artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, biomedicine, and high-end equipment.
Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the "Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Innovation Corridor Construction Plan", which proposed that by 2025, the G60 Science and Innovation Corridor will basically be an internationally influential science and innovation corridor.
The G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor is a vivid footnote for the construction of a science and innovation community in the Yangtze River Delta.
Shanghai has outstanding comprehensive advantages, Jiangsu has a developed manufacturing industry, Zhejiang has a leading digital economy, Anhui is active in innovation, and has good ecological resources. Looking at the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta, each has its own characteristics in technological innovation, which provides good conditions for the construction of a science and innovation community. .
In Wu Zhaohui’s view, the creation of a science and innovation community in the Yangtze River Delta means that the three provinces and one city will create more competitive areas on a global scale. They can conduct strong cooperation in basic research, applied research and other innovation links, or Collaborative innovation is carried out at different innovation stages such as the upstream and downstream industrial chains.
In the linkage of regional innovation resources, in accordance with the principle of "complementary advantages" and "stretching a long board", the Yangtze River Delta can superimpose the innovation advantages of different provinces and cities, open up the cutting-edge innovation chain and the entire chain of industrial clusters, and bring together the three provinces and one city. Resources for integrated research.
"The future situation is that high-quality innovation resources will be distributed and concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta. For example, the top innovation resources in a frontier field may be in Shanghai, but the first-class application scenarios may be in Anhui. For another example, the best upstream innovation elements may be In Zhejiang, the best innovation factor in the downstream is in Jiangsu," said Wu Zhaohui.
In the construction of the regional innovation system, the Yangtze River Delta can promote the combination of strong and powerful in the innovation subject, achieve the best in the innovation ecology, and promote the plateau building in the innovation ability.
"In the construction of a scientific and technological power, innovative universities must not only become an important part of the national strategic scientific and technological strength, but also an important external link between the national strategic scientific and technological strength." Wu Zhaohui said.
For example, Zhejiang University has successively established the Zhijiang Laboratory with the Zhejiang Provincial Government, and the Hangzhou Municipal Government to build the Hangzhou International Science and Technology Innovation Center. It also initiated the formation of the Yangtze River Delta Research University Alliance to jointly build a major technological innovation carrier with "double first-class" universities in the region. , To attract high-level innovative talents together.
Since its establishment one and a half years, the five universities in the Yangtze River Delta Research University Alliance have focused on major national and regional strategic needs and jointly planned and released two batches of 10 key cooperation projects, which have achieved solid results in different fields.
Interdisciplinary integration of government, industry, university, research, and efficient interaction
Communicating with Academician Wu Zhaohui, integration and interaction are the key words in his mouth.
This awareness is particularly evident in the two cooperation projects between Zhejiang University and Shanghai: Zhejiang University Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study and Fanxing Science Foundation.
The Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study of Zhejiang University is a new research and development institution jointly established by Zhejiang University and the Shanghai Municipal Government.
With "computing +" as its core mission, the Institute aims to promote the cross integration of multiple disciplines, fields, and industries, and help the country's artificial intelligence innovation and development "Shanghai Highland" construction.
In March of this year, Zhejiang University Education Foundation and Fanxing Charity Fund signed a donation agreement to establish the "Star Science Fund of Zhejiang University Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study". The first phase of donation of 100 million US dollars will be used for "computing + biomedicine" and "computing + Scientific research projects of the three innovative laboratories of "Agricultural Food" and "Advanced Computing".
As a domestic first-class computer expert, Wu Zhaohui said that the intelligent revolution characterized by "computing +" has further promoted the penetration of algorithms and computing power in the fields of information, life, matter and other disciplines, and is accelerating the construction of the world of humans and physics. , Intelligent machines, and the quaternary space of the digital information world.
"The new research paradigm will provide a brand-new methodology for strengthening the basic research of'from 0 to 1'and solving the'stuck neck' problem."
In the past, basic research relied on government funding.
The Fanxing Science Fund is the product of cooperation between the government, universities and market forces. The fund is funded by the Fanxing Public Welfare Fund initiated by Zhejiang University alumnus and founder of Pinduoduo, and the chairman of the Fanxing Science Foundation Council is Wu Zhaohui.
Wu Zhaohui believes that Fanxing Science Fund embodies the new thinking of government, industry, university and research to jointly promote high-level scientific and technological innovation.
"The government can provide policy support for fund operations such as tax reduction and exemption and industrial docking; colleges and universities can gather high-level talents and high-quality innovative resources to organize and mobilize scientific research projects; enterprises can feed back front-line R&D needs to the fund to promote production The deep integration of academic research and the transformation of high-level results. The promotion of new school-local school-enterprise cooperation in the "four aspects" can create a closer high-level high-level government-industry-university-research innovation complex."
The addition of market power not only enables more sufficient funding support for basic research, but also introduces market-oriented concepts and methods into scientific research organization and management, business operations, and demand docking, thereby improving research efficiency.
"From the practice at home and abroad, more and more entrepreneurs are turning their attention to scientific and technological innovation, and are particularly interested in basic research from 0 to 1. This trend of the times will accelerate technological innovation and industry The linkage between innovation and social innovation promotes innovation results to better serve economic and social development." Wu Zhaohui said.