Open up the "last mile" of science popularization (Innovation Talk)

To improve the scientific quality of the whole people, it is necessary to further strengthen the grassroots public service capacity for popular science, break through the blocking points, make up for the shortcomings, innovate the methods and means of dissemination, and let the public fully feel the charm of science and technology

"Why do passengers have to stand outside the safe yellow line when the train comes in?" "Look, the phenomenon that is presented now is static electricity"... Not long ago, the Tianjin Baodi District Science and Technology Association drove the science popularization caravan to Weiguozhuang Village, Shikozhuang Town, to popularize scientific knowledge to the masses.

This past summer vacation, science popularization workers in many places went deep into community streets and fields to carry out various forms of science popularization activities. Some places offer interesting science popularization classes for community residents. These grounded activities have opened up the "last mile" of scientific popularization and are well received by the masses.

Scientific and technological innovation and scientific popularization are the two wings to achieve innovative development. The level of innovation in a country is closely related to the scientific quality of all workers. The process of scientific and technological innovation since modern times shows that the popularization of science is not only an "accelerator" for the improvement of productivity levels, but also a "catalyst" for the transformation of scientific and technological research results.

The key to Chinese-style modernization lies in scientific and technological modernization. The importance of "wings of science popularization" is more prominent by disseminating scientific knowledge and culture, promoting the integration of science and technology with economy and society, and cultivating innovative talents. In recent years, China's science popularization capacity building has achieved remarkable results, and the proportion of citizens with scientific literacy has increased from 2020.10% in 56 to 2022.12% in 93, providing more solid support for building an innovative country and achieving high-quality economic and social development.

At the same time, we must also see that compared with the growing demand of the public, science popularization still has the problem of insufficient urban-rural and regional imbalance, and grassroots science popularization facilities in some places are relatively short and service capacity is relatively weak. To improve the scientific quality of the whole people, it is necessary to further strengthen the grassroots public service capacity for popular science, break through the blocking points, make up for the shortcomings, innovate the methods and means of dissemination, and let the public fully feel the charm of science and technology.

It is necessary to improve the grassroots science popularization service system and effectively improve the grassroots science popularization capacity. To do a good job in grassroots science popularization, we need a sound system, platform and team support. The Outline of the National Action Plan for Scientific Literacy (2021-2035) makes comprehensive arrangements for the implementation of grassroots science popularization service capacity improvement projects, and many places have also explored new models of grassroots science popularization in practice. It is necessary to sum up these experiences, effectively integrate regional high-quality resources, make more efforts to improve the grassroots science popularization service system, strengthen the construction of grassroots science popularization facilities, and jointly build a shared science popularization platform. In the construction of the team of popular science talents, we must not only find ways to strengthen the full-time science popularization team, but also give full play to the role of scientific and technological workers, science popularization volunteers and enthusiasts, and promote the professionalization, standardization and normalization of scientific and technological volunteer services.

It is also necessary to make full use of new technologies and platforms to continuously enrich the form of popular science. At present, science popularization is developing from a single offline activity to the direction of online and offline integration, digital and intelligent integration. Many scientific research institutions and science experts have participated in the cause of science popularization through new channels and forms such as short videos, and achieved good results. Making full use of the new generation of information technology and deeply promoting the development of science popularization and informatization will help make up for the shortcomings of unbalanced and insufficient development of urban and rural areas and regions. Further increasing the supply of high-quality popular science resources on the Internet, enriching the form and dissemination channels of popular science works, will effectively help the public continue to improve their scientific quality in in-depth experience and interaction. (Feng Hua)

People's Daily (Version 2023, 09 September 04)