Science minister highlights technology sales success

By last year, 80 percent of China's scientific and technological research had resulted in commercial products in the private sector, the minister of science and technology said on Thursday.

Wan Gang said transactions in China's technology market reached 983.5 billion yuan ($151 billion) last year.

"It (the technology market) means development, servicing, consultancy, permits, and transfer processes for technology - including major projects undertaken by enterprises, which indicates the quick transfer and development of technology results," he said.

Wan was speaking at a news conference at the annual two sessions, where he also encouraged more cooperation between enterprises and universities.

Universities should be more open to supporting enterprises - providing research and development services, testing facilities, experiments and consultancy services to promote the commercialization of technological achievements, Wan said.

Last year, 55.3 percent of economic growth came from scientific and technological progress. For example, the first domestically produced large passenger aircraft, the C919, rolled off the assembly line, followed by the successful commercial launch of the ARJ-21 regional jet.

Also last year, more than 370,000 new-energy automobiles were sold in China, taking the number of green vehicles in the country to 497,000, the highest in the world.

Zhou Guohui, an NPC deputy and director of Zhejiang Province Science and Technology Department, said, "It is difficult to commercialize the results of scientific and technological development."

Zhejiang had launched an online technology market, linking demand and supply, he said. In 2012, the province started auctions in the technology market.

"Since 2012, 634 deals have been made, with the total transaction amount reaching 1.16 billion yuan. This activity has been warmly welcomed by experts from universities and research institutes, as well as private enterprises," he said.

"I asked one expert from an enterprise who bid 20 million yuan for a project last year why he was willing to pay this amount. He said he had successfully bid for a project before and this had helped his company to make a significant amount."

Private companies not only take part in civil projects, but also in many military and homeland security ones.

Wan said, "Many private enterprises are involved in the research and purchase of homeland security equipment."

As there are no boundaries between military and civilian use of scientific research, efforts should focus on ways to promote the efficiency of such research, he said.

Pan Jianwei, a CPPCC member and executive president of the University of Science and Technology of China, said, "Science ... also has no boundaries between countries. We are going to launch a quantum scientific experimental satellite this year, which will include partners in China and abroad.

"By sharing information, we can accelerate science and technological development."

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn