Transforming China into a nation of innovation in 15 years is a very demanding but worthwhile task.

 

Chinese President Hu Jintao made clear this goal at the national conference on science and technology, which opened on Monday in Beijing.

 

To achieve it, the country must be able to fund innovative activities amply and efficiently.

 

As the world's most populous country, China is confronted by the huge challenge of substantially improving the lives of one fifth of mankind with only limited resources.

 

Though more than two decades of rapid economic growth have considerably enhanced national strength, China remains a developing country. In terms of per capita gross domestic product (GDP), the country still ranks among those far below the world average.

 

Riding on its sound growth momentum, the country is poised to undertake an underlying change of growth pattern to pursue balanced and sustainable development.

 

Given the increasing pressure extensive growth currently exerts on the country's resources and environment, to embark on a new path of innovation has become an inevitable choice.

 

Only when the efficiency of the whole national economy is considerably raised through technological and management innovation can the country succeed in building a well-off society.

 

The importance the Chinese authorities attach to innovation is unprecedented.

 

However, more funds for research and development (R&D) will effectively boost innovation across the country.

 

In fact, the relatively big gap in the overall scientific and technological level between China and a number of innovation-oriented countries like the United States and Japan is closely related to the difference of their respective R&D investments.

 

While those developed countries have spent more than 2 percent of their GDP on R&D, the funds China devoted to such innovative work accounted for merely 1.23 percent of its GDP last year.

 

China's investment in R&D already represents a sharp increase from the 1998 level of 0.69 percent of GDP. But it failed to meet the requirements of the country's economic and social progress in many aspects.

 

It is a matter of urgency to further increase the country's expenditure on innovation, particularly in key areas.

 

Swelling national coffers, which have doubled in size over the past five years, has made government-supported R&D investment fiscally viable.

 

And the determination the central government displayed on the issue also indicates the country will not hesitate to invest more to sharpen its technological competitive edges.

 

Nevertheless, generous investment might only be the easy part of the campaign to boost innovation.

 

To a larger extent, the country's ambition to go high-tech will be defined by whether innovators who value such R&D investment most will be financed in a timely and appropriate manner.

 

Generally speaking, innovation is about how to make more efficient use of input in the forms of money, raw materials and human capital.

 

Therefore, making the optimum use of the funds allocated for innovation in itself demands a high spirit of innovation.

 

However, at present, many drawbacks in related systems and mechanisms have not only aggravated under-supply of input in science and technology, but also dampened the enthusiasm of many people of great creativity.

 

It will take time and effort to come up with financial policies and measures that truly encourage innovation. The sooner they are implemented, the greater the likelihood that China will be an innovation-oriented country by 2020.

 

(China Daily January 11, 2006)