Building a National Laboratory System with Chinese Characteristics: Driving Mechanisms, Connotations, Characteristics, and Key Focus Areas

构建中国特色国家实验室体系—动力机制、内涵特征与着力点

Abstract

Building a national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics is an important strategic deployment to forge a national strategic scientific and technological force and enhance the overall effectiveness of the national innovation system. At present, the collaborative construction of national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics is still in the initial stage of exploration, and the dynamic mechanism, connotation, feature and future focus for the construction of the national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics need to be revealed urgently. Based on the resource dependence theory and transaction cost theory, combined with the external drive of the international, domestic and scientific situation, and the internal drive of self-development for the national laboratory and the state key laboratory, this paper reveals the dynamic mechanism of constructing the national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics, and then explains its rich connotation and system features. Corresponding to the innovation subjects, innovation elements and innovation environment, the future focus of constructing the national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics is suggested to optimize the layout of the system, strengthen the supply of resources and establish a suitable institutional environment. From the perspective of external driving force, the international situation, domestic conditions and scientific development trends determine that it is imperative to build a national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics. As for internal driving force, the main layout of the national laboratory is expected to lead the strategic commanding heights of future development, and it needs the support and supplement of the state key laboratory in the subdivision direction, frontier field, emerging field, interdiscipline, borderline subject etc. National laboratories need a large number of state key laboratories with abundant human resources and strong technical foundation to support in the construction and operation stage, so as to ensure the implementation and maintenance of the national strategy with lower cost and greater flexibility. The national laboratory and the state key laboratory have resource dual-dependence, and have a consistent asymmetric dependence on the government based on resource dependence theory. Based on the transaction cost theory, systematic construction supplemented by scientific governance of government and institutional system can reduce the transaction costs. The connotation of the national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics can be summarized as that with the national laboratory as the core, the national laboratory and the state key laboratory are closely linked and effectively interacted in an interdisciplinary and collaborative scientific research organization form. It is constructed in the field of major innovation, with the goal of improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system and achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-improvement, guided by the strategic needs of promoting major original scientific and technological innovation as well as serving national security and economic development. Under the basic role of the government's strategic guidance and market allocation of resources, the central and local governments participate together. The laboratory system includes the hard scientific and technological innovation ability system such as innovation subjects and innovation elements, and also includes soft environmental guarantee system such as laws, regulations and policy system. In order to efficiently build a national laboratory system with Chinese characteristics, the following strategic measures need to be focused. Strengthen the top-level design and system planning, optimizing the system layout with the national goal as the guide. Strengthen the supply of talent, funds and facilities via combining the concerted effort of central and local government with the coordination of government and market. Promote the refinement and implementation of policies, neither offside nor absent, and establish a suitable institutional environment guided by development issues.