Path Choice of Constructing a Scientific and Technological
Innovation System in Universities
Jin-ping Wang 1,2, Lian-sheng Yang1
1
Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
2
Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian, China
(wjpliu@163.com)
Abstract - The university innovation is indispensable in
the process of building an innovative country. Indeed, a
university is an important carrier of a scientific and
technological innovation system. In the new century and new
stage, a scientific and technological innovation system is
demanded in the internal and external environments faced
by universities and the objective conditions of China’s
economic and social development. The paper analyzes the
bottleneck in constructing a scientific and technological
innovation system in universities and points out the path
choice of constructing a scientific and technological
innovation system in universities.
Keywords - scientific and technological innovation
system, scientific and technological achievements, talents
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, technological revolution is conducted
rapidly and knowledge economy is in full swing. Any
country that wants to be self-reliant and strong can not
succeed without innovation, especially scientific and
technological innovation. Universities have an
irreplaceable role during this process, because they are not
only the birthplace of talents but also an important force
in scientific and technological innovation. In this sense,
“A university, as one of the most important parts of
national scientific and technological innovation system, is
a knowledge innovation and dissemination base where
basic research is conducted and high-technology is
explored. National innovation system is a network
composed of national research institutes, universities,
enterprises and nongovernmental R&D (research and
development) institutions and other establishments. Those
establishments, distinct in features and complementary in
functions, collaborate together so that the country can
enhance more effectively its innovation capability and
innovation efficiency, making science, technology and
social economy integrated and develop together [1]”.
Conceptually, the so-called scientific and technological
innovation system refers to that “Universities readjust,
assemble a variety of resources (both tangible and
intangible) and optimize their allocations, so as to create
an organic and complete guarantee system which is in
favor of the development of science and technology in
universities [2]”. Huang Boyun, the academician, said,
“The most active areas of scientific and technological
innovation in the world today all have first-class
universities [3]”. In the process of creating a national
innovation base and platform, we should give full play to
the role of universities.
II.THE NECESSITY OF CONSTRUCTING A
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
SYSTEM IN UNIVERSITIES
A. The survival and development of a university demands
a scientific and technological innovation system.
Scientific and technological innovation must be
generated in a specific environment, and ask for adequate
resources as an impetus to constantly improve and update
itself, and maintain a continuous ability of innovation.
Without resources, scientific and technological innovation
will be like a river without sources or a tree without roots.
In this new century and new stage, the competition among
universities is increasingly fierce; the trend of
international competition and internal competition brings
challenges to the survival of all universities. Competing
for talents and students has become a normal model. In
China, competition is happening all the time among
universities of Project 985, universities of Project 211,
common universities and higher vocational and
specialized colleges. The core of this process can be
concluded, “Research competition, talent competition and
resource competition”. There is no doubt that research,
talents, resources and many other factors are all related
with scientific and technological innovation system. It is
no exaggeration that there will be no research, talents and
resources without scientific and technological innovation
system. In this sense, “The scientific and technological
innovation system is the basic element to cultivate
academic masters and excellent faculty teams, a carrier of
intersection, infiltration and development among different
disciplines, a platform for knowledge innovation,
technology innovation and high-tech fruit display, and a
premise to improve teaching and talents cultivation [4]”.
B. “New Economy” era demands a scientific and
technological innovation system in universities.
The typical characteristics of “New Economy” era
are its comprehensive construction with “technology” as
its core. Technology plays a major role, which also
directly proves the thesis “Science and technology are the
primary productive forces”. At present, “New Economy”,
with information technology, aerospace technology and
microbial technology as its core, is taking shape.
Scientific and technological innovation plays an important
role in promoting economic and social development, and
improving the productive methods and lifestyles of human
beings. Further study will find that universities, as a
significant platform for providing “the source of scientific
and technological innovation”, take on the duty of
providing “core” for the three technologies, which may
not play a decisive role in the economic and social
development, but it is definitely an important role. Only
innovation of original research can provide security and
support for all the innovations in the production process.
Otherwise, it is impossible to boost the development of
economy and society.
C. Constructing an “Innovative Country” demands a
scientific and technological innovation system in
universities.
“To build an innovative country, we need to foster
tens of millions of specialized talents and a large number
of top-notch innovative talents, and provide a steady
stream of talents for this undertaking. Universities should
be responsible for cultivating these talents [5]”. “Great
education” is the prerequisite and basis of innovation
(including science and technology innovation). Innovation
is impossible without education. There is no doubt that
colleges and universities are not only the intellectual
source of scientific and technological innovation, but also
an important force in the construction of a scientific and
technological innovation system. Logically, a university is
one of the main fronts of the scientific research which is
the forerunner of scientific and technological innovation.
Therefore, a university is one of the most “appropriate”
forces for technological innovation. This virtue has been
well verified in many developing countries, including
China.
“National scientific work in 2003 achieved fruitful
results: all the universities published 778 technology
monographs and 387,290 papers, obtained 3,954 patents,
and signed 7,809 technological transfer contracts. The
total amount is 2.37 billion yuan and the actual income
1.1 billion yuan. In 2003, inland universities won 115
prizes of the three major kinds of national S&T prizes: 13
awards of National Prize for Natural Sciences, accounting
for 68.42%; 11 awards of National Invention Prize,
accounting for 57.89%; 91 awards of National Prize for
Progress in Science and Technology, accounting for
59.1%. According to the prizes announced this year, the
ratio is still rising, which reveals the ability of
universities’ innovation [6]”.
III. THE BOTTLENECK IN CONSTRUCTING A
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
SYSTEM IN UNIVERSITIES
A. Lack of talents, especially senior faculty talents, limits
the construction of the scientific and technological
innovation system in universities.
A university is a place to cultivate and foster talents,
but the prerequisite is to have competent teachers.
Excellent teachers are precious resources for the
development of universities and the key to the quality of
higher education. It can be said that good teachers are
indispensable in constructing a scientific and
technological innovation system. There are no weak
soldiers under a capable general. A strong military force
must have good commanders to lead and guide them.
Otherwise, this “military force” will not be powerful. As
for the teachers in China’s higher education, there is an
obvious difference among universities, regions and
majors. In addition, judged from the ratio of labors in
R&D activities to labor forces, the ration of researchers
and labors in R&D activities per 10,000 forces are quite
low, though China has certain advantages on gross. The
ratio is 22 and 18 respectively. Finland has the top ration:
209 and 145 respectively (See Table 1). After analyzing
the reality, it is easy to find that China’s overall R & D
situation presents a series of characteristics, such as
imbalance in regional distribution, between urban and
rural areas as well as between the east and the west.
TABLE I
THE RATIO OF LABORS IN R&D ACTIVITIES TO LABOR FORCES
Research
ers
Labors in
R&D
activities
per 10,000
labor forces
(man year)
Resear
chers
per
10,000
labor
forces
Country
Year
labors in
R&D
activities
(man
year)
China
2007
1736200
1423400
22
18
Finland
2007
56243
39000
209
145
France
2006
363867
211129
132
77
Germany
2007
498000
286000
120
69
Japan
2006
935182
709691
141
107
America
2005
1387882
0
93
Russia
2007
912291
469076
122
62
Singapore
2006
30129
25033
117
97
South Africa
2005
28798
17303
17
10
From OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators
2008/2; homepage of Ministry of Science and Technology:
http://www.sts.org.cn/zlhb/2009/hb2.1.htm#2.
B. The difficulty in commercializing research findings
limits the construction of the scientific and technological
innovation system in universities.
Although scientific and technological innovation
system is an important platform to generate scientific and
technological achievements, most achievements can not
be turned into practical technologies in time. Judged from
the current situation, whether scientific and technological
achievements can be commercialized effectively has
become a core part of this system. The logic of “resultscommercialization-new results” is an important step to
promote scientific and technological innovation system.
Results come out first. Then these scientific and
technological
achievements
are
commercialized
effectively to ensure the enthusiasm and motivation of
those who further the study, which is the key to generate
higher-quality achievements. If science and technology
achievements can not be commercialized into actual
productivity, those achievements can only be called
“fruitless flowers, beautiful but useless”. While the
ultimate goal of scientific research in universities is to
help convert those scientific research achievements
obtained into technologies in favor of people’s livelihood.
Otherwise, a scientific research will lose its original
meaning. At present, the rate of commercializing
scientific and technological achievements in China is less
than 20%, and only about 5% achievements have been
developed into industries, which is far below the level of
70-80% in developed countries, even lower than India’s
50% [7].So we have to say that the situation is not
optimistic. “According to statistics, there are about 10,000
scientific and technological achievements are certified
China’s universities each year, of which about 30% have
good promotional values and industrial prospects, but
only 10% -15% of scientific and technological
achievements through the identification of about 30% of
the project has good promotional values and industrial
prospects, but only the rate of commercializing these
achievements is only 10% -15%. A large number of
scientific and technological achievements possessing
industrial prospect is laid aside, showing a situation ‘large
results, small conversion, difficult promotion’ [8]”.
C. Stubborn policies and poor operation limits the
construction of the scientific and technological innovation
system in universities.
Policies on science and technology are shelters for
ensuring a smooth development of science and
technology. On the level of policies design, the amount of
macro policies is relatively abundant, while those detailed
and precise policies are relatively inadequate. The
problem that policies on science and technology in
universities are not adequate mainly reflected in the
following aspects: first, the setup of institutions has no
agreed standards. In the preliminary stage, ambiguous
policies are designed; when implemented, those
institutions have no examples to follow, leading to a
casual operation and implementation. Some policies even
have exceeded what is proper. As for the setup of those
specific sectors protecting scientific researches, the
department of science and technology in a university
often lack a relatively complete and standard design
system, similar to the design of many other universities.
The phenomenon of imitating even copying each other’s
rules and norms is more serious. Many policies are not
tailored to their actual situation, but “To learn from each
other and refer to each other”. Second, the coordination
mechanism of research institutions in higher education
has not been effectively set up. The research institutions
have not given full play to the role of coordination. They
still are simply assuming the role of “Message
transmitter” in the era of planned economy, instead of
becoming a platform for effective publication and
promotion. Therefore, some excellent research results can
not be effectively output. They have not given full play to
the role of coordination and even become institutional
barriers to promote and publicize scientific and
technological achievements.
IV. PATH CHOICE OF CONSTRUCTIONG A
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
SYSTEM IN UNIVERSITIES
A. Attach great importance to teacher teams: excellent
teachers prior to outstanding students.
It is the principal responsibility for universities to
foster talents and conduct scientific researches. So this has
put forward higher requirements for university teachers. It
can be said that there will be no good soldiers without a
capable general. In recent years, with the popularization
of higher education and a rise in the gross number of
undergraduates and postgraduates, teachers of higher
education, especially high-edu teachers, are badly needed.
It’s getting harder and harder to find a “good general”. As
for the number of the researchers in higher education,
“The researchers in R & D activities of higher education
in 2007 are 254,000, with an increase of 4.7 % compared
with 2006. Among them, scientific research (basic
research and applied research) personnel are 214,000, an
increase of 5.4 % compared with 2006 [9]”. “In the list of
the three major kinds of national S&T prizes (National
Prize for Natural Sciences, National Invention Prize,
National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology)
announced in 2006, higher education accounted for 50%.
Among them, universities won 75 awards of National
Prize for Natural Sciences in the Tenth Five-Year Plan,
accounting for 55.07% of the total number; 64 awards of
National Invention Prize, accounting for 64.4% of the
total number; 433 awards of National Prize for Progress in
Science and Technology, accounting for 53.57% of the
total number. Besides, 61.7% State Key Laboratories are
in universities; 38.7% members of Chinese Academy of
Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering are
working in universities; among the members Chinese
Academy of Sciences newly elected days ago, 55% are
from universities [10]”.
B. Vigorously promote the commercialization of the
scientific and technological achievements in universities,
and open up a broader space for their scientific and
technological Innovation.
The efficiency and quality of universities in
commercializing their scientific and technological
achievements will provide a practical guarantee for the
construction of scientific and technological innovation
system. Comparatively speaking, the higher the
commercialization rate of scientific and technological
achievements is, the better the quality is, the more we can
promote the improvement and development of scientific
and technological innovation system, otherwise, it will
hinder its improvement and development. Because of it,
we can promote the commercialization of universities’
scientific and technological achievements from the
following aspects: First, we should bring the synergistic
effect into play and focus on the dynamic integration of
Industry-University-Research in the process of
constructing a scientific and technological innovation
system. The dynamic integration of Industry-UniversityResearch is to examine the scientific and technological
achievements in the Industry-University-Research system.
Universities and researches should aim to serve and
support industries. The three interact as both cause and
effect, help each other forward and promote common
development. The second is to focus on the cultivating
and developing technology parks in universities, making
the hatchers of scientific and technological achievements.
“Technology Park in universities is an incubation base for
scientific and technological achievements, based on their
scientific and technological resources, information
resources, technology professionals and university
intangible assets, relying on the comprehensive
advantages of the discipline groups and being marketoriented. Its central task is to develop high-technology
and promote industrialization [11]。
C. Improve our policy protective mechanism to give
universities rules to follow in constructing scientific and
technological innovation system.
Guarantee policies for scientific and technological
innovation system should focus on the government
guarantee policies and universities guarantee policies.
1) The government provides guarantee policies. In
China, a vast majority of universities are public ones,
which directly determines the government’s irreplaceable
role in the process of school-running. The government
should pay more attention to the following aspects in
ensuring a scientific and technological innovation system.
First, strengthen government’s financial support. Money
is not everything but we can do nothing without money.
This sermon is also applicable to universities. The
government should strengthen its investment for science
and technology innovation in a constant manner. Second,
act as a go-between for universities and companies. The
cooperation between universities and companies can be
flexible and follow no set form. In this regard, universities
should not only cooperate with the enterprises in its
region, but also have the courage and vision to work with
outland enterprises, wherein a lot of work must be
undertaken by the government. Third, provide preferential
policies to encourage universities to establish technology
parks. Technology Park is an important part in
constructing China’s scientific and technological
innovation system in recent years, but it must be noted
that the Technology Park should not be an occasional
project. It must have a solid project as its carrier and
avoid being flashy.
2) Universities provide guarantee policies. The
construction of scientific and technologic innovation
system in universities can not do without the blessing of a
good policy environment. Universities should pay more
attention to the following aspects in ensuring a scientific
and technological innovation system: The first is to create
a good environment for talents to live and work.
Universities should improve their humanistic concern
about the talents and retain them through emotional touch
and attractive positions, so as to maximize their subjective
initiatives to provide a steady flow of intellectual support
for scientific and technological innovation. The second is
to create policy conditions, encouraging talents to “go
out”. Scientific and technological innovation is not
possible if the work is conducted by divorcing from the
reality. We must open our eyes to see the world, stand in
reality and learn from virtuous persons. This requires us
to visit virtuous persons and know their practice so as to
absorb them for our own use. The third is to emphasize
performance assessment and perfect the assessment
system of scientific and technological innovation. The
assessment is the key to judge the quality of scientific and
technological innovation and directly influences the ideas
and values that scientific and technologic innovation
system should be adhering to. Current assessment
mechanisms emphasize too much the number and level of
papers whose practical utility is ignored. It can be said
that the some assessments on scientific and technological
innovation are too short-sighted. Just focusing on what’s
right under their nose instead of the long-term issues are
also pressing issues faced by the scientific and
technological innovation in universities. In this regard, we
should give the construction of assessment mechanisms
due emphasis.
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on
and
(in
and
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