The inter-ministerial Coordination Group of the National Project on Technology Innovation held a meeting in Beijing on February 3, 2016. The meeting reviewed progress during the 12th Five-Year Plan period and lay out plans on key work in year 2016. This is in line with the principle of the 18th CPC National Congress and the 5th Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the “Innovation-Driven Development” and “Made in China 2025 Strategies”.

Wang Zhigang, CPC secretary and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), presided over the meeting. The meeting was attended by team members from 15 departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Agriculture, People’s Bank of China, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, State Administration of Taxation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, All-China Federation of Trade Union, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce and China Development Bank. The meeting was also attended by Xu Jianpei, Deputy Secretary-General of MOST, and heads of relevant departments, bureaus and centers of the Ministry.

The Department of Innovation and Development under MOST reported the development of the National Project on Technology Innovation during the 12th Five-Year Plan period and offered suggestions on key work and tasks for 2016.

Secretary Wang Zhigang emphasized in his concluding remarks that it is important to understand the implementation of the project is required by the reform of the supply side; under new circumstances, enterprises should be the key player with the market as the guide based on collaboration among universities, research institutes and industries. Efforts should be made to accelerate the development of a comprehensive system of national technology innovation; enhance enterprises’ ability of technology innovation and core competitiveness, so as to better support economic restructuring and industrial transformation. It is necessary to focus on major problems to clearly define the role and key tasks of the project, and enable the project to take on its leading role. The role of the inter-ministerial group should be strengthened to better coordinate tasks, ensure policy alignment and resource integration. In this way the National Project on Technology Innovation could be realized in a systemic manner and achieve real effects.