By studying the science and technology investment mechanism of foreign developed countries, we have summarized the following experiences that are worth learning:
Figure 2-7 Distribution of Research Types of R&D in Different Countries
1. Diversification of investors
Government investment is one of the main sources of investment in science and technology, which accounts for 1% of GDP and has become the investment target of major developed countries. In 2003, the US federal government's investment in science and technology reached a record high, reaching1120.47 million US dollars, with an increase of 8.6%, accounting for 5.2% of the total government budget, equivalent to 1% of the GDP in fiscal year 2003 (Yangmei, 2008). In 200 1 year, R&D put forward the second basic plan for science and technology: to ensure that the government's investment in science and technology accounts for 1% of GDP, and strive to achieve a total investment of 24 trillion yen in five years (Chen Shaohui, 20 10).
Enterprises have gradually become the main body of scientific and technological investment. In developed countries, such as the United States and Japan, the investment of enterprises is more than 65,438+00 percentage points higher than that of the government (Yangmei, 2008). In order to improve the core competitiveness, enterprises continue to increase investment in science and technology and conduct research and development of new technologies and products. The virtuous circle mechanism of high investment and high return has effectively stimulated the enthusiasm of enterprises for scientific and technological investment (Zhu Jian, Chai Yuping, 2006).
Due to the high risk of scientific research and development, ordinary banks have many restrictions in providing loans. To this end, many countries have taken financial measures to raise funds, such as providing government credit and credit guarantee, establishing special science and technology credit banks and issuing high-tech bonds (Yangmei, 2008). In addition, venture capital came into being with its unique operation mode and the effectiveness of avoiding risks, which built a bridge for social funds to enter high-tech industries and promoted the transformation of high-tech into real productive forces. At present, there are about 1000 venture capital companies in the United States, and their funds are mainly invested in high-tech enterprises (Zhu Jian, Chai Yuping, 2006).
In addition, universities' investment in science and technology, overseas investment and personal investment are also extensive sources of investment in science and technology.
2. Strategic investment direction
Scientific and technological investment should be rationally planned according to the national development strategy. The goal of American science and technology investment is to emphasize the overall leadership and maintain a leading position in the forefront of all scientific knowledge; Germany emphasizes the development of cutting-edge technology and has set four investment goals, namely, original innovation goal, national balanced development goal, high-tech leading goal and cutting-edge technology goal; Japan and South Korea emphasize the development of industrial technology; India and Brazil emphasize local leadership, and funds mainly flow to the industrial sector.
In the three stages of basic research, applied research and experimental development, the basic research stage needs a lot of scientific and technological input support because of its high risk and externality. In addition, the particularity of basic research also requires long-term and concentrated investment in science and technology, so as to better ensure the smooth progress of the project and the rational allocation of resources. Even countries like Japan and South Korea, which started with technology application and technology introduction, have begun to emphasize the importance of basic research and regard independent innovation as an important weapon to compete for the future industrial highland (Chen Shaohui, 20 10).
In the field of research, the investment in science and technology should also be focused according to the national strategy. In 200 1 year, the Japanese government's investment in science and technology increased by 16.7% in the field of life science and 18.7% in the field of environmental science. The United States has successively listed new materials, information technology and biotechnology as strategic technologies, and its super-advanced investment has played an important role in supporting and leading the overall scientific and technological leadership and economic development in the United States. According to its own characteristics, India decided to take software technology as a strategic technology and software industry as a strategic industry, which played a leading role in developing its own economy (Yangmei, 2008); According to the distribution of government investment in science and technology in OECD countries, in the non-defense field, its funding focuses on medical and health care and environmental protection, and the proportion of R&D investment in these two areas in government R&D investment is increasing year by year (Chen Shaohui, 20 10).
3. Focus on the transformation of results
In recent years, developed countries not only attach great importance to the investment in science and technology to promote the progress and development of science and technology, but also attach great importance to the relationship between scientific and technological development and economic development, and attach importance to the transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements. The development of science and technology promotes economic development, and economic development is conducive to further increasing investment in science and technology, thus further promoting scientific and technological progress and realizing a virtuous circle (Liao Tiantu, 2007).
4. Legislative guarantee
Developed countries pay attention to ensuring investment in science and technology through legislation. The American Small Business Investment Act helps small businesses to obtain supplementary shareholder capital and long-term loan funds. Small and medium-sized enterprises are encouraged to invest in R&D by the Small Business Innovation and Development Act, the Small Business Research and Development Strengthening Act and the Federal Technology Transfer Act (Li Songtao et al., 2000). The British government has implemented the "Innovative Funding Scheme" and passed the "Enterprise Expansion Plan Act" and other legislation to give tax incentives to scientific and technological research and development. The "Preferential Tax System for Investment in Technology Development" formulated by France in 1983 clearly stipulates that any enterprise that invests more in R&D than the previous year may be exempted from enterprise income tax of 25% of its investment; 1985, the special investment loan law requires the government to support the scientific research and development of small and medium-sized enterprises with low-interest loans. Italy's Law on Supporting the Innovation and Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises clearly stipulates that all innovative investments within the scope of the law can enjoy preferential treatment (Dewey et al., 2004).
5. Policy support
The government adopts fiscal, taxation, financial and government procurement policies to rationally optimize the allocation of scientific and technological resources. For example, preferential tax policies are implemented for venture capital and R&D, and low taxes are implemented for high-tech industries. In addition, the United States and other countries have stipulated accelerated depreciation of fixed assets such as instruments and equipment for R&D and scientific research buildings to avoid real estate tax. The Korean tax law also encourages the transfer of scientific and technological achievements, and the income obtained by transferring or leasing patents, technologies or new processes can be exempted from income tax (Yangmei, 2008). In order to encourage enterprises to engage in technology research and development and use domestic technology, some countries have also imposed special taxes on technology development. For example, 1986, the Indian government levied a tax of 5% of the import cost on foreign technologies, and used this tax to establish a venture capital fund to promote and accelerate the development and application of domestic technologies (Chen Shaohui, 20 10).
(B) China's science and technology investment mechanism problems
By analyzing China's investment in science and technology and comparing it with foreign developed countries, we can find that there are still the following problems in China's investment mechanism in science and technology:
1. Lack of clear strategy
Although China has determined the strategy of "rejuvenating the country through science and education", there is no clear strategy for scientific and technological investment, no clear scope for the proportion of different scientific and technological investment subjects, different scientific and technological investment objects and research types, and no more clear channels for major scientific and technological projects to be invested in the national development plan (Konka, 2006).
2. The intensity of investment in science and technology is weak
In recent years, the total investment of R&D in China has been increasing, but there is still a big gap compared with other countries in the world. In 2005, China's total investment in R&D was only 9.57% of that of the United States (Liao Tiantu, 2008). The value of R&D/GDP indicates the intensity of a country's investment in science and technology in economic development, and it is a commonly used index in international comparison of the intensity of investment in science and technology. The investment intensity of developed countries is 2% ~ 3% (Cheng Wenxin, Liu Min, 2007). In 2005, China's R&D intensity was 1.34%, while Sweden's reached 4.25%, more than three times that of China (Liao Tiantu, 2008). Compared with developed countries, China's R&D intensity is still in a low position.
3. The diversified investment mechanism is not perfect
Most of the R&D funds in developed countries come from enterprises. In 2009, 7 1.7% of China's R&D funds came from enterprises, which was basically the same as that of developed countries, but the proportion of government R&D investment was relatively low compared with that of established developed countries in Europe and America. In addition, China's other sources of funds account for only 4.8%, far lower than other countries. The source of R&D funds in China is relatively simple, which needs to be further expanded.
4. Insufficient manpower input
Relatively speaking, in developed countries such as Japan, Britain, France, Germany and so on. The number of people engaged in R&D per 10,000 people is basically between 100- 120. In 2009, there were only 40 people in China, which was far behind not only these developed countries, but also many developing countries.
5. Less investment in basic research.
Basic research is the source of high-tech and economic development, and it is also a symbol to measure the highest level of science and technology in a country (Li Bo, 2009). China's investment in basic research science and technology is insufficient. In 2009, the investment in basic research only accounted for 4.7% of the total investment, and the proportion of other countries remained above 15%. There is still a lot of room for development in the field of basic research in China (Liao Tiantu, 2008).
6. The conversion rate of scientific and technological output is low.
At present, the industrialization rate of China's scientific and technological achievements is only about 3%, and the transformation speed is also slow (Gao Sizhong, 2006), mainly because China's scientific research departments are self-contained and lack of overall planning, resulting in a large number of redundant construction; The combination of research departments and enterprises is not close, and the relationship between science and technology and economy is not close, which leads to the separation of research and development from the application of achievements, and the scientific research achievements cannot enter the application field and realize economic value. In addition, in the process of putting science and technology into use, extensive performance evaluation is carried out and the accountability mechanism is weak.