4.12-4.14 Wuhan University of Geosciences organized the second training class on policies and operational practices for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in colleges and universities. Due to time conflicts, I was unable to attend the event and could only watch the work of many colleagues in the WeChat group. Gathering and chatting. In order to keep pace with everyone and stay involved, hereby write some personal thoughts.
The concept of "transformation of scientific and technological achievements" was first proposed by the Austrian economist Schumpeter in 1921. He mentioned in the book "Economic Development Theory": "The realization of production factors has never been achieved before" New combination". Transform creative scientific and technological achievements into profitable commodities and industries. Schumpeter believes that "innovation" belongs to the economic category rather than the technical category. It not only refers to inventions and creations in science and technology, but also refers to the introduction of already invented technology into enterprises to form a new kind of productivity, that is, to transform scientific and technological achievements into real productivity. The biggest driving force for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements lies in its significant role in economic growth.
The term "scientific and technological achievements" has Chinese characteristics. There is rarely such a general term abroad. In specific projects, it is expressed in a specific form, such as: academic reports, papers, books, etc. Patents etc. Although a few countries such as the United States have the concept of "scientific and technological achievements", it is mainly used to describe the contribution of science and technology to the economic and technological development of the entire society at a macro level.
The transformation of scientific and technological achievements refers to the process in which the results of scientific and technological innovation are applied in actual production and life. The emphasis is on the process of transforming scientific and technological achievements into actual productivity. The emphasis is on the results, that is, whether they are scientific and technological achievements Whether it is transformed through the market or through planning, it will ultimately be applied, so more emphasis is placed on the productivity attributes of technology. This is significantly different from concepts such as "technology transfer" and "commercialization of new technologies".
The process of transformation of scientific and technological achievements involves different interests of different actors. Therefore, technology transfer is required. However, in this process, technology transfer is only a means and not an end. In the process of technology transfer, in order to meet the application needs of the technology recipient, scientific and technological achievements need to be transformed, but the transformation of the same scientific and technological achievements is only a means and not an end.
When it comes to technology transfer and achievement transformation, everyone feels it is very important, but they all feel that it is not the time yet, and they always find it difficult to think about it.
In fact, China's current achievement transformation environment has been greatly improved and is constantly improving. It can be said that my country's achievement transformation potential is very huge.
People often lament the rapid development of China's high-speed rail. As if overnight, China's high-speed rail mileage exceeds the combined mileage of high-speed rail in all other countries in the world. In fact, this is a very successful case of technology transfer, followed by further successful transformation. This also illustrates our country's ability to transfer technology and transform results
The transformation of scientific and technological achievements is the flow and transformation of scientific and technological achievements. The process of evolution includes two parts: "transfer" and "transformation".
"Transfer" refers to the transfer of ownership and use rights of scientific and technological achievements, and "transformation" refers to the continuous concretization, productization, and transformation of scientific and technological achievements. The process of commercialization and industrialization is shown in the figure below:
At present, more and more "transfer" processes are participated or even led by third-party scientific and technological intermediaries, which play a vital role in the relationship between donors and recipients. Establish a supply and demand platform for scientific and technological achievements between donors, provide supportive and systematic technical services, promote dialogue between donors and recipients, and ultimately enable the smooth transformation of achievements. In this process, the ownership of scientific and technological achievements has been transferred, which is reflected in the change of spatial location. It is a key link in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and determines the cooperation method and the proportion of benefit distribution between the two parties.
In this process, scientific and technological achievements have undergone "qualitative" changes, turning the initial experimental results into mature technologies that can be applied to production. A big bottleneck in our country's scientific and technological achievements lies in this "industrialization" process. How to industrialize scientific and technological achievements is a major issue that our country needs to increase its efforts to solve.
There are two main directions for technology transfer in the future.
First, technology transfer from Western technological powers to my country will further increase.
As the world’s second largest economy, China’s R&D investment ranks second in the world. Its scientific and technological innovation capabilities have improved rapidly, and it has become a very important player in international technological innovation.
However, Western scientific and technological powers have strong technological accumulation and leading R&D methods and capabilities. They will be our country's role models and sources of imported technology for a long time to come. In recent years, China's foreign investment has grown rapidly, and many giants have quickly acquired advanced overseas technologies through overseas mergers and acquisitions. At the same time, they have also established their own market and brand influence. For some companies that currently lack competitiveness on the international stage, the main way to obtain overseas advanced technology is through some transnational technology transfer intermediaries.
Another main direction of transfer is that technology transfer from academia to industry will be strengthened.
In Western technologically developed countries, the successful entrepreneurial model of many technological companies is basically the same, that is: a CEO with rich entrepreneurial experience has obtained the best professors in this field from the best universities. advanced patents, and then used their own influence, resources and connections in the industry to obtain venture capital to start a business. Then after 8 to 10 years, he successfully transformed the professor's scientific research results into products, which gained popularity after being launched. There are more and more such cases now.
Since 2015, the state has provided increasing support for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
Where is the core problem? From my perspective as a university employee, the main points are as follows:
First, the relevant supporting policies need to be improved. For example, when it comes to issues such as the valuation of scientific and technological achievements and the part-time entrepreneurship of scientific and technological personnel, universities still do not have specific and detailed policies. Facing these two issues, we basically adopted an attitude of avoidance and detour.
Second, there is a lack of professional technology transfer institutions and talents. Compared with foreign universities and research institutes, domestic universities generally lack professional institutions and talents. Currently, the transformation of achievements in universities still involves administrative services that go through various procedures.
Third, the original motivation for transformation of results is insufficient. Under the conditions of a mature market economy, the market can provide innovation entities with pressure and motivation for the transformation of achievements, and constitute the original driving force for the effective transformation of achievements. However, since the development of scientific and technological achievements has its own rules, it is difficult to fully integrate into the industrial system. The "sense of ownership", "sense of urgency" and "sense of gain" of the innovation subject are insufficient, and there is still resistance in exercising power. The "sense of gain" in the transformation of results is also insufficient. Therefore, motivation, pressure and passion are not sufficient.
Summary:
There is a long way to go to transform results. Saying goodbye to paper talk requires not only the deep integration of policy, technology, talent, services, funds and other innovative resources, but also the in-depth integration of innovative resources from all parties. Changes in cognitive levels, such as the establishment of mutual trust between university researchers and the business community, and the formation of habits of mutual sharing and collaboration, also requires the establishment of scientific and technological achievement transformation platforms, service systems, and financing systems, and truly form support.