Strengthen the Position of Enterprises as the Main Entities of Scientific and Technological Innovation

General Secretary Xi Jinping, when participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation at the Third Session of the 14th National People's Congress, pointed out: “Scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation are the basic pathways for developing new quality productive forces.” “To integrate scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, we must build platforms, improve systems and mechanisms, strengthen the position of enterprises as the main entities of innovation, and ensure the seamless connection of the innovation chain and the industrial chain.” Enterprises are the micro-level subjects of the market economy and also important subjects of scientific and technological innovation. Enterprises have a natural sensitivity to technological innovation, product innovation, and industrial innovation, and can organically combine innovation resources with market demand. The key to solidly promoting the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation is to strengthen the position of enterprises as the main entities of scientific and technological innovation.

习近平总书记在参加他所在的十四届全国人大三次会议江苏代表团审议时指出：“科技创新和产业创新，是发展新质生产力的基本路径。”“抓科技创新和产业创新融合，要搭建平台、健全体制机制，强化企业创新主体地位，让创新链和产业链无缝对接。”企业是市场经济的微观主体，也是科技创新的重要主体。企业对技术创新、产品创新、产业创新具有天然的敏感性，能够将创新资源与市场需求有机结合。扎实推动科技创新和产业创新深度融合，关键是强化企业科技创新主体地位。

Strengthening the position of enterprises as the main entities of scientific and technological innovation and accelerating the construction of a scientific and technological innovation system with enterprises as the main body is conducive to giving play to the role of enterprises in whole-chain innovation. It is the focal point for leveraging enterprises as the adhesive and even the driving force of the innovation chain and the industrial chain, and is conducive to opening up the channel from a strong science and technology sector to strong enterprises, a strong industry, and a strong economy. In his report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed “strengthening the position of enterprises as the main entities of scientific and technological innovation and giving play to the leading and supporting role of science and technology-based backbone enterprises.” The “Decision” of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC made important arrangements for strengthening the position of enterprises as the main entities of scientific and technological innovation, providing fundamental guidance for us to continuously strengthen this position in practice.

强化企业科技创新主体地位，加快构建以企业为主体的科技创新体系，有利于发挥企业在全链条创新中的作用，是发挥企业作为创新链和产业链黏合甚至牵引作用的焦点，有利于打通从科技强到企业强、产业强、经济强的通道。习近平总书记在党的二十大报告中提出“强化企业科技创新主体地位，发挥科技型骨干企业引领支撑作用”，党的二十届三中全会《决定》对强化企业科技创新主体地位作出了重要部署，为我们在实践中不断强化企业科技创新主体地位提供了根本遵循。

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, our Party has vigorously implemented the innovation-driven development strategy, proposed the strategic task of accelerating the construction of an innovative country, continuously deepened the reform of the science and technology system, and effectively promoted high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening. Our country's scientific and technological undertakings have achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic transformations, successfully entering the ranks of innovative countries. Scientific and technological strength is moving from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leap, from breakthroughs at individual points to improvements in systemic capability, and some frontier fields have entered a stage of running alongside or leading the way. Under the leadership of the Party, our country has formed a scientific and technological innovation system covering multiple subjects including institutions of higher learning, scientific research institutes, and enterprises, and a number of influential science and technology-based enterprises have emerged. In recent years, relying on advantages such as a complete industrial system and a huge domestic market scale, our country's enterprises have continuously increased investment in scientific and technological innovation and played an important role in patent applications, technological innovation, and the industrialization of patented achievements. Currently, the R&D investment of our country's enterprises accounts for more than 75% of the total social R&D investment. The number of high-tech enterprises and small and medium-sized science and technology-based enterprises is growing rapidly. The position of enterprises as the main entities of scientific and technological innovation is continuously being strengthened, and they have become an important front for spawning new technologies, new industries, new business forms, and new models, as well as an important subject of our country's scientific and technological innovation system.

党的十八大以来，我们党大力实施创新驱动发展战略，提出加快建设创新型国家的战略任务，不断深化科技体制改革，有力推进高水平科技自立自强，我国科技事业取得历史性成就、发生历史性变革，成功进入创新型国家行列，科技实力正在从量的积累迈向质的飞跃，从点的突破迈向系统能力提升，一些前沿领域开始进入并跑、领跑阶段。在党的领导下，我国形成了涵盖高等院校、科研机构、企业等多元主体的科技创新体系，涌现出一批具有影响力的科技型企业。近年来，我国企业依托我国产业体系齐全、国内市场规模巨大等优势，不断加大科技创新投入，在专利申请、技术创新和专利成果产业化等方面发挥了重要作用。当前，我国企业研发投入占全社会研发投入的75%以上，高新技术企业、科技型中小企业数量快速增长，企业的科技创新主体地位不断强化，已经成为催生新技术、新产业、新业态、新模式的重要阵地，成为我国科技创新体系的重要主体。

While recognizing the great achievements of our country's enterprises in scientific and technological innovation, we must also see that, compared with the requirements of accelerating the construction of a strong science and technology sector, our country's enterprises have a relatively low proportion of basic research “from 0 to 1,” relatively weak independent innovation capabilities, a relative lack of scientific research talent, especially high-end talent, and insufficient capacity to lead or integrate domestic and international industry-university-research innovation resources. Institutional and mechanistic obstacles that constrain the role of enterprises as the main entities of innovation still exist. For example, innovation talent, national laboratories, and large-scale scientific facilities are core resources for scientific and technological innovation and play an important role in innovation decision-making and innovation organization. Currently, our country's innovation resources are mainly allocated to institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes, with relatively few deployed in enterprises. Taking innovation talent as an example, they are mostly concentrated in institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes, and their willingness to choose to engage in basic research in enterprises is low. At the same time, enterprises lack autonomy in the qualification recognition and professional title evaluation of the basic research personnel they need, making it difficult to attract and retain talent. As another example, strengthening the position of enterprises as the main entities of scientific and technological innovation requires not only that enterprises solve technical problems but also that they increase investment in basic research and deeply study the basic scientific issues behind “bottleneck” technologies. [1]1 “Bottleneck” technologies (卡脖子技术) refers to key technologies in which foreign countries hold a monopoly or advantage, creating a dependency that can be exploited to restrict China's development. In recent years, the intensity of basic research funding investment by our country's enterprises has increased, but overall it is still insufficient, which to a large extent restricts the role of our country's enterprises as the main body in the whole-chain innovation of industry, academia, and research. As yet another example, existing industry-university-research consortia are mainly based on technology as the link, and the willingness of leading science and technology enterprises to lead the deep integration of industry, academia, and research is not strong.

看到我国企业在科技创新方面取得巨大成绩的同时，也要看到与加快建设科技强国的要求相比，我国企业“从0到1”的基础研究占比较低、自主创新能力相对较弱、科研人才尤其是高端人才相对缺乏、主导或整合国内外产学研创新资源能力不足，制约企业科技创新主体作用发挥的体制机制障碍仍然存在。比如，创新人才、国家实验室、大科学装置等是科技创新的核心资源，在创新决策、创新组织等方面发挥重要作用。当前，我国创新资源主要配置在高等院校和科研院所，布局在企业的相对较少。以创新人才为例，他们大多集中在高等院校和科研院所，选择去企业从事基础研究的意愿较低。同时，企业对所需基础研究人员的资质认定、职称评定等缺乏自主权，难以吸引并留住人才。又如，强化企业科技创新主体地位不仅要求企业解决技术问题，更要加大基础研究投入，深入研究“卡脖子”技术背后的基础科学问题。近年来，我国企业基础研究经费投入强度有所提升，但总体而言还是不足，这在较大程度上制约了我国企业在产学研全链条创新中主体作用的发挥。再如，现有产学研联合体主要以技术为纽带，科技领军企业主导产学研深度融合的意愿不强。

Research has found that the main reasons include: some leading science and technology enterprises have a strong awareness of protecting their independent intellectual property rights over R&D achievements and worry about technology leakage during cooperation; some leading science and technology enterprises worry that “posing questions” will expose their own “technological bottlenecks,” which is detrimental to market competition; there are difficulties in the identification and ownership division of scientific and technological innovation achievements resulting from successful deep cooperation; some state-owned enterprises find it difficult to conduct comprehensive and detailed commercial analysis in the early stages of patent industrialization, worry about the loss of state-owned assets, while scientific research institutions assign relatively high market expectations to patents as intangible assets; and so on. All of this leads to a shallow degree of cooperation in industry-university-research consortia.

调研发现，主要原因包括：一些科技领军企业对研发成果具有较强的自主知识产权保护意识，担心在合作中产生技术泄露等情况；一些科技领军企业担心“出题”会暴露自己的“技术瓶颈”，不利于市场竞争；深度合作成功的科技创新成果认定、权属划分存在困难，一些国有企业在专利产业化初期很难做出全面细致的商业分析，担心国有资产流失，而科研院校对作为无形资产的专利又赋予较高的市场预期；等等。这都导致产学研联合体合作程度不深。

This year's government work report proposes to give play to the leading role of leading science and technology enterprises, strengthen enterprise-led deep integration of industry, academia, and research, and institutionally guarantee enterprises' participation in national scientific and technological innovation decision-making and undertaking major scientific and technological projects. To implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches and the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, we must adhere to the strategic orientation of the “Four Fronts,” [2]2 The “Four Fronts” (四个面向) are: facing the world's scientific and technological frontiers, facing the main economic battlefield, facing the major national needs, and facing the people's life and health. continuously strengthen enterprise-led deep integration of industry, academia, and research, comprehensively enhance scientific and technological innovation capabilities, accelerate the integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, and make greater contributions to building a strong science and technology sector and advancing Chinese-path modernization.

今年政府工作报告提出，发挥科技领军企业龙头作用，加强企业主导的产学研深度融合，从制度上保障企业参与国家科技创新决策、承担重大科技项目。贯彻落实习近平总书记重要讲话精神和党中央决策部署，要坚持“四个面向”的战略导向，不断加强企业主导的产学研深度融合，全面提升科技创新能力，加快推动科技创新和产业创新融合发展，为建设科技强国、推进中国式现代化作出更大贡献。

Make leading science and technology enterprises bigger and stronger. Currently, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is deepening, interdisciplinary integration is continuously advancing, and the speed of transforming scientific and technological achievements into actual productive forces is accelerating with shorter cycles. Leading science and technology enterprises are an indispensable and important force for strengthening scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation, opening up new fields and new tracks for development, and shaping new drivers and new advantages for development.

做大做强科技领军企业。当前，新一轮科技革命和产业变革深入发展，学科交叉融合不断推进，科技成果转化为现实生产力的速度加快、周期缩短。科技领军企业是加强科技创新和成果转化，开辟发展新领域新赛道、塑造发展新动能新优势不可或缺的重要力量。

To this end, more innovation resources should be allocated to leading science and technology enterprises, enhancing their ability to connect forward to the innovation chain, link backward to the industrial chain, and vertically integrate the capital chain and talent chain. First, improve the mechanism for guiding enterprises to increase investment in scientific and technological innovation, and strengthen their function of discovering “new tracks.” Strengthen the role of state-owned enterprises in the new type of nationwide system for mobilizing resources, [3]3 The “new type of nationwide system for mobilizing resources” (新型举国体制) is a contemporary adaptation of the traditional Chinese system of concentrating national resources to achieve strategic goals, now applied to technological innovation and other key areas. clarify the responsibility of the main leaders of enterprises for technological R&D, establish and improve the technology reserve system, improve the assessment system that treats state-owned enterprise R&D investment as equivalent to profit, establish an enterprise R&D reserve fund system, further improve the policy of additional pre-tax deduction for R&D expenses, improve the tax incentive policy for enterprise investment in basic research, and enhance their capital investment capacity. Second, support enterprises in establishing R&D institutions, and increase efforts to attract and cultivate talent for enterprises. Substantially increase the proportion of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises that establish R&D institutions, support leading science and technology enterprises in jointly establishing systematic, task-oriented innovation consortia with institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes. Explore the establishment of professional title evaluation methods for enterprise R&D personnel, improve the mechanism for the flow of scientific and technological talent, encourage the orderly flow of high-end talent among industry, academia, and research, and innovate the “dual-employment model” for talent between schools and enterprises. Third, improve policies such as accelerated depreciation of newly purchased fixed assets in key manufacturing industries and the additional deduction of value-added tax for advanced manufacturing enterprises.

为此，要将更多创新资源配置到科技领军企业，增强其向前贯通创新链、向后链接产业链、纵向融合资金链和人才链的能力。一是完善引导企业加大科技创新投入机制，强化其发现“新赛道”功能。强化国有企业在新型举国体制中的作用，明确企业主要负责人对技术研发的责任，建立健全技术储备制度，完善国有企业研发投入视同利润的考核制度，建立企业研发准备金制度，进一步完善研发费用税前加计扣除政策，完善企业投入基础研究税收优惠政策，提升其资金投入能力。二是支持企业建立研发机构，加大企业吸引和培养人才力度。大幅度提高大中型工业企业建立研发机构的比例，支持科技领军企业与高等院校、科研院所联合组建体系化、任务型创新联合体。探索建立企业研发人员职称评定办法，健全科技人才流动机制，鼓励高端人才在产学研间有序流动，创新校企人才“双聘模式”。三是完善制造业重点行业新购固定资产加速折旧、先进制造业企业增值税加计抵减等政策。

Strengthen the leadership of leading science and technology enterprises in the whole-process and whole-chain innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The paradigm of scientific research is undergoing profound changes, science and technology are accelerating their penetration and integration with economic and social development, the transformation cycle of basic research is markedly shortening, and international competition in science and technology is shifting toward the basic frontiers.” [4] Forming industry-university-research innovation consortia is an important form of adapting to the changes in the scientific research paradigm and promoting deep integration of industry, academia, and research. International experience also shows that leading investment by large leading enterprises in the industry is a major international practice. Some well-known enterprises have increased their R&D expenditure, leading the global technological revolution and industrial transformation. To seize the opportunities of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, and to promote the marketization of scientific research results and their rapid industrialization and scaling, it is necessary to accelerate the formation of horizontal industry-university-research innovation and vertical industrial chain innovation. First, strengthen the establishment by enterprises, in conjunction with institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes, of industrial technology research institutes, industrial innovation alliances, etc., jointly build engineering centers, engineering laboratories, and technology centers, etc., and construct innovation consortia with close upstream and downstream cooperation, enhancing their ability to penetrate the innovation chain. For example, accelerate the formulation of innovation goals, charters, and systems recognized by all parties to the industry-university-research agreement to guide the behavior of all participants, achieving the sharing of innovation resources. Second, vigorously cultivate technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, and enhance the innovation supporting capacity of the industrial chain. Looking at the world, many important science and technology enterprises have experienced a process of growing from small to large, from weak to strong.

加强科技领军企业主导全过程全链条创新。习近平总书记指出：“科学研究范式发生深刻变革，科学技术和经济社会发展加速渗透融合，基础研究转化周期明显缩短，国际科技竞争向基础前沿前移。”组建产学研创新联合体是顺应科学研究范式变革，促进产学研深度融合的重要形式。国际经验也表明，由行业领军大企业引领投入是国际主要做法。一些知名企业加大研发经费投入，引领了全球科技革命和产业变革。为赢得新一轮科技革命和产业变革先机，促进科研成果市场化并快速产业化规模化，需要加快形成横向的产学研创新和纵向的产业链创新。一是强化由企业牵头与高等院校、科研院所联合建立产业技术研究院、产业创新联盟等，共建工程中心、工程实验室和技术中心等，构建上下游紧密合作的创新联合体，增强其贯通创新链能力。比如，加快制定由产学研协议各方认可的创新目标、章程和制度来引导各参与方的行为，实现创新资源共享。二是大力培育科技型中小企业，增强产业链创新配套能力。综观世界，很多重要科技型企业都经历了由小到大、由弱到强的成长过程。

To this end, a favorable environment should be created and a broad stage should be set for those technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises that are growing and developing, enabling them to spread their branches and leaves and thrive. It is necessary to give full play to the role of the National Emerging Industry Venture Capital Guidance Fund, etc., to guide and support the innovation and entrepreneurship of technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, and to strengthen the cultivation of “specialization, refinement, differentiation, and innovation” [5] and the policy guidance role for the product and technological innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Through departmental coordination, top-down and bottom-up promotion, and market-driven forces, the comprehensive integration of the innovation chain, industrial chain, supply chain, data chain, capital chain, service chain, and talent chain of large, medium, and small enterprises can be promoted, and an enterprise development ecology of mutual dependence and mutual promotion among large, medium, and small enterprises can be constructed.

为此，应当为那些正在发展壮大中的科技型中小企业营造良好环境、搭建宽广舞台，促其舒枝展叶、茁壮成长。要充分发挥国家新兴产业创业投资引导基金等的作用，引导和支持科技型中小企业创新创业，强化“专精特新”培育力度、对中小企业产品和技术创新的政策引导作用。可通过部门联动、上下推动、市场带动，促进大中小企业创新链、产业链、供应链、数据链、资金链、服务链、人才链全面融通，着力构建大中小企业相互依存、相互促进的企业发展生态。

Strengthen institutional guarantees. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly summarized the important experience of China’s scientific and technological development in the New Era, and “persisting in deepening reform to stimulate innovation vitality” is one of the important points. [6] At present, there are still shortcomings in China’s scientific and technological innovation system and mechanism, and some reform measures have not yet been fully implemented. Deepening the reform of the science and technology system and promoting the concentration of innovation factors in enterprises will provide institutional guarantees for strengthening the position of enterprises as the main body of scientific and technological innovation. It is necessary to support enterprises in taking the lead or participating in national scientific and technological research tasks, and to further open up major national scientific research infrastructure to private enterprises. Accelerate the exploration of a new win-win cooperation model of “leading science and technology enterprises setting the questions, scientific research institutions participating in answering the questions, financial institutions providing full-process services, and talent institutions providing full support,” promoting the formation of synergy between various innovation entities and enterprises, and concentrating efforts to overcome a number of key core technologies. Strengthen the transformation and application of intellectual property rights, accelerate the transformation of innovation results, and tap the potential of enterprises to lead the deep integration of industry, academia, and research. At the same time, build a science and technology financial system that is compatible with scientific and technological innovation, strengthen financial support for major national scientific and technological tasks and technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises, and improve support policies for long-term capital to invest early, invest small, invest long-term, and invest in hard technology. Improve the risk diversification mechanism for major technological research, and establish a science and technology insurance policy system.

强化制度保障。习近平总书记深刻总结新时代我国科技事业发展的重要经验，“坚持以深化改革激发创新活力”是其中重要一条。当前，我国科技创新体制机制还存在短板，有些改革举措落实还不到位。深化科技体制改革，促进创新要素向企业集聚，将为强化企业科技创新主体地位提供制度保障。要支持企业主动牵头或参与国家科技攻关任务，向民营企业进一步开放国家重大科研基础设施。加快探索“科技领军企业出题、科研机构参与答题、金融机构全程服务、人才机构全力支撑”的合作共赢新模式，促进各创新主体与企业形成合力，集中力量攻克一批关键核心技术。强化知识产权转化运用，加快创新成果转化，挖掘企业引领产学研深度融合的潜力。同时，构建同科技创新相适应的科技金融体制，加强对国家重大科技任务和科技型中小企业的金融支持，完善长期资本投早、投小、投长期、投硬科技的支持政策。健全重大技术攻关风险分散机制，建立科技保险政策体系。

(The author is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and President of the Shanghai Aerospace Information Technology Research Institute)

（作者为全国政协委员，上海航天信息科技研究院院长）

(The headline article on this page is organized by the People’s Forum magazine and edited by the Theory Department of the People’s Daily)

（本版头条文章由人民论坛杂志社组稿、人民日报社理论部编辑）

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