Chinese science ministry maps out route to recovery through research and innovation
China is looking to its science and technology sector to stabilise the economy after Covid-19, as the outbreak appears to be on the wane in the country.
New cases of the disease in China have fallen, and the lockdown in the worst-hit region of Hubei was lifted on 25 March, with the exception of the city of Wuhan where the coronavirus emerged.
In a series of measures laid out on 21 March, the Chinese science ministry committed to increasing R&D investment and said the country would rely on “scientific and technological innovation to solve…difficulties in the return to work and production” after the outbreak.
The ministry’s 18-point plan promises to restore “normal scientific research order” in universities and institutes. While there is no figure for how much the Chinese government plans to spend, the ministry has directed all regions to increase R&D investment with explicit support for areas worst hit by the pandemic.
The measures lean heavily on technological solutions, with plans to support “a group of outstanding science and technology enterprises to overcome the short-term difficulties brought by the epidemic”. The ministry said there was a need to “focus on high-tech zones, high-tech SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] and high-tech enterprises, high-tech industries and other major technological innovation fronts”.
There will also be increased central government funding for high-tech SMEs, and both a national technology transfer system and national sharing platform “for advanced technology achievements”.
With much of the rest of the world still in the grip of Covid-19, China has now barred entry to almost all foreign nationals. But the ministry is nonetheless also inviting “high-end foreign expert projects” related to the coronavirus pandemic.