Pan Jiadong and Xiao Suping: Better Leveraging the Role of Enterprises as the Principal Entities of Innovation
Pan Jiadong and Xiao Suping
Enterprises constitute a vital force for the close integration of science, technology, and the economy; they are the "new force" [1] driving innovation and creativity. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized: "Strengthen the principal position of enterprises in innovation; build innovation consortia characterized by close cooperation between upstream and downstream sectors; promote the integration of industry, academia, and research; and accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements into actual productive forces." The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee deployed tasks for reforming the systems and mechanisms that support comprehensive innovation, explicitly proposing to "strengthen the principal position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation." Currently, global scientific and technological innovation has entered a period of intensive activity. To seize the initiative in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, countries around the world are increasing investment in innovation. Breakthrough progress is being made in technologies such as large AI models, synthetic biology, and brain-computer interfaces. Observing these frontier technological advances, enterprises consistently occupy a key position in scientific and industrial innovation, boosting the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces.
The Primary Mechanism of Enterprises Functioning as the Main Body of Innovation
Enterprises are the behavioral subjects of the market and the objects upon which market mechanisms act. In the process of transforming scientific and technological achievements into actual productive forces, enterprises play the role of both knowledge production and achievement transformation. Continually consolidating the principal position of enterprises in innovation is conducive to achieving "0 to 1" original innovation and "1 to 100" industrial application. This helps form a competitive, open innovation ecosystem, accelerates the deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation, and seizes the initiative in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation.
Promoting the symbiotic evolution of scenario-driven development and technological iteration to accelerate the emergence of original and disruptive achievements. Scientific and technological innovation is the core element of new quality productive forces. To cultivate and develop these forces, we must strengthen innovation, particularly "0 to 1" original and disruptive technological innovation. Strengthening independent innovation and breaking through "bottleneck" [2] core technologies is both the foundation for enterprise growth and the key driver for the emergence of disruptive innovation. On one hand, using enterprises as the mainstay to unite universities and research institutes in forming innovation consortia and alliances can effectively promote the integration of industry, academia, and research. This achieves full-chain innovation from source discovery and achievement transformation to industrial application. On the other hand, leading enterprises focus on developing the underlying "base" of new technologies, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) focus on building application scenarios. The integrated development of large, medium, and small enterprises allows problems discovered during application to be fed back into technological development, driving technological iteration through scenarios. For example, in the field of artificial intelligence, while the competitive landscape of large enterprises is accelerating, the participation of universities, research institutes, and SMEs can accelerate technological maturity, opening the channel from "strong science" to "strong enterprises, industries, and economy."
Promoting the efficient connection between scientific discovery and technological transformation to accelerate the deep integration of the innovation chain and industrial chain. Promoting this integration is an important path for building a modern industrial system and an inevitable choice for promoting high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology. This requires a seamless bridge between frontier scientific discoveries and technological innovations, linking basic research to technological application. As the direct subjects of resource allocation and factor integration, enterprises are the primary participants in economic activity and the main drivers of technological progress; they respond most rapidly and sensitively to market demand. Leveraging the principal role of enterprises allows innovation to better face real-world needs, accelerating the evolution of scientific achievements toward engineering, commercialization, and industrialization. For instance, in the development of synthetic biology, frontier discoveries are inseparable from universities and institutes, while the transformation of these innovations is completed by numerous enterprises.
Promoting technological upgrading and the leadership of standards to enhance the overall efficiency of the innovation system. Competition between innovation systems and the improvement of innovation efficiency are reflected not only in "hard breakthroughs" in key core technologies but also in the "soft enhancement" of standard-setting leadership. Lacking a "discourse power" [3] in standards will weaken global innovative competitiveness. Enterprises drive the patenting of technology, the standardization of patents, and the globalization of standards, playing a major role in leading industrial upgrading and enhancing the efficacy of the national innovation system. For example, in the field of brain science, the United States, the European Union, and Japan, while planning industrial development, have all explicitly positioned enterprises as important promoters in technological application, industrial innovation, and scenario construction. They reinforce the role of enterprises as explorers, organizers, and leaders of innovative development to better build technological advantages.
Effective Paths to Better Leverage the Principal Role of Enterprises in Innovation
Scientific and technological innovation is the source of industrial innovation, and industrial innovation is the carrier of scientific innovation. Enterprises are both the "source" of original technology and the drivers of industrial innovation. Only by better leveraging the principal role of enterprises can we promote the organic connection of the innovation chain, industrial chain, capital chain, and talent chain, and promote the deep integration of scientific and industrial innovation.
Support enterprise participation in major scientific and technological breakthroughs. Focusing on key core technology areas such as next-generation information technology, AI, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, and biomedicine, we should guide enterprises to increase R&D investment—especially in basic research—to structurally increase the intensity of basic research and enhance original innovation capabilities at the source. We must fully release the innovative vitality and momentum of private enterprises, supporting them in participating in the construction of strategic scientific and technological forces such as national laboratories and major scientific infrastructure. We should establish entry and exit mechanisms for private enterprises to participate in these strategic forces, improve the new-type whole-nation system for innovation, refine the national innovation system, and enhance overall innovation efficiency. We must continue to optimize the innovation environment, creating a favorable atmosphere that reveres and encourages innovation, and establish error-tolerance and incentive mechanisms to reduce the risks of enterprise innovation.
Build an integrated innovation ecosystem led by enterprises. Integrate and optimize innovation resources, promote the aggregation of innovation factors toward enterprises, and cultivate a group of market subjects such as science and technology-leading enterprises and "dragon head" [4] enterprises. Better leverage the role of leading enterprises by encouraging them to take the lead in forming innovation centers, consortia, and alliances. Support the collaborative innovation of universities, research institutes, and SMEs in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. Establish and improve long-term mechanisms for the integration of industry, academia, research, and application to form an ecosystem of integrated innovation. Use government industrial funds to drive social investment, continuously expand "patient capital," and support small and medium-sized tech enterprises in growing stronger. Simultaneously, improve the incubation system for innovation, optimize full-chain incubation models—including makerspaces, incubators, accelerators, and industrial parks—and sound the echelon cultivation system for enterprises to form a pattern of collaborative innovation among large, medium, and small enterprises.
Guide enterprises to lead and participate in standard-setting. Fully leverage the important role of enterprises in setting standards and heighten strategic awareness of standardization development. Systematically promote qualified leading and "dragon head" enterprises to become "standard-innovating enterprises." Carry out intellectual property layout and standard creation, and simultaneously advance organizational, technological, and market innovation to enhance the "soft power" of enterprise competition. Encourage enterprises to take the lead in establishing patent pools and conducting "patent navigation." Guide enterprises to strengthen the construction of international Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), promoting the transformation of more innovative achievements with independent intellectual property rights into group, industry, and national standards. Leverage the role of business associations as bridges and links, based on local advantages in opening up, to actively participate in international standardization work. As technology, equipment, and products "go global," [5] we should promote the overseas application of our standards and vigorously support enterprises in participating in the formulation and revision of international and advanced standards.
(Authors: Pan Jiadong and Xiao Suping, both special researchers at the Zhejiang Center for the Study of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; respectively Associate Professor and Lecturer at the Party School of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the CPC.)
Source: Guangming Daily (January 23, 2025, Page 06)