China has nine years left to achieve the goal of becoming a science and technology powerhouse by 2035, and the '15th Five-Year Plan' period is a critical phase. At a national conference, President Xi Jinping put forward six requirements: strengthening systematic sci-tech research capabilities, deeply integrating sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation, vigorously cultivating outstanding young sci-tech talent, improving the efficiency of sci-tech investment, making good use of the sci-tech evaluation system, and enhancing ethics and safety governance in science and technology.
The article provided an in-depth interpretation of 'deeply integrating sci-tech innovation and industrial innovation' and 'vigorously cultivating outstanding young sci-tech talent'.
Regarding innovation integration, the key to leading the development of new quality productive forces is the close coupling of sci-tech and industrial innovation. China's modern industrial system has remained resilient precisely because of the seamless connection between the innovation chain and the industrial chain. Shanghai has made biomedicine one of its three leading industries, fostering industry-university-research integration through policy, clinical, financial, and industrial support, and the industry's scale exceeded one trillion yuan in 2025. To address the low conversion rate of sci-tech achievements, China needs to strengthen the national technology transfer system, create diverse application scenarios and high-level industrial clusters, improve intellectual property protection, and build a sci-tech financial system adapted to innovation, so as to move more outcomes from labs to production lines.
On youth talent cultivation, building a strong team of young sci-tech talent is a strategic project. Data show that in 2025, China's full-time equivalent of R&D personnel reached 7.95 million person-years, ranking first globally for 13 consecutive years. Eighty percent of projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation are undertaken by people under 45, and in major projects like BeiDou and lunar exploration, many teams have an average age of around 30. By leveraging the experience of integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent, and cultivating talent through use, a solid talent foundation for the sci-tech powerhouse will be laid.