China vows to overhaul public R&D funding to avoid fraud
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-10 14:10 A senior official said in Beijing
Monday that the Chinese government is going to more strictly monitor the use of
public funds in scientific research and technological development.
Shang Yong, vice minister of science and technology, said in an interview
with Xinhua his ministry will establish a watchdog which is responsible for
supervising R&D expenditure in state-designated projects.
"We're going to set up an online uniform platform concerning the state
science projects management, to which the public could get easy access," Shang
said.
"We'll invite independent agencies to appraise efficiency of the state
science project implementation," he said.
The ministry acknowledged that some public funds for state science projects
went to crafty applicants who repeatedly get money from the state for same
projects.
"We plan to build an inter-agency database which includes detailed
information on every application for state funding," Shang said.
Appropriate use of public funding for research and development remained a hot
debate lately against the backdrop of several scandals of squandering public
money.
Chen Jin, a former dean at the Shanghai Jiaotong University, was disgraced
for cheating in his so-called research on developing edge-cutting
system-on-chips. Chen got several millions of yuan from the state for the
R&D. He was finally sacked from the post as dean after a joint
investigation, organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the
Ministry of Education, proved he was cheating.
"An effective and fair mechanism for appraisal is vitally important for us to
better supervise the use of public funds," Shang said, citing that the ministry
will blind choose judges from a pool for nationwide
applications.
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