Society

Joint scientific research lauded

By Wang Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-09 08:11

BEIJING - A senior scientific official said on Wednesday that the Chinese government is open to other countries in its efforts to build an innovative country.

Cao Jianlin, vice-minister of science and technology, said at the 21st Century Forum that China looks forward to more international cooperation in the country's research and development.

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"Open innovation is an important step for basic research to better guide and serve sustainable development," he said, adding that globalization has provided a good opportunity for different countries to jointly conduct scientific research.

Foreign companies have expressed concern over China's recent moves to support domestic technologies, saying that the "indigenous innovation" policy is sometimes discriminatory and involves transfer of intellectual property. Several companies like Siemens, General Electric and Intel have in recent times expressed concerns over the policy.

Such concerns started to alleviate recently, when the Ministry of Science and Technology made a clarification that foreign firms would not be excluded in China's efforts to boost indigenous innovation.

Peter Loscher, president and chief executive officer of Siemens AG, said on Wednesday that China has played a leading role in some high-tech areas such as batteries and electric cars.

The company is impressed by Chinese leaders' recent remarks regarding foreign firms doing business in China as Chinese companies, Loscher said.

"The future of innovation actually relies heavily on international cooperation," said Wang Longde, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

Wang said China needs to build up a long-term mechanism to boost joint research and development among different countries.