The following plan describes how the Chinese Academy of Sciences—a huge complex of state-run laboratories and research institutes—aims to encourage its scientists to adapt their discoveries for commercial or other practical use.

The Chinese source text is available online at: https://web.archive.org/web/20200514121119/http://www.std.cas.cn/ggl/201801/W020180118540274485973.doc

US $1 ≈ 6.5 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB), as of January 11, 2021.

In order to further accelerate the transfer and conversion of scientific and technological (S&T) achievements into practical applications (科技成果转移转化), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has decided to launch the “Special Project on Transfer and Conversion of Scientific and Technological Achievements” (hereinafter referred to as the “Special Project”) under the framework of the “Take the Lead Initiative” plan,¹ based on the construction of a “S&T Service Network” and “Technology Innovation and Industrialization Alliance,” and other preparatory work.

I. Overall Thinking

(1) Guiding Ideology

Following the directive of “the Three Set our Sights on and the Four Take the Leads”² for running CAS, we shall: Deeply implement the spirit of the Fifth Plenum of the 18th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee; focus closely on the innovation-driven development strategy; actively respond to the call for “popular entrepreneurship and mass innovation” (“大众创业、万众创新”) taking CAS’s intellectual, technical, talent and S&T resources as the core; vigorously support and lead the transformation and upgrading of industries; place promoting the transfer and conversion of S&T achievements and serving the sustainable development of the national economy and society in a core position in CAS’s overall development; and make our due contributions to China’s entering the ranks of innovation-oriented countries and establishing a well-off society in an all-round way by 2020.

1. Translator’s note: The “Take the Lead Initiative” (“率先行动”) is a Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) talent recruitment plan launched in 2014. Under the Initiative, CAS aims to “take the lead in carrying out leapfrog development of science and technology, take the lead in constructing a national bastion of innovative talent, take the lead in constructing a high-quality national S&T think tank, and take the lead in building a world-class scientific research institution” (率先实现科学技术跨越发展，率先建成国家创新人才高地，率先建成国家高水平科技智库，率先建设国际一流科研机构) by 2030.
2. Translator’s note: Translator’s note: The “Three Set our Sights on and the Four Take the Leads” (“三个面向、四个率先”) is the directive, established in 2015, of how CAS should be run. The “Three Set our Sights on” are: “Set our sights on the cutting edge of world S&T, set our sights on the major needs of the nation, and set our sights on the main battlefield that is the domestic economy” (面向世界科技前沿，面向国家重大需求，面向国民经济主战场). See footnote 1, above, for an explanation of the “Four Take the Leads.”