In December 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology released the Report on the Development of China's Science and Technology Talents (2022). According to the report, the full-time equivalent of mainland R&D personnel (an internationally accepted indicator of manpower investment in comparative science and technology) has increased from 3.247 million person-years in 2012 to 6.354 million person-years in 2022, ranking first in the world. More outstanding young scientific and technological talents are playing a leading role in major national scientific and technological tasks, and more than 80% of the participants in the national key R&D program are under the age of 45.
General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that it is necessary to create a large-scale team of young scientific and technological talents, focus the policy of cultivating national strategic talent forces on young scientific and technological talents, and support young talents to take the lead and play the leading role.
In recent years, the scale of scientific and technological talents on the mainland has been expanding, and young scientific and technological talents have become a new force in the development of scientific and technological innovation on the mainland, and are an important part of the country's strategic talent force. It is necessary to closely focus on the in-depth implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country with talents, promote the high-quality development of young scientific and technological talents from the perspective of institutional mechanisms, and comprehensively enhance the ability of young scientific and technological talents to provoke the pillars of "strengthening the country with science and technology".
Deepen the strategic understanding of the work of young scientific and technological talents
Talent is an important indicator to measure a country's comprehensive national strength, and the competition of comprehensive national strength is essentially the competition of talent. Today's world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are developing in depth, and the competition between countries in science and technology is becoming more intense. At present, the mainland still lacks high-end talent in key high-tech fields, and some fields are still "stuck," and there is even a phenomenon of "lack of talent" in some fields. This requires us to give more trust, better help, and more powerful support to young scientific and technological talents, support young scientific and technological talents to take the lead and play the leading role, and constantly deepen the strategic understanding of the work of young scientific and technological talents, so as to create a large-scale contingent of young scientific and technological talents.
Deepen the strategic understanding of the work of young scientific and technological talents, deeply grasp the cyclical law of the whole process of talent growth, and accurately and effectively do a good job in the work of young scientific and technological talents. Scientific and technological talents are the most innovative and energetic group, youth is the golden period of scientific and technological talents and the high-yield period of achievements, many of the world's major scientific discoveries and scientific research achievements are produced in the youth of scientists, only to give young scientific and technological talents more support and opportunities, encourage them to play a leading role in major national scientific and technological tasks, in order to fundamentally provide talent guarantee for the construction of a strong country with talents in the new era.
Deeply understand that young scientific and technological talents are an important part of the national strategic talent force, and focus on the goal of "by 2035, the mainland will form a comparative advantage in talent competition in many fields, and the national strategic scientific and technological strength and high-level talent team will rank among the top in the world", and guide young scientific and technological talents to focus on the national strategic needs and carry out scientific research. Fully cultivate the inheritors of scientific and technological innovation who are worthy of great responsibilities, accelerate the blood circulation and the replacement of the old and the new in the field of talents, promote the youth of the backbone team of scientific research, build a better echelon of scientific research talents, and realize the virtuous circle of the strategy of strengthening the country with talents.
"Reducing burden" and "reducing pressure" for the growth of young scientific and technological talents
The survival and development environment is a key factor in retaining talents. A good system and mechanism are a powerful guarantee for young scientific and technological talents to display their talents, and the environment for survival and development is the key factor in retaining talents. Only by truly protecting their interests from the level of long-term mechanism and working implementation can we truly let young scientific and technological talents live in peace, feel at ease and work safely. At present, some departments and localities on the mainland still put forward many rigid requirements for young scientific and technological talents in terms of setting up posts and undertaking projects, and the evaluation mechanism that conforms to the needs of young scientific and technological talents is not yet perfect, and young scientific and technological talents are still facing practical problems such as narrow growth channels and great pressure on their lives.
Optimize the mechanism to ensure that we should increase support for the early career growth of scientific and technological talents, especially for the basic operating expenses of young scientific and technological talents in the early stage of growth, and fully ensure that young scientific and technological talents are responsible for the project and talent leadership, financial support, and performance evaluation expert group in a reasonable proportion, resolutely eliminate the "four only", reasonably set evaluation standards, do not take the number of papers and the title of talents as institutional evaluation indicators, and use talents without sticking to one pattern. Only by establishing a scientific evaluation system that is compatible with the law governing the growth of young scientific and technological talents can we mobilize the initiative and creativity of young scientific and technological talents to the greatest extent.
In order to "reduce the burden" of young scientific and technological talents, it is necessary to ensure their scientific research time. The main responsibility of young scientific and technological talents is scientific research, and it is necessary to effectively solve the work pressure unrelated to scientific research, especially to reduce transactional work unrelated to scientific research, put an end to unnecessary entertainment activities, and in principle, do not second front-line scientific research personnel to engage in non-scientific research work, and ensure that young scientific and technological talents have scientific research time into the unit assessment. In addition, the non-scientific research affairs of young scientific and technological talents should be made as efficient as possible and the procedures should be simplified. Only by ensuring the absolute time investment in scientific research and innovation and truly "reducing the burden" on young scientific and technological talents can the innovative vitality of young scientific and technological talents fully flow.
To "reduce pressure" for young scientific and technological talents, we must start from the small things in real life. Youth is not only the golden creative period for scientific and technological talents, but also a critical period for starting a family, and they will encounter practical problems in living housing, children's education, and family medical treatment. These problems seem to be small problems, but they are key projects that can make young scientific and technological talents feel at ease. In order to give young scientific and technological talents more humanistic care, create a good humanistic environment, solve the small problems that plague real life, add more "human touch", and open up the "last mile" of talent services, so that they can have a greater sense of belonging and existence, so as to carry out scientific research without distraction and better stimulate the vitality of scientific research and innovation.
Stimulate the domestic drive of young talents to report science and technology
Youth is a critical period for the cultivation and shaping of talents, we should use the party's original mission to inspire young scientific and technological talents, guide them to establish the great ambition of serving the country with science and technology, vigorously promote the spirit of scientists, and fully stimulate the internal driving force of young talents to serve the country with science and technology.
The belief in serving the country is the spiritual support that supports talents to realize their value, and it is determined that the belief in serving the country with science and technology is related to the value pursuit of scientific and technological talents in their lives. To guide young scientific and technological talents to establish a firm belief in serving the country with science and technology, we can start by strengthening ideological guidance, stimulating the consciousness of the subject, and cultivating the sense of ownership of scientific and technological innovation, so that they can change from passive adaptation to active responsibility, and stimulate the internal fighting spirit of serving the country with science and technology. Let young scientific and technological talents clearly understand the important role of scientific and technological innovation in international competition and national rejuvenation, truly proceed from the actual needs of the motherland and the people, and realize their own life value with the practical actions of scientific and technological innovation.
To comprehensively improve the political literacy of young scientific and technological talents, it is also necessary to start from cultivating the feelings of family and country. The feelings of family and country are the deepest beliefs engraved in a person's bones, and they are also the unremitting pursuit of national prosperity, national rejuvenation and people's happiness. The cultivation of young scientific and technological talents must support the interests of the country and the people, bravely enter the "no man's land" in the field of scientific research and exploration, dare to gnaw "hard bones", carry forward the spirit of the older generation of scientists, and constantly stimulate the domestic drive of science and technology in the cultivation of family and country feelings, consciously integrate patriotism, national aspirations, and serving the country into the journey of chasing dreams, and truly write scientific and technological innovation on the land of the motherland.
Science and technology power, talent first. Cultivating and making good use of young scientific and technological talents is of great significance to building a strong country in science and technology and talent. In the new era, we must fully study the law of its growth and development, and take all-round and multi-measures to solve various problems in the cultivation and growth of young scientific and technological talents. Earnestly respect, cherish and support young scientific and technological talents, better attract, retain and make good use of young scientific and technological talents, let young scientific and technological talents take the lead in "strengthening the country with science and technology", promote the high-quality transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and dedicate youth and wisdom in the process of comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with Chinese-style modernization.
Source: "Guangming Daily" (2024-01-21 07 edition) Author: Feng Cheng, researcher at the Research Base of Ningbo University, Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, Zhejiang Province Image source: Picture Worm Creative The cover picture and accompanying pictures of this article are from the copyright gallery and are not authorized to be reprinted