After more than two years, the National Science and Technology Award has been awarded, and what are the characteristics from basic research to practical application?

CBN

2024-06-24 20:02Posted on the official account of Shanghai Yicai

More than two years have passed since the 2020 National Science and Technology Award Conference held in 2021, and the 2023 National Science and Technology Award was officially announced today.

On June 24, the 2023 National Highest Science and Technology Award was announced in Beijing. The 2023 National Highest Science and Technology Award was awarded to 2 people: Academician Li Deren of Wuhan University and Academician Xue Qikun of Tsinghua University; 49 National Natural Science Awards, including 1 first prize and 48 second prizes; 62 National Technological Invention Awards, including 8 first prizes and 54 second prizes; 139 National Science and Technology Progress Awards, including 3 special prizes, 16 first prizes and 120 second prizes; The International Science and Technology Cooperation Award of the People's Republic of China was awarded to 10 people.

After more than two years, what are the characteristics of the National Science and Technology Award awarded this year, and what are the differences in the nomination and evaluation of the Science and Technology Award?

The project presents three major characteristics

This year's National Science and Technology Award presents three major characteristics, one is to focus on the "four aspects" and serve the "great man of the country". Second, young and middle-aged scientific and technological talents have become an important force in the mainland's scientific and technological innovation. Among the general projects of the three awards, about 40% of them are under the age of 45. Third, the breadth and depth of international scientific and technological cooperation have been further expanded.

Among the winners of the highest national science and technology award, following the 2001 academician Wang Xuan's award, there was a "post-60s" again, and academician Xue Qikun is 61 years old this year, the youngest of the highest award winners in the past.

In recent years, quantum technology has developed by leaps and bounds, becoming the frontier of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. Previously, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held the 24th collective study on the research and application prospects of quantum science and technology, and Xue Qikun explained this issue and put forward opinions and suggestions.

 On June 13, 2024, Xue Qikun operated experimental instruments at the State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics at Tsinghua University. Xinhua News Agency

The quantum anomalous Hall effect focused on by Xue's team is an important quantum effect in condensed matter physics. For a long time, the quantum anomalous Hall effect has only stayed at the theoretical level and has not been confirmed by experiments. Since 1988, theoretical physicists have been proposing various solutions to this problem, but no substantial progress has been made in experiments. In 2009, Xue Qikun led the team to explore this no-man's land.

At the end of 2012, Xue's team observed the quantum anomalous Hall effect for the first time in the world. The paper on the findings was quickly accepted for publication in the journal Science. For this major scientific breakthrough, Xue Qikun won the first prize of the 2018 State Natural Science Award, and in 2020 became the first Chinese scientist to win the Fritz London Prize.

Xue Qikun said in an interview that the reason why this discovery is important is that all electronic devices, including mobile phones, computers and laptops, heat up during use. They discovered this law from the bottom layer of quantum technology, and this discovery can allow electrons to consume very little energy during movement, so it will affect many technological developments.

He said that the quantum anomalous Hall effect has become a very important research direction in quantum science around the world. This effect has not only been realized in the earliest discovered material systems, but has also been verified in other materials, which shows that it has good universality. But it is a very long process to commercialize.

Not only breakthroughs in the field of basic research, but also a number of key technology applications that are closely related to the economy and society.

For example, the project of "Key Technology and Engineering Application of the Fifth Generation Mobile Communication System (5G)" and the project of "Key Technology and Application of RF System Design Automation" won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, by the end of April 2024, a total of 3.748 million 5G base stations have been built in mainland China, accounting for 31.7% of the total number of mobile base stations in mainland China, accounting for more than 60% of the total number of 5G base stations in the world, and more than 90% of 5G base stations have been co-built and shared. The number of 5G base stations per 10,000 people was 26.6, exceeding the target of the 14th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, in the five years since the commercial use of 5G, 5G has directly driven the total economic output of about 5.6 trillion yuan and indirectly driven the total output of about 14 trillion yuan, which has effectively promoted the development of the digital economy.

The project of "Key Technology and Engineering Application of the Fifth Generation Mobile Communication System (5G)" nominated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is mainly completed by China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd., China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China Telecom Group Co., Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd., ZTE Corporation, China Information and Communication Technology Group Co., Ltd., Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Southeast University, Vivo Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd., UNISOC (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.

Based on this project, the mainland has independently developed more than 600 RF chips, components and microsystem products, and the relevant achievements have been used in more than 400 enterprises in the mainland, with more than 2 billion mass-produced products, supporting independent research and development of domestic 5G base stations/terminals and other products and a number of major projects.

Photo courtesy of Shanghai Jiaotong University

As the name suggests, "radio frequency" is the frequency that can radiate electromagnetic waves, and RF systems are widely used in wireless communication, perception and detection, automotive electronics, aerospace, intelligent systems and other fields. Due to the high operating frequency of the RF system, the wavelength is similar to the size of the circuit structure, and the distribution effect is significant. In addition, it has the characteristics of cross-scale, cross-material, multi-physics, and multi-function, and the RF system is highly complex and difficult to design and implement. RF electronic design automation technology is the source and foundation of RF technology and industrial chain, and it is also a pain point that the mainland has been stuck in for a long time.

Yicai learned from Shanghai Jiaotong University that the project led by Mao Junfa, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has broken through key technologies such as RF system modeling and simulation, design optimization, and integrated packaging, independently developed a complete set of domestic RF design automation software, designed and developed a series of RF circuit system products with excellent performance, established a chip IP library, and realized the basic independent and controllable design automation technology and design software tools of the mainland RF system. Mao Junfa said: "No matter how advanced a single chip is, it can only play a role in the system. "With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology and the increasing demand for computing power, the importance of the design idea of "integrated system" has become more prominent. He predicts that the next 60 years are likely to be the era of "integrated systems."

Improve the quality of your rewards

The 2023 National Science and Technology Award announced today is basically the same as that of 2020 in terms of the number of awards, but because no National Science and Technology Award was awarded in 2021 and 2022, it is more difficult to win the 2023 National Science and Technology Award.

In recent years, the mainland has been continuously optimizing the reform measures of the national science and technology award system.

In July 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Improving the Evaluation Mechanism of Scientific and Technological Achievements", proposing to reform and improve the reward system for scientific and technological achievements. It is clear that it is necessary to adhere to fairness and honor, focus on rewarding scientists and front-line scientific and technological personnel who have truly made creative contributions, control the number of awards, and improve the quality of awards. Adjust the evaluation cycle of the National Science and Technology Award. Improve the reward and nomination system, standardize the nomination system, mechanism, and process, and resolutely eliminate the interference of small circles such as favors, relationships, and interests, and reduce the burden on scientific researchers. Optimize science and technology award projects, scientifically position national science and technology awards, provincial and ministerial science and technology awards, and social forces set awards, and build a science and technology award system with Chinese characteristics with a reasonable structure and clear orientation. Strengthen the close integration of national science and technology awards with major national strategic needs, and increase the degree of rewards for basic research and applied basic research results.

In May this year, the "Decision of the State Council on Amending the Regulations on National Science and Technology Awards" was announced, for example, the third article was amended to read: "The National Science and Technology Award shall adhere to the national strategic orientation, and closely integrate with the major national strategic needs and the medium and long-term science and technology development plan." The State has increased incentives for basic and applied basic research in the natural sciences. The National Natural Science Award shall focus on forward-looking and theoretical, the National Technological Invention Award shall focus on originality and practicability, and the National Science and Technology Progress Award shall focus on innovation and efficiency. ”

The award-winning projects in 2023, on the whole, continue to produce major achievements in the field of basic research, the Natural Science Award has produced the first prize for 9 consecutive times, and the important scientific discoveries made by researcher Fang Zhong and his team at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the calculation and prediction of topological electronic materials have promoted the field of continental topological state of matter to stand at the forefront of the world. In many important fields such as transportation, electronic information, advanced manufacturing, medicine and health, agriculture, etc., facing the major strategic needs of the country, we have adhered to independent innovation and accumulated steadily, and have achieved a number of landmark achievements, which have played an important role in promoting the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, ensuring people's lives and health, helping rural revitalization, and promoting sustainable environmental development.

It is reported that this year's National Science and Technology Award highlights the following three important aspects in the evaluation work: highlighting the national strategic orientation, improving the nomination mechanism, and strengthening the evaluation and control. For example, adhere to the "four aspects", take serving the major national strategic needs and making creative contributions as an important principle of nomination and review, optimize the setting of the review team and the composition of experts of the review committee around the national strategic needs, and strengthen key areas. Formulate the "National Science and Technology Award Nomination Measures", consolidate the nominee's responsibilities for material checks, assist in objection handling and verification, and require the nominator and the candidate's unit to do a good job of reviewing and checking the candidate's politics, conduct, style, and integrity.

(This article is from Yicai)

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