CCTV News:The 19th Academician Conference of China Academy of Sciences held its first plenary meeting in Jingxi Hotel on the afternoon of May 28th. Bai Chunli, President of China Academy of Sciences and Executive Chairman of the Presidium of the Faculty, made a work report entitled "Deeply study and implement the spirit of the 19th Party Congress and strive for the great cause of Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era" on behalf of the Presidium of the 8th Faculty.
This academician conference is a scientific and technological grand meeting held at an important moment when the whole country is thoroughly studying and implementing the spirit of the 19 th CPC National Congress. The main tasks of the congress are to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, take Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought of the Supreme Leader in the new era as the guide, focus on the development trend of the world’s science and technology frontier, focus on the strategic needs of national innovation and development, actively play the role of innovation as the first driving force and talent as the first resource, concentrate on wisdom, forge ahead, and strive to accelerate the construction of an innovative country and a world science and technology power and win the great victory of Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.
Bai Chunli pointed out that the important speech of the Supreme Leader General Secretary at the opening meeting this morning stood in a new historical position, systematically summarized the great practice and historical achievements of China’s scientific and technological development since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, profoundly expounded the mission and task of China’s scientific and technological development in the new era, and emphasized that "China must vigorously develop science and technology and strive to become a major scientific center and an innovative highland in the world if it wants to be strong and rejuvenated". It is clearly stated that efforts should be made to support the construction of a modern economic system, enhance the ability of independent innovation, stimulate the vitality of innovation, promote the building of a community of human destiny, and consolidate the talent base for innovation and development. In his speech, the General Secretary also fully affirmed the important contributions made by the vast number of scientific and technological workers, including academicians, in realizing historic, holistic and structural major changes in China’s scientific and technological undertakings. He hoped that we would "aim at the world’s scientific and technological frontier, lead the direction of scientific and technological development, shoulder the heavy responsibility entrusted by history, and bravely be the vanguard of scientific and technological innovation in the new era", and put forward clear requirements for the two academies to play the role of the highest academic institutions and national high-end think tanks. The general secretary’s important speech is profound in thought, rich in content and profound in emotion, which is the fundamental follow-up of scientific and technological innovation in the new era and also points out the direction for us to do a good job in the department. We should thoroughly study and understand it, and conscientiously implement it in all the work of the department.
When reviewing the work in the past two years, Bai Chunli pointed out that the past two years were two years of great historical significance in the development process of the party and the country, and also two years in which China’s scientific and technological innovation developed rapidly and the construction of an innovative country achieved fruitful results; It is a two-year period in which China Academy of Sciences has carried out the "First Action" plan in depth, and major innovations have emerged continuously. It is also a two-year period in which China Academy of Sciences has continuously deepened the reform of the academician system and continuously strengthened the team of academicians and self-construction. In the past two years, the Presidium of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has United and led all academicians, accurately grasped the functional orientation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, worked hard, and made remarkable progress and achievements in improving and perfecting the academician system, promoting the construction of national high-level scientific and technological think tanks, giving play to the leading role of academics, disseminating scientific knowledge, building scientific culture and strengthening international exchanges and cooperation.
Bai Chunli emphasized that the Presidium of the Faculty conscientiously implemented the State Council’s "Proposal on Improving and Perfecting the Academician System", actively consolidated the achievements on the basis of a good start in the previous period, made steady and in-depth progress, and completed the overall task. In 2017, 61 academicians were newly elected, with an average age of 54, and 92% of them were under 60. The problem of rejuvenation of academicians has been solved from the source. The special recommendation mechanism for emerging and interdisciplinary disciplines, national defense and national security was further improved, and the discipline structure of the academician group was further optimized. The number of newly elected foreign academicians is the highest over the years, and the nationality distribution of foreign academicians has been further optimized. In addition, the academic department actively cooperated with the implementation of the academician retirement system, conducted research and analysis on the issues that need to be concerned and the possible impact of the implementation of the academician retirement system from the requirements of improving and perfecting the academician system and the current situation of the academician team, and actively put forward policy suggestions to the relevant departments, which received great attention from the party and the state. Recently, the State Council has issued the Notice on Issues Related to Doing a Good Job in Academician Retirement, which clearly and steadily promoted the academician retirement work, and some issues that academicians are generally concerned about have been well implemented, which fully reflects the party and the state.
Bai Chunli pointed out that the department conscientiously implemented the requirements of the Supreme Leader General Secretary for the Chinese Academy of Sciences to "take the lead in building a national high-level science and technology think tank" and solidly promoted the construction of science and technology think tanks. In the past two years, the department has deployed 96 major consulting projects, and the standing committees have organized consulting research, completed 46 consulting reports and 21 suggestions from academicians, and received important instructions from central leading comrades for nearly 100 times, which provided scientific basis for the macro-decision-making of the party and the state and important support for the work of relevant departments. In the past two years, the reform of the system and mechanism has been further deepened, and the Council of Science and Technology Think Tank of China Academy of Sciences has been established as the leading decision-making body for the construction of science and technology think tanks, which has further strengthened resource integration and overall coordination; The docking and cooperation mechanism with relevant state ministries and policy research institutions has been strengthened, so that the construction of science and technology think tanks can serve the party and state decision-making more pragmatically and efficiently.
Bai Chunli emphasized that the department has long adhered to the concept of high-level, leading and exploratory, taking the strategic study of discipline development as the main line and taking academic journals, academic conferences and scientific and technological awards as the platform to further promote the systematization of academic leading work. Through independent deployment and joint deployment with the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the research on discipline development strategy has been continuously carried out. The research projects basically cover the main disciplines in China, which has played an important role in optimizing the layout of science and technology, leading the development direction of science and technology and improving the level of scientific research and education. At the same time, the academic vitality and influence of China Science and Science Bulletin have made a breakthrough. A multi-level and high-level academic exchange system consisting of annual academic conferences of academic departments, frontier forums of science and technology, small high-end forums and academic forums of various academic departments has initially taken shape; The quality and level of the Tan Kah Kee Science Award and the Youth Award have been continuously improved, and the authority, professionalism and fairness have also been better reflected.
Bai Chunli pointed out that the majority of academicians regard the dissemination of scientific knowledge, scientific methods and scientific spirit as their social responsibility, and strive to build the department into a scientific hall that holds high the banner of science and carries forward advanced culture. In the past two years, the Department has organized academicians to go deep into universities and research institutes to give lectures on "Scientific Morality and the Construction of Study Style", organized a series of activities to learn from Academician Wing Gen Lou, started the special work of oral stories of academicians, and planned and organized the publicity activities on the theme of "A Hundred Years of Scientific Life", striving to give full play to the role of academicians as models of virtue. The department pays attention to developing science education and popular science work for different needs. Facing leading cadres, mainly through the training of "scientific thinking and decision-making", support the improvement of scientific ruling ability; Facing the public, it mainly focuses on hot issues of general concern to the society and issues authoritative voices in a timely manner. In the past two years, the department has organized more than 360 reports by academicians and experts; Successfully cooperated with CCTV to shoot popular science feature films such as Revealing AIDS and Revealing Antibiotics. The scientific and authoritative science popularization work of the department has been widely recognized and praised by the society.
Bai Chunli emphasized that strengthening international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation, enhancing China’s influence in international scientific and technological circles and promoting scientific and technological diplomacy are the important missions of the department. Over the past two years, more and more academicians have held important positions in international scientific and technological organizations, and many academicians of China Academy of Sciences have been elected as academicians of academy of sciences for the developing world and other national academies or engineering institutes. The international grand science program initiated by the consulting project of the department has had a significant impact. For example, the Digital Silk Road International Science Program (DBAR) has begun to make outstanding contributions to serving the global sustainable development and the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative. The department founded the international Yanqi Lake Conference. The theme of the first conference was "Microbial Oceanography — Land and sea as a whole on carbon sinks ",the relevant achievements directly provided strong support for the writing and discussion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) marine report, and greatly strengthened China’s right to speak in the field of marine ecosystems.
Do not forget the initial intention of serving the country through science and technology, and keep in mind the mission of strengthening the country through science and technology. Bai Chunli pointed out that science and technology have always played an important role in the process of "standing up", "getting rich" and "getting strong" in modern China. Facing the new situation and new challenges in the development of science and technology in the new era, we should clearly understand the historical position and role mission of the department. At present, the ability of scientific and technological innovation does not meet the requirements of building a modern power, the level of scientific and technological innovation does not meet the goal of building a world-class scientific and technological power, the quality and efficiency of scientific and technological achievements do not meet the expectations of the country and people, the level and structure of scientific and technological teams do not meet the requirements of scientific and technological innovation development, and the system, mechanism and culture do not meet the requirements of scientific and technological innovation in the new era. Science and technology should support the country’s prosperity and rejuvenation, face up to these challenges and solve these problems, which is the main task of China’s scientific and technological circles at present and in the future, the focal point and breakthrough point for China Academy of Sciences to implement the "take the lead" plan and accelerate the reform and innovation, and also the important content of the work of the department. I hope that the academicians will dare to take the lead, set an example, be determined to innovate, and make suggestions and suggestions. In solving these major problems, they will be brave to be the leaders of science and technology, the promoters of deepening reform, the pioneers of innovation and development, and the builders of science and culture, so that the academician group will truly become the leader and vanguard of China’s construction of an innovative country and a world science and technology power.
Regarding the consideration of the next work of the department, Bai Chunli emphasized that the work of the department should be considered and coordinated under the background of the development of the cause of the party and the country, the strategy of innovation-driven development and the construction of an innovative country. It is necessary to further enhance the sense of historical responsibility and the sense of urgency of the times, keep a clear head, adhere to the problem-oriented, compare advantages, find gaps, find shortcomings and make up for shortcomings, and creatively do a good job in the work of the department with new actions and a new look. In particular, it is necessary to give full play to the exemplary role of academicians as leading talents in science and technology, promote the close integration of science and technology with economy, and better serve the construction of a socialist modern and powerful country; It is necessary to give full play to the academic leading role of the academic department as the highest academic institution in the country, observe the general trend, seek strategy and clear direction, and lead and drive China’s construction of a world science and technology power; It is necessary to give full play to the role of the department as the highest scientific and technological advisory body in the country, speed up the construction of high-level scientific and technological think tanks, and provide more high-quality decision-making basis for the party and the country; It is necessary to give full play to the main role of the academician group and further strengthen the self-construction of the department.
Bai Chunli pointed out that in his important speech, the General Secretary of the Supreme Leader clearly stated that he hoped that we would carry forward the glorious tradition of serving the country scientifically, pursue the truth, bravely climb the peak of the scientific spirit, be brave in innovation, be rigorous and realistic in academic atmosphere, consciously integrate our personal ideals into the great cause of national development, pursue diligently at the forefront of science, and constantly make breakthroughs in major scientific and technological fields; I hope that we care about and care for young talents, be good leaders in promoting post-school students, take discovering, cultivating and promoting young talents as an important responsibility, and provide more opportunities and a bigger stage for young talents to display their talents. We should bear in mind the entrustment and live up to the ardent hopes of the party, the country and the people.
At this meeting of all academicians, Bai Chunli also gave lectures to Professor Xiaodong Wang from Beijing Institute of Life Sciences, Professor Markku Tapio Kulmala from Helsinki University, Finland, Professor Paul Nurse from Francis Crick Institute in Britain, Professor Atta-ur Rahman from Karachi University, Pakistan, and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation/ Professor Valery Bondur from the Institute of Space Observation Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Jerzy Duszynski from the Polish Academy of Sciences, Professor Toshio Fukuda from Beijing Institute of Technology, Professor John Edward Hopcroft from Cornell University, Professor Yonggang Huang from Northwestern University, Professor Zhixun Shen from Stanford University, USA, Thirteen foreign academicians newly elected in recent years, including Professor James Fraser Stoddart of Northwestern University, Professor Xiao-Fan Wang of Duke University and Professor Xiaoliang Xie of Harvard University, awarded academicians’ certificates and badges.
The meeting was presided over by Ding Zhongli, vice president of China Academy of Sciences, and attended by more than 600 academicians of China Academy of Sciences and foreign academicians.