The Ministry of Science and Technology is the

executive department The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

of the Central Science and Technology Commission, which coordinates science and technology activities in the country. The office is located in

Xicheng District Xicheng () is a district of the city of Beijing. Its cover the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road; the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 1,106,214 inhabitants (2020 Census). It ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. The ministry is responsible for formulating guidelines and related policies for science and technology in China development and promoting basic and special research on science and technology.

History

The predecessor of MOST was the National Technical Committee established at the 28th Plenary Session of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative authority of China, headed by the Premier * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of S ...

in 1956. It merged with the Scientific Planning Commission to form the State Science and Technology Commission in 1958. The commission was abolished in 1970, but was re-established in March 1978. The commission was renamed to the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China at the

9th National People's Congress The 9th National People's Congress (NPC) was in session from 1998 to 2003 across five plenary sessions. It followed the final session of the 8th National People's Congress. There were 2,979 deputies to this Congress. Background This was the f ...

in 1998. In 2018, the Ministry of Science and Technology was approved for restructuring at the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

as part of the

deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions The deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions ( zh, , p=Shēnhuà dǎng hé guójiā jīgòu gǎigé, s=深化党和国家机构改革) was a large-scale reform of the institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Peopl ...

. The most significant departmental adjustment was the merger of the

National Natural Science Foundation of China The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; ) is an organization directly affiliated to China's State Council for the management of the National Natural Science Fund. History NSFC was founded in February 1986 by theoretical chemist ...

(NSFC) into the Ministry of Science and Technology. The NSFC is a semi-autonomous research funding agency that provided about $4.7 billion in funding to 120,000 research projects in 2017. In addition, the

State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA; ) is an external name used by China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. SAFEA was previously its own agency of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) that ...

(SAFEA) was also merged into the Ministry of Science and Technology. The merger of this department reflected China's intention to invest more in global research cooperation. In 2023, the Ministry was further reformed as part of the

plan on reforming Party and state institutions The plan on reforming Party and state institutions ( zh, , p=Dǎng hé guójiā jīgòu gǎigé fāng'àn, s=党和国家机构改革方案) was a large-scale reform of the institutions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Repub ...

, with several responsibilities transferred to other departments. The Ministry would no longer take part in evaluating and managing specific research projects, instead playing a mainly supervisory and guiding role, as well as overseeing the implementation of scientific research projects and evaluating their results. Additionally, several organizations under the Ministry were transferred to other departments; the SAFEA was transferred to the

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) is a ministry under the State Council of China which is responsible for national labor policies, standards, regulations and managing the national social security. This includes labor ...

, the China Rural Technology Development Center was transferred to the

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

, the China Biotechnology Development Center was transferred to the

National Health Commission The National Health Commission (NHC) is a Ministries of the People's Republic of China, cabinet-level executive department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China which is responsible for formulating national health policies. It ...

, and the China Agenda 21 Management Center and the High Technology Research and Development Center were placed under the

Cooperation

The United Nations (UN)

In December 2017, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Econ ...

(UN DESA) reached an agreement with the goal of strengthening knowledge sharing, capacity building and cooperation in

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

among countries. In addition, Mr.

Liu Zhenmin Liu Zhenmin (; born August 1955) is a Chinese diplomat who was named as the country's special envoy for climate change on 12 January 2024. Previously he had served as the Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations Department of Economic and ...

, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that DESA and MOST signed a memorandum of understanding to encourage developing countries to conduct joint research in the field of

green technology Environmental technology (or envirotech) is the use of engineering and technological approaches to understand and address issues that affect the environment with the aim of fostering environmental improvement. It involves the application of scien ...

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS)

In July 2019, TWAS Executive Director

Romain Murenzi Romain Murenzi (born February 1959) is a Rwandan-American physicist and former Rwandan science minister. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Burundi in 1982. In 1986 he received his master's degree in physics from Catholi ...

held talks with

Wang Zhigang Wang Zhigang (; born October 1957) is a Chinese Information engineering (field), information engineer who served as the Ministry of Science and Technology (China), Minister of Science and Technology from 2018 to 2023. Previously, he served as ge ...

, Minister of MOST, to discuss issues such as jointly advancing scientific development in the

global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...

. Murenzi said that the cooperative relationship between China and TWAS began 35 years ago at the beginning of TWAS establishment, and proposed to strengthen more scientific exchanges and cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in the future.

European Union (EU)

In 2009, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology established a scientific cooperation program with the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

(CE), with the goal of conducting joint projects in scientific research areas of mutual interest. On December 16, 2015, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China launched a call for proposals. MOST will provide 200 million

RMB The renminbi ( ; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of Chin ...

annually to support the cooperation between

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an partners in various fields. The main supported scientific research fields are

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, etc.

Australian Government

The Australia-China Science and Research Fund (ACSRF)

This fund is jointly managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

, and mainly supports strategic scientific and technological cooperation between Australia and China. The priority research fields supported by ACSRF are the fields of food and agriculture,

health technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

, and

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

. ACSRF will also fund the establishment of joint research centers, hold special scientific lectures and conduct exchange programs for young

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

Queensland Government

The

Queensland government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...

was the first state in Australia to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, originally signed in 2008 and renewed in 2014. It covers cooperation in the fields of

technology, environment, advanced materials,

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

, agriculture, etc.

The National Research Council Canada

In February 2016, representatives from the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

and MOST signed a letter of intent to support collaboration and funding in scientific and technological innovation. Vice President of the Industrial Research Assistance Program at the National Research Council of Canada Mr. Bogdan Ciobanu said that this agreement provides channels for Canadian

Small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organiza ...

to cooperate, fund, and promote with their Chinese counterparts and explain that this partnership will increase the global presence of

Canadian companies Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Canada is the world's eighth-largest economy , with a nominal GDP of approximately US$2.2 trillion. It is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OE ...

Innovation Fund Denmark

In 2020, MOST and Innovation Fund Denmark carried out bilateral cooperation on

sustainable city A sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for the Sustainability, social, economic, and environmental impact (commonly referred to as the triple bottom line), as well as a resilient habitat for existing po ...

development solutions. In this project, Innovation Fund Denmark will allocate 15 million

Danish krone The krone (; plural: ''kroner''; sign: kr.; code: DKK) is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code "DKK" and currency sign "kr." are in common use; the former precedes ...

, and MOST will allocate 20 million

to support four to five joint innovation research projects. The background of this cooperation is that both parties want to contribute to sustainable urban development, and the priority areas for funding are

energy storage Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an Accumulator (energy), accumulator or Batte ...

and

smart city A smart city is an urban area that uses digital technology to collect data and operate services. Data is collected from citizens, devices, buildings, or cameras. Applications include traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities ...

Supported projects

Chronic kidney disease survey

The survey is a nationwide

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

survey supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and a total of 50,500 adults were invited to conduct the survey. The background of this survey is that the prevalence of

chronic kidney disease Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a type of long-term kidney disease, defined by the sustained presence of abnormal kidney function and/or abnormal kidney structure. To meet criteria for CKD, the abnormalities must be present for at least three mo ...

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

is relatively high, but there is no such related survey in China. To specifically analyse the factors related to chronic kidney disease, this survey uses

logistic regression In statistics, a logistic model (or logit model) is a statistical model that models the logit, log-odds of an event as a linear function (calculus), linear combination of one or more independent variables. In regression analysis, logistic regres ...

. The survey concluded that the estimated prevalence of chronic kidney disease in

is similar to that in developed countries such as the United States and Norway. However, the prevalence of stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease is lower than the prevalence in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Researchers speculate that the prevalence of

hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

and

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

in China has increased rapidly in the past 20 years. Therefore, the prevalence of stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease will gradually increase in the next decade. The final result shows that chronic kidney disease has become one of the most important public health problems in China, and it needs more attention in rural areas with the poor

economy An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

Plasma Surface Metallurgy project

The MOST has corresponding support in material research in 2018.The main research direction of this project is the plasma surface

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

technique. The research has developed an alloy material that can withstand the requirements of industrial applications above 800 °C and has oxidation resistance. This

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

material will contribute to China's

industry and

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...

Coal energy development

Since 2005, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has formulated the main development direction of China's medium and long-term national energy is the new

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

chemical industry, to reduce environmental pollution and dependence on imported crude oil.

Before 2005

Most of China's energy was produced by burning

. This method of coal utilization would produce a lot of harmful gases, which directly led to the world's top ten polluted cities all in China, and huge economic losses. Since 2005, under the strategy of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the energy consumption and industrial scale of the coal chemical industry have increased year by year. This strategy is expected to reduce China's air

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

and efficient utilization of coal and other issues.

After 2010

An article published in Renewable & sustainable energy reviews in 2015 pointed out that China's energy consumption and production in 2010 were greater than the early forecasts of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. China's energy consumption has grown rapidly from 6% to 20% of the world's energy consumption in 30 years. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions have risen from 8 percent of the world's total to 24 percent in 30 years. These facts prove that the new coal chemical industry promoted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in 2005 has not freed China from problems such as excessive energy consumption and air pollution. The main reason for the wrong direction of the national

development strategy is that the Ministry of Science and Technology of China incorrectly estimated the modern per capita living energy consumption. In the context of

high tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the state of the art, cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the ...

development, China's per capita living energy consumption is on average 50% higher than a decade ago.

Future

It is speculated that the future

energy development Energy development is the field of activities focused on obtaining sources of energy from natural resources. These activities include the production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and re ...

strategy formulated by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China will consist of three parts, namely improving energy efficiency, using more non-coal energy, and promoting national energy conservation. As for the specific energy development strategy, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has not officially issued a statement.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Science And Technology Of The People's Republic Of China

Science and technology Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

Science and technology in the People's Republic of China

China, Science and technology 1998 establishments in China