The Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, formerly the State Science and Technology Commission, is the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or del ...

ministry which coordinates science and technology activities in the country. The office is located in

Xicheng District Xicheng District () is a district of Beijing. Xicheng District spans , covering the western half of the old city (largely inside the 2nd Ring Road - the eastern half is Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District), and has 706,691 inhabitant ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The ministry is responsible for formulating guidelines and related policies for

science and technology in China Science and technology in China have developed rapidly during the 1980s to 2010s, and major scientific and technological achievements have been made since the 1980s. From the 1980s to the 1990s, the Chinese government successively launched t ...

development and promoting basic and special research on science and technology. The Ministry develop human resources, including introducing foreign intellectual planning and organising international scientific and technological cooperation and talent exchanges and strengthening China's innovation capabilities in the field of international scientific research.

History of ministry

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 Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

in 1956 and was renamed as 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 () was in session from 1998 to 2003. It held five plenary sessions in this period. It followed the final session of the 8th National People's Congress. There were 2,979 deputies to this Congress. Election resul ...

in 1998.

Restructuring in 2018

The major restructuring was in 2018. The Ministry of Science and Technology was approved for reorganisation at the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...

, where 15 ministries were be merged, reorganised, or abolished. The most significant departmental adjustment is 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 Ta ...

(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. The change has raised concerns among

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

research departments and individual scientists, who are concerned that funding for research unrelated to government priorities may reduce. The Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang responded to this concern that ministry will not force scientists to target specific research directions, scientists will conduct research in a free research environment. In addition, The

State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs The State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA; ) was an agency of the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) that operated under the State Council and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. It was responsi ...

was also merged into the Ministry of Science and Technology in this reorganisation. The merger of this department reflects that China will invest more in global research cooperation.

List of ministers

Missions of Ministry

* Formulate policies and directions for the development of

innovative Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed enti ...

science and technology, introduce and implement foreign scientific policies. * Promote the reform of China's innovation system and scientific system, and improve the incentive mechanism for scientific and technological innovation. Optimise the scientific

research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

system, promote the development of scientific research institutes, enhance the innovation capabilities of

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

s, and build a national major scientific decision-making consultation system. * Responsible for establishing a unified technology management platform for scientific research funding allocation, evaluation, and supervision. Work with relevant departments to build a diversified management system to supervise the central financial science and technology plan. * Formulate and implement national basic research policies, and organise major national basic research and applied research projects. Build and supervise scientific and technological innovation bases, participate in the formulation of major scientific infrastructure, lead the establishment of

State Key Laboratories The State Key Laboratories () is strong group of university and research institution laboratories receiving funding and administrative support from the central government of the People's Republic of China. These labs often specialize in areas such ...

, and promote scientific research environmental protection and

resource sharing In computing, a shared resource, or network share, is a computer resource made available from one host to other hosts on a computer network. It is a device or piece of information on a computer that can be remotely accessed from another compu ...

. * Formulate plans for major national science and technology projects and supervise their implementation, coordinate the research and development of key cutting-edge

technologies Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

, modern engineering technologies, and innovative technologies, and organise demonstrations of the application of major technologies. Coordinates international mega science programs and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

. * Organise the development and industrialisation of innovative technologies, and promote the development of agriculture, rural areas and society through science and technology. Organise and carry out technical development needs analysis in key areas, propose task directions and supervise implementation. * Lead the construction of the national technology transfer system, formulate relevant policies and measures for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and promote the combination of learning and scientific research, and supervise the implementation. Guide the development of science and technology service industry, technology market and science and technology organisation. * Coordinate the construction of regional scientific and technological innovation systems, guide the innovation and development of various regions, rationally distribute scientific and technological resources, and build innovation capabilities, and promote the construction of science and technology parks. * Responsible for the construction and management of the scientific and technological evaluation system, and coordinate the construction of scientific research integrity. Organise the implementation of the national innovation investigation and scientific and technological reporting system, and guide the national scientific and technological

confidentiality Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...

work. * Formulate plans and measures for scientific and technological foreign exchanges and open cooperation in innovation capacity, organise international scientific and technological cooperation and conduct scientific talent exchanges. Guiding relevant departments and localities for foreign scientific and technological cooperation and scientific and technological personnel exchanges. * Responsible for the introduction of foreign scientific talents. Formulate and organize the implementation of national key plans for the introduction of foreign experts. Establish a mechanism for attracting top foreign

scientists A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophi ...

, a team and a service mechanism for contacting key foreign experts. Formulate overseas training plans and supervise the implementation of policies. * Formulate plans and policies for team building of scientific and technological talents with relevant departments, and establish a complete evaluation and incentive mechanism for scientific and technological talents. Promote the construction of high-tech innovative talent teams. Formulate plans and policies for the popularisation and dissemination of

science education Science education is the teaching and learning of science to school children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education includes work in science content, science process (the scientific method), some ...

. * Responsible for the evaluation of the

Highest Science and Technology Award The Highest Science and Technology Award () also known as the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, State Supreme Science and Technology Award, or China's Nobel Prize is the highest scientific award issued by the President of the PRC to ...

and the

Friendship Award The Chinese Government's Friendship Award () is the People's Republic of China's highest award for "foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress". The award was first established in 1950s, ...

. * Responsible for the management of the

, macro-management, overall coordination, supervision and evaluation of NSFC in accordance with the law. * Responsible for the management of

Science and Technology Daily ''Science and Technology Daily'' (, Keji Ribao) is the official newspaper of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China. It is published in Chinese and based in Beijing. Historically, it was one of the few Chinese n ...

. * Complete other scientific and technological tasks assigned by 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 Eco ...

(UN DESA) reached an agreement with the goal of strengthening knowledge sharing, capacity building and cooperation in sustainable development among countries. In addition, Mr.

Liu Zhenmin Liu Zhenmin (; born August 1955) is a Chinese diplomat who served as the Under-Secretary-General for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs from 2017 to 2022. He was appointed to the position effective on 26 July 2017. Previ ...

, 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 (envirotech) or green technology (greentech), also known as ''clean technology'' (''cleantech''), is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic device ...

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 Catho ...

held talks with Wang Zhigang, Minister of MOST, to discuss issues such as jointly advancing scientific development in the

global South The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify regio ...

. 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 executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

(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) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 2022 ...

annually to support the cooperation between China and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

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

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...

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 astrona ...

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, 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, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

, 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. 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 conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...

Queensland Government

The

Queensland government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

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 renewable energy technology,

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, advanced materials,

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

, agriculture, etc.

The National Research Council Canada

In February 2016, representatives from the

National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

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 international organizations such as the World Ba ...

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

Innovation Fund Denmark

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

sustainable city The sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for social, economic, environmental impact (commonly referred to as the triple bottom line), and resilient habitat for existing populations, without compromis ...

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

smart city A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in retur ...

Supported project

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 det ...

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 kidney disease in which a gradual loss of kidney function occurs over a period of months to years. Initially generally no symptoms are seen, but later symptoms may include leg swelling, feeling tired, ...

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed Industrial sector, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is al ...

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, the logistic model (or logit model) is a statistical model that models the probability of an event taking place by having the log-odds for the event be a linear function (calculus), linear combination of one or more independent var ...

. The survey concluded that the estimated prevalence of chronic kidney disease in China 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 (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Researchers speculate that the prevalence of hypertension and

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

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, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with t ...

Plasma Surface Metallurgy project

The MOST has corresponding support in material research in2018.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 sci ...

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 at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...

material will contribute to China's

industry and

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % su ...

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 stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

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 utilisation 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 adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

and efficient utilisation 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), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest tec ...

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 production of renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel derived sources of energy, and for the recovery and reus ...

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 and technology in the People's Republic of China China China, Science and technology 1998 establishments in China