Draft Guidelines for the 2018 Application of the ''Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment Development Project'' (Full Text)

[Summary] The Ministry of Science and Technology's High-Tech Department has released a draft for public comment on the 2018 project application guidelines for nine key national R&D programs, including the development of major scientific instruments and equipment in high-tech fields.

On May 23, 2017, the Department of High-Tech Research and Development of the Ministry of Science and Technology issued a notice soliciting public comments on the 2018 project application guidelines for nine key national R&D programs, including clean and efficient utilization of coal and new energy-saving technologies, smart grid technologies and equipment, new energy vehicles, advanced rail transit, earth observation and navigation, additive manufacturing and laser manufacturing, development of major scientific instruments and equipment, key technologies and support platforms for materials genome engineering, and strategic advanced electronic materials. The comment period was from May 24 to June 7, 2017.

Suggested Project Application Guidelines for the 2018 Key Special Project on the Development of Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment

To implement the tasks outlined in the "National Medium- and Long-Term Science and Technology Development Plan Outline (2006-2020)," "Made in China 2025," and the "Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization," the National Key R&D Program launched the "Development of Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment" key special project. Based on the implementation plan of this key special project, the following suggestions for project guidelines for 2018 are hereby proposed.

The overall goal of this key special project is to closely address the significant needs of my country's scientific and technological innovation and economic and social development for scientific instruments and equipment, fully consider my country's existing foundation and capabilities, and, on the basis of inheriting and developing the achievements of the "12th Five-Year Plan" National Major Scientific Instruments and Equipment Development Special Project, adhere to the principles of government guidance and enterprise leadership, focusing on the present while looking to the future, overall advancement and key breakthroughs. It will take the independent R&D of key core technologies and components as a breakthrough point, focusing on the instrument development, application development, engineering development, and industrialization development of high-end general-purpose scientific instruments and equipment and specialized major scientific instruments and equipment, driving innovation in scientific instrument system integration, and effectively improving the overall innovation level and self-equipment capabilities of my country's scientific instrument and equipment industry. This special project aims to construct a national scientific instrument development chain encompassing "instrument principle verification → key technology R&D (software and hardware) → system integration → application demonstration → industrialization," improve the transformation and cooperation model of achievements through industry-academia-research-application integration and collaborative innovation, and stimulate the vitality and creativity of the industry and enterprises. It will strengthen technological innovation and product reliability and stability testing, introduce important user application demonstrations, expand product application fields, and significantly enhance the sustainable development capability and core competitiveness of my country's scientific instrument industry.

This special project fully utilizes relevant detection principles, methods, technologies, or research devices already obtained through national science and technology programs (projects, funds) or other channels to conduct system integration, application development, and engineering development, forming major scientific instrument and equipment products with independent intellectual property rights, robustness, and rich functionality, serving scientific research and economic and social development. Following the principle of full-chain deployment and integrated implementation, this project sets up three task directions: key core components, high-end general-purpose scientific instruments, and specialized major scientific instruments. The project implementation period is 5 years (2016-2020).