The year 2010 marked a great importance in the history of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The State Council listened to the report of the CAS on its Innovation 2020 program and approved its proposal on deepening the program, which signals the CAS is now at the threshold of an overall advancement.

In the formulation of the newly-launched Innovation 2020 program, the CAS further clarified its core value of strategic deployment and crystallized its targets, and developed a better understanding of its strategic needs and the law governing innovation activities. While collecting wisdom and soliciting advice from the whole academy, the CAS conducted top-level design and made overall arrangements, specifying strategic priority research projects, initiation of three types of centers, organization of regional innovation clusters and preferential support for best-performing research institutes that are able to start the Innovation 2020 program.

On the basis of linking up with national programs and synthesizing planning at both the academy and the institute levels, the CAS outlined a roadmap of key research and development areas for the coming five years. With collective efforts, the CAS worked out a development program from 2011 to 2015, as well as 15 key and special projects for innovation bases, human resources, academic divisions, infrastructure for research and education, allocating job missions within the first five years designated by the Innovation 2020 to the time span between 2011 and 2015 and therefore laying a solid foundation for a success of the Innovation 2020.

The CAS took an earnest, candid, comprehensive, systematic and dimensional review on the KIP, in order to draw lessons, find weakness, improve understanding and achieve better positioning. The CAS further deepened its understanding on the regular pattern of innovation and an identified placement of the CAS in the whole national innovation system, built up its confidence of trekking on the innovation path, and boosted courage for obtaining leapfrog development via reform and innovation.

The CAS spares no efforts to push pilot endeavors of the Innovation 2020, kicking off research on future advanced nuclear fission and another three cutting-edge technologies, setting up a national research center of mathematics and interdisciplinary science, propelling three plus five regional innovation clusters and picking up research institutes which are able to take lead in pioneering the Innovation 2020.

In 2011, the Communist Party of China (CPC) will celebrate the 90th anniversary of its founding and the Chinese government implements the 12th five-year (2011-2015) plan for national economy and social development. With the Innovation 2020 initiatives, the CAS is expected to take a fast lane in the coming decade.

The CAS needs to consider strategic requirements for national economy and social development, analyze global economic and research trends with a foresight, follow the principles of science and technology development, and properly judge conditions and features of the academy. The CAS also needs to skillfully handle interactions between inheriting traditions and exploring new ideas, between forward looking and pragmatic boost, between scientific research and technological applications, between large-scale research and development investment and scattered deployment, between the two decision-making mechanisms of top-bottom or bottom-up. Advocating the coordination between accommodating demands and encouraging changes, the coordination between indigenous innovation and global competition, the coordination between academic freedom and social responsibility, the CAS worked hard on combination of research and human resources development, research and education, and on support from science and technology for national strategic emerging industries.

The CAS will always hold the tenet of running the academy in a democratic and open-minded way as well as promoting the academy with talents, build the academy to an institution for the whole nation and play the role of a research engine, in a bid to offer a strong knowledge service and technological support for the country to transform its way of economic development and build a well-off society. A more confident, vigorous and innovative Chinese Academy of Sciences will reach its ambitious goals.

Although making remarkable progress in 2010, the CAS needs to continue the entrepreneurial spirit and take new glorious responsibility for the nation and the people.

On behalf of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I hereby express my heartfelt gratitude for great support from all ranks of life and from international colleagues and friends. Thank you all.

Prof. Chunli Bai, Ph. D.
President
Chinese Academy of Sciences