Cross The Valley of Death
When scientific and technological innovation and R&D investment have become the keywords of current enterprise transformation, in the field of scientific and technological innovation, there has always been a popular question: "How to cross the valley of death"?
Scientific and technological innovation achievements cannot achieve effective industrialization, which leads to a fault line between scientific and technological achievements and industrial development, which is called the "valley of death" phenomenon of scientific and technological achievements transformation. This phenomenon is common in the innovation activities of various countries, especially in China. Data show that the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements in China is only about 10%, which is far lower than the level of 40% in developed countries.
From R&D to products, and then put into the market, each link is a "thrilling jump". How to cross this "valley of death" is the top priority of scientific and technological innovation. But Dr. Tan thinks that our focus on this issue may be somewhat out of focus.
"I think the biggest problem we have right now is the lack of innovative ecosystem. One of the typical deficiencies is that our universities are mostly research universities, and we don't have an engineering culture." Dr. Tan said. "Scientist thinking is the main direction that dominates the successful transformation of our science and technology. But innovation can't be academic title-only."
Dr. Tan also gave some examples to prove the difference in this way of thinking, "We can see that in many scientific and technological achievements transformation projects, are led by well-known scientists and academicians, but in fact, technology commercialization and technology research are not the same. The former needs a more complex talent, who may understand not only technology, but also business and industry. For the thinking of scientists, you can't say that it is not good at academic ability, but academic research and industrialization are two different things, it all needs to be done by professional people. This has led to a strange situation where we have so many specialists but so few people who can actually do the work."
Even for Coway, the talent dilemma still exists. "In the technology transfer industry, the flow of talent is still very large. Talent with a certain amount of accumulation can easily be lured away by other institutions with high salaries." In Dr. Tan's view, in order to solve the problem of talent shortage, it is necessary to create a better working environment through policies, so that talents can obtain full professional identity and sense of achievement. "Most of the people in the technology transfer industry are compound quality talents, and in order to make these talents develop, they must be allowed to truly develop in their careers, rather than simply survive."
In addition, " there is a lack of a truly effective competition." This is the second reason that Dr. Tan summed up. "Resources are in the hands of monopolistic SOEs (state-owned enterprises), but innovation itself requires risk, which is the opposite of the risk aversion of SOE decision makers."
Dr. Tan said that in their practice, it is not without regret to see that in many infrastructure fields such as photovoltaic power generation and new energy, the main players are still dominated by SOEs. "Private companies are more just trying to survive in the cracks."
The Central Economic Work Conference held not long ago once again emphasized to the outside world that China adheres to the "two unwavering" firm position, and stressed that it should be "clear and unequivocal", and further clarified its support for the private economy from different dimensions.
Dr. Tan believes that for private enterprises, fairness in resource allocation is equally important. "From international experience, some developed countries have clear requirements on the encouragement and distribution of innovation, for example, 20% of public-finance projects must be subcontracted to small businesses. In this way, the entrepreneurial small enterprises can have business, and the small and medium-sized enterprises can survive with business."
According to the 2022 Global Innovation Index Report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), China's global ranking in innovation has risen from 35th in 2013 to 11th, which is the tenth consecutive year that China's Global Innovation Index ranking has risen steadily since 2013. From the data, it can be seen that private enterprises are the main force of scientific and technological innovation and transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
The Intellectual Property Development Research Center of the State Intellectual Property Office recently released the "TOP10 Invention patents granted by private Enterprises in China (2021)". It is mentioned that among all kinds of innovation subjects, China's private enterprise innovation is more powerful, and has become the main force of China's innovation to some extent.
According to the report, over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, private enterprises, as an important subject of scientific and technological innovation, have contributed 70% of the technological innovation achievements of the whole society, 80% of the national specialized and special new small giants and 90% of high-tech enterprises.
In other words, Dr. Tan said that private enterprises are playing a huge role in promoting scientific and technological innovation as long as more resources and space are opened up to private enterprises in the future, this is also the opportunity in the future.
Source| Coway International TechTrans Co., Ltd.
