On May 13, the reporter learned from the science and technology evaluation center of the Ministry of science and Technology (the national science and Technology Evaluation Center) that the "2019 annual report on the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in China (part of colleges and research institutes)" has recently been published nationwide. According to the report, in 2018, the contract amount of 3200 institutions of higher learning in the form of transfer, license and pricing investment to transform scientific and technological achievements reached 17.73 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52.2%, and the number of contracts was 11302.

Among them, 32 units with a total amount of more than 100 million yuan of conversion contracts. The contract amount of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements from R & D projects funded by the state financial funds has increased significantly, with a contract amount of 5.61 billion yuan, an increase of 78.4% over the same period of last year.

The report was jointly compiled by the China Science and technology evaluation and results management association, the national science and technology assessment center and the China Institute of science and technology information, and was guided by the Department of achievement transformation and regional innovation of the Ministry of science and technology.

6.76 billion in cash and equity awards

The report points out that the scale of transformation of scientific and technological achievements has continued to rise, and the awards for transformation have increased significantly. In 2018, 68000 researchers were awarded cash and equity. The amount of cash and equity awards received by researchers reached 6.76 billion yuan, up 44.9% year on year.

"The high-value transformation of scientific and technological achievements is constantly emerging, and the cooperation between industry, University and research has helped to continuously improve the ability of innovation driven development." Han Jun, deputy chief appraiser of the national science and technology evaluation center and Secretary General of the China Science and technology evaluation and results management research association, explained that the average price of scientific and technological achievements trading contracts increased significantly, and the average amount of transformation contracts was 1.569 million yuan. The amount of technology shares increased strongly, and the contract value of transforming scientific and technological achievements by way of fixed price investment was as high as 7.92 billion yuan.

Moreover, large amount of scientific and technological achievements transformation projects are frequent, and the contract amount of "Zhongcang Guoneng (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd." of Institute of Engineering Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, amounts to 1.75 billion yuan.

According to the report, in 2018, 3200 colleges and universities signed technology transfer (including transfer, licensing, pricing and equity), technology development, technology consulting and technical service contracts, with a total amount of 93.08 billion yuan; the total number of R & D institutions, transfer institutions and transformation service platforms jointly built with enterprises was 8247, an increase of 14.8% year-on-year.

"In the process of transformation of scientific and technological achievements, some colleges and universities, combined with the actual situation, have explored the formation of achievements transformation mode in line with their own characteristics. Such as breaking through the policy chain and improving the evaluation system. We will deepen industry university research cooperation and improve the efficiency of scientific and technological achievements transformation. " Han Jun, for example, said that Shanghai Jiaotong University has formed a new mechanism of "five step transfer method" for achievement transformation projects and "authorized investment + property right division" for valuation investment projects, so as to realize the innovation of achievement transformation mode and mechanism.

It is worth noting that some colleges and universities aim at the national strategy and market demand, promote the industrialization of high-value achievements, pay attention to the training of talents for technology transfer, and improve the incentive mechanism, which effectively improves the level and motivation of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has established a collaborative working mechanism between the science and technology development department and the asset management company to effectively link up the "transformation of scientific research and innovation achievements in the early stage" and "the implementation of post investment management in the later stage". The total amount of the annual conversion contract reached 1.92 billion yuan; Sun Yat sen University has built a talent system of "school management staff part-time professional managers of colleges and departments, professional team of the company and scientific research personnel". In 2018, the contract amount of scientific and technological achievements transformed by means of transfer, license and pricing investment increased by 5 times compared with the same period of last year

New solutions to the old problems of achievement transformation

"Positive progress has been made in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and the construction of the national technology transfer system, but there are still some institutional and institutional problems. We need to strengthen overall coordination, improve the ability of policy implementation and professional services, and effectively promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements." Han Jun said frankly that the policies related to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements need to be further implemented. "Although the right to use, dispose of and profit from scientific and technological achievements have been delegated to colleges and universities, some units have not implemented them in place. Due to the lack of mechanisms and policies such as fault tolerance and error correction, some units are still worried about the loss of state-owned assets. "

According to the statistical data of the report, 688 institutions (21.5%) of 3200 institutions of higher learning have set up technology transfer institutions, and only 307 units think that technology transfer institutions play an important role in the transformation of achievements.

The report points out that not only is the popularization of specialized technology transfer institutions insufficient, but the existing technology transfer institutions still have the phenomenon of "small scale, less service and weak ability", and there is a serious shortage of high-level and specialized technology transfer service talents.

What can not be ignored is that there are still several old problems to be solved in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements in China, such as the lack of mature platform for pilot scale test, smooth docking channels between supply and demand sides, insufficient financial support for transformation of scientific and technological achievements, imperfect assessment and incentive mechanism for transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and absence of evaluation system and policy consultation service for scientific and technological achievements.

"The weight of the achievements transformation of colleges and universities into the assessment system is too low, the" four only "problems still exist, and the evaluation and incentive mechanism for the personnel of achievements transformation are not perfect." In Han Jun's view, there is still a lack of evaluation standards for scientific and technological achievements, the authority of evaluation is difficult to define, and the transformation policy of scientific and technological achievements needs to be implemented and the consulting system needs to be improved.

It is understood that the Ministry of science and technology and other relevant ministries and units are working closely to consider issuing relevant policy documents to solve such problems.