context: This new plan institutionalises MoST's mission as a strategic planner, research coordinator and innovation facilitator. These changes are a direct outcome of the March 2017 ministry reshuffle.
State Council issued 'Plan for responsibilities, organisation and staffs of Ministry of Sci-Tech (MoST)', reports Science and Technology Daily. The restructuring underlines
- R&D investment priorities
- frontier technologies
- strategically important technologies
- sci-tech for agricultural and social development
- a new organ to speed up research commercialisation, through
- a national technology transfer system
- regional coordination
- national innovation demonstration zones and high-tech zones
- state-market rebalance
- promote market-driven innovation
- MoST to contribute to
- overall planing
- resource allocation
- ex post supervision and evaluation
- international involvement
- civil-military integration
- 'Belt and Road' sci-tech partnerships
- global recruitment policies
MoST's main responsibilities cover
- design of innovation strategies
- allocation of R&D funding
- key research projects on basic and applied sciences and state laboratories
- megaprojects, NKPs and major international science and engineering projects
- high-tech upgrading in agricultural and manufacturing sectors
- technology transfer and commercialisation
- high-tech parks and zones
- academic integrity and regulatory compliance
- global exchange
- talent recruitment and training
- national awards
- management of Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
- management of Science and Technology Daily
Internal organisation
- General Office
- Departments of
- Strategic Planning
- Policies, Regulation and Innovation System
- Resource Allocation and Management
- Compliance and Integrity
- Megaprojects
- Basic Research
- High-tech Development
- Agricultural Technology
- Social Development (Note: covering bio-tech, pharmaceuticals and life sciences)
- Technology Transfer and Regional Coordination
- Foreign Experts Affairs
- Talent Recruitment
- International Cooperation (Office of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan affairs)
- Personnel
Staff
- minister
- Wang Zhigang 王志刚
- four vice ministers
- Wang Wei 黄卫
- Zhang Jianguo 张建国
- Xu Nanping 徐南平
- Li Meng 李萌
- 67 departmental heads
- 364 staff members