On Feb 17, the State Council executive meeting discussed policy measures for the commercialization of scientific and technological research.

As an important move to carry out supply side reform and transform China’s scientific research system, the measures will be implemented to encourage commercialization of scientific and technological research achievements, improving productivity and advancing the country’s innovation-driven strategy.

The policy measures are not only an important move to implement the policy measures for commercialization of scientific and technological research achievements, but also an important part of further reform on the science and technology system, said Wang Yi, member of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress and director-general of the Institute of Policy and Management of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Song Hefa, an expert in intellectual property rights from the institute, said this is a major breakthrough that will help motivate scientific and technical workers.

“But one thing should be noticed that balance should be maintained between scientific and technical workers and their institutions. For example, whether they should give part of their part-time income to their institutions?” he said.

The measures put forward by the State Council for the commercialization of scientific and technological research also included regulations on profit-sharing by heads of public institutions and organizations.

Song said that an open and transparent mechanism regarding the leaders’ profits should be established to prevent loss of State-owned assets.

He also suggested that a key component of commercialization of scientific and technological research achievements is to consider market demands on scientific and technological resources, resolve the information asymmetry between suppliers and buyers, and tackle the fragmentization of intellectual property rights.

Policy measures made by the State Council executive meeting for the commercialization of scientific and technological research achievements include:

First, national research institutes and universities will have the right to commercialize their research findings to enterprises without national level approval. The policy encourages more scientific research achievements to be sold to small- and medium-sized enterprises, and calls for setting up special organizations to be in charge of such commercialization.

Second, all profits earned through such commercialization will go to research producers.

Third, at least 50 percent of such commercialization will go to major researchers.

Fourth, researchers are allowed to work with enterprises who buy their research findings for a maximum three years while keeping their position at the research body in order to help enterprises better implement research achievements.

Fifth, the commercialization of research discoveries will be included in the evaluation system of institutions and universities.

Such measures are aimed at accelerating the realization of scientific and technological achievements into productivity, an effort pushing forward the country’s innovation-driven strategy as well as its structural reform from the supply side.