China's sci-tech achievements' commercialization contract amount reaches $18.6 billion: report

A latest annual report issued on Wednesday has shown continuous dynamism on China's scientific and technological achievements' commercialization by universities and scientific research institutes, with the total contracts amount reaching 125.61 billion yuan ($18.64 billion), according to Science and Technology Daily.

In 2020, the number and the amount of contracts awarded by 3,554 universities and scientific research institutes both increased, with the total number of contracts reaching 466,882 and the amount up to 125.61 billion yuan, according to the report. These contracts were related to the commercialization of research findings in the form of technology transfer, licensing, investment, consultancy and other ways.

A total of 261 universities and institutions have seen their scientific and technological achievements transform exceeding 100 million yuan, said the report.

The annual report was compiled by the research council for China's science and technology achievement management, National Center for Science and Technology Evaluation and the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China under the guidance of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Of the commercialization in the form of technology transfer, licensing and investment, more than 40 percent are involved with the manufacturing sector and over 60 percent are related to medium-, small- and micro-enterprises, according to the report.

It also shows regional differences in the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. For instance, East China's Shandong Province and South China's Guangdong Province have strong ability to attract scientific and technological achievements produced in other places.

Beijing and Shanghai have a large number of colleges and universities, with strong scientific research capacity to export larger scientific and technological achievements.

Also, the report listed some problems the sectors are facing such as a shortage of professionals and lack of financial support.

Compared with the previous annual report, the latest one has improved in contents including listing timely cases related to combatting COVID-19 in a scientific way, according to Science and Technology Daily.

The scientific and technological achievements' commercialization is an important part of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).