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03-06-2006 11:11

How should China face up to the challenges of sustainable growth? For the Chinese government, the answer is innovation. Since China started reform and opening up more than two decades ago, it has chalked up annual growth of over 9 percent for a decade. The country is also planning to transform itself from being the world's largest workshop to a top laboratory. But the road of innovation is not an easy one.

For years, Doctor Cheng Jing began his day by talking with his co-workers, most of them in their 20's and 30's. Since Cheng returned to China from the US in 1997, he has seen his company grow from a small lab to a big biochip company with 300 staff members. But the beginning was not easy.

For starters, he had to get his domestic partners to believe in him and his way of doing research. That, he says, took quite some time to achieve. But there was one thing he found encouraging - the government's support for his innovation drive. He has been received by top leaders on several occasions and even lectured them on his bio-chip, a new technology that may shape the future.

From almost nothing, he has built up a team of researchers who have developed 50 different kinds of bioengineering products holding 7 patents both at home and overseas. Doctor Cheng has every reason to rely on his colleagues.

The money could amount to hundreds and even thousands of RMB. And inventors of new products can hold shares in the company. All these incentives have encouraged his employees for new ideas. 28-year-old Xie Minjuan is one who shares this ambition.

She said: "I found myself interested in all aspects of engineering knowledge in the company. I felt inspired and challenged at the same time."

The call for scientific and technological innovation is in fact going out across the country. The Chinese government has made an innovation-based economy the core of its next five-year development plan.

Wang Yuan, director of National Research Center for Science Development, said: "On the national level, the country has been pushing for innovation, encouraging enterprises to develop patented technologies and increase R & D capabilities. The goal is to increase their international competitiveness."

In this science park in north Beijing, companies like CapitalBio are mushrooming, and young faces are showing up everyday, harboring a dream for their own success and the country's future.

China is eyeing more creativity and increased efficiency to sustain the country's rapid economic growth. From government to enterprises, Chinese people have become committed to innovation."

Cheng Jing has plans to continue sales growth of 3 times every year and sell more products overseas, and even to developed countries. But most importantly, he hopes to see new ideas changed into products, in this country that's blossoming with promises.

 

Editor:Wang Ping