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Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Keywords

basic research, topic selection, problem formation, state strategic capacity, knowledge production, innovation governance

Abstract

“Topic selection” in basic research has long been a central issue in S&T and innovation policy. Traditionally, it has often been understood as the processes of designating promising projects from an existing topic list through peer review and procedural evaluation. Nevertheless, major scientific problems do not always preexist within disciplinary systems, nor are landmark scientific discoveries artificially pre-planned in advance. Rather, they gradually emerge through the continuous interaction among national strategic demands, technological evolution, industrial transformation, and major real-world challenges. This study argues that important directions in basic research are often shaped by the sustained pull of real-world problems on knowledge production. It further analyzes how the organizational mechanisms of basic research formed during China’s catch-up development stage have become increasingly unable to meet the demands of contemporary innovation paradigms and the transformation of national innovation trajectory. Taking the practices of the U.S. federal government as an example, this study reveals how major real-world problems are continuously incorporated into the scientific research system through strategic prioritization, research organization, and resource allocation. The study argues that the main challenge in contemporary basic research is not merely the selection of topics from predefined agendas, but the identification, organization, and long-term support of important yet still immature problems with strategic significance. In the context of a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation, China needs to reconstruct the problem-formation mechanism of basic research, enabling major real-world problems to continuously enter the process of knowledge production.

First page

1266

Last Page

1275

Language

Chinese

Publisher

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences

References

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