China adopts law spurring academic inventions

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature on Saturday adopted a bill that gives academics and inventors more incentives to commercially exploit their work, as the country seeks innovation-driven development.
The bill revising the Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements, was voted on by lawmakers at the end of a six-day bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
The bill allows research establishments to retain all the income from their ideas instead of turning over gains to the treasury, theoretically allowing them to reward the best scientists and fund future research.
Under the revised version, state-owned research institutes and universities are empowered to transfer or license use of their sci-tech achievements or invest with them as trade-ins.
It also raised rewards for contributing scientists from no less than 20 percent of the invention's worth in the previous version to 50 percent.
The revision aims to introduce mechanisms to motivate research and ensure enterprises play a leading role in making academic inventions more market-oriented, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said earlier when explaining the bill to lawmakers.
This is the first revision to the law in nearly two decades since it took effect in 1996.
To redress the current emphasis on theoretical achievements over application, new regulations also give enterprises more say in prospective research projects.
Advice from industries or enterprises should be taken when setting up research projects using fiscal funding or the drafting of sci-tech plans, according to the bill.
Also, government agencies should ensure enterprises play a leading role in research direction, project implementation and application of results in fiscal funded projects that have clear market prospects or industrial goals, it said.
To enhance interaction between scientists and potential industrial users, the revised law encouraged enterprises, research institutes and universities to jointly set up R&D platforms and technology transfer institutions, and to engage in more exchanges and joint training.
While allowing the market to play a more decisive role, the Chinese government has long been demanding innovation-driven development.
In a key policy meeting in October, the Communist Party of China promised better legislation in key areas including intellectual property rights protection and encouraging application of sci-tech achievements.
The revisions are expected to break rigid mechanisms that had stifled creativity and isolated academic research from attaining its full market potential.