"High-level referees often make athletes feel their presence without disrupting the flow of the game, ensuring smoothness and compliance." According to Professor Li Yujian of Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing's lump sum system for fiscal research project funding acts like such a "referee."
Improving the management of research project funding is the key to igniting the innovative vitality of researchers. Over the past decade, Beijing has continuously deepened reforms in research funding, focusing on eliminating institutional barriers and maximizing the autonomy of researchers in managing resources.
Especially since 2021, Beijing has piloted the lump sum system for three types of projects: the Beijing Natural Science Foundation Special Project, the Science and Technology Rising Star Program, and the Special Science and Technology Projects of independent legal entities. This has allowed more and more researchers to break free from cumbersome financial matters, focus on their main research responsibilities, and complete the "last mile" of lightening the load.
No need to prepare budget estimates, more flexible use of funds... In 2022, the 14 pilot units of the Beijing Natural Science Foundation jointly submitted 2372 project applications for the 2023 municipal fund. Just by eliminating the need for budget preparation, they saved at least 2372 days of application time and reduced the number of fund adjustments by more than 200 times. In addition, over 80 pilot projects have addressed urgent needs through a "special handling, as needed" procurement mechanism.
Constant strides forward ignite Beijing's scientific and technological innovation vitality
Innovation is essentially driven by talent. For a long time, issues such as excessively detailed and rigid management of research funds, complicated expense reimbursement procedures, and prioritizing equipment over personnel have severely restrained the innovative vitality of researchers, becoming a major obstacle to technological innovation.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have successively issued a series of policy documents and reform measures to optimize the management of research funds, continuously deepening reforms in research projects, research teams, and the adjustment and management of research funds, granting researchers greater autonomy in personnel, financial, and material matters.
In recent years, Beijing has continued to explore and promote policies and measures for reforming the management of scientific and technological funds in accordance with the requirements of central government reform documents. On average, a new round of reforms in research fund management has been launched every 2 to 3 years, with many reform initiatives being national pioneers.
From 2010 to 2013, Beijing took the lead in launching a pilot project for indirect expenses of scientific and technological projects, leveraging the advantages of the Zhongguancun "leading-edge experimentation" system. From the "Trial Measures for the Management of Indirect Costs of Major Scientific and Technological Projects (Topics) in Zhongguancun National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone" to the "Trial Measures for the Management of Funds for Major Scientific and Technological Projects in Zhongguancun National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone," research project funds gradually shifted to a comprehensive direct-indirect cost management model.
From 2014 to 2015, Beijing initiated a systematic reform of scientific and technological fund management, revising and issuing the "Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Plan Project (Topic) Fund Management Measures," with greater breakthroughs in areas such as the determination of indirect cost ratios.
From 2016 to 2018, Beijing comprehensively promoted the reform of "streamlining administration, delegating powers, and improving regulation and services," issuing the "Several Policy Measures of Beijing Municipality on Further Improving the Management of Financial Research Projects and Funds" (referred to as the "28 Measures"). It actively introduced "streamlining and incentivizing" measures for the management of scientific and technological funds and successively introduced a series of reform measures to ensure the full implementation of the "28 Measures."
From 2019 to 2020, Beijing further intensified its reform efforts, promoting the improvement of a trust-based research management mechanism, and issued the "Several Policy Measures on Deepening the Reform of the Science and Technology System in the New Era and Accelerating the Construction of the National Science and Technology Innovation Center" (referred to as the "30 Measures"), proposing new reform breakthroughs such as conducting pilot projects for lump-sum funding of research projects.
In 2021, with the issuance of the "Opinions on Reforming and Improving the Management of Central Government Scientific Research Funds" by the General Office of the State Council, the scope of lump-sum funding implementation was expanded. Beijing also successively introduced policies to include three types of scientific research projects—Beijing Natural Science Foundation Special Projects, Science and Technology Rising Star Program Special Projects, and Special Projects of independent legal entities—into the lump-sum funding trial for fiscal research project funds, broadening the scope and intensity of the reform.
Since then, a new round of fund management reforms has begun.
Lightening the load and boosting efficiency to enhance the quality of scientific research
More trust, greater autonomy, more focused time, and a more energetic state... At every stage, from budget preparation to fund allocation and utilization, and audit supervision, the lump sum system has undergone a "full-chain empowerment," returning time completely to researchers.
"The lump sum system has freed us researchers from various cumbersome reports and allowed us to focus on basic research." Lu Jian, a professor and chief physician of urology at Peking University Third Hospital, was among the first batch of participants in the Beijing Natural Science Foundation project's lump sum system pilot.
Having been rooted in medical basic research for more than 20 years, Lu Jian admitted that due to individual differences in the human body, it is necessary to continuously adjust research techniques and strategies in a timely manner.
With the support of the lump sum system, Lu Jian's team not only established a multi-center, large-sample database of Chinese prostate cancer multi-omics but also achieved good results in new theories of prostate cancer imaging detection and new technologies of artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis and treatment. Beijing Jiaotong University is also one of the pilot units for the municipal natural fund's "lump sum" system. When talking about the benefits of the "lump sum" reform of the municipal natural fund, Li Yujian first mentioned that researchers no longer need to worry about budgeting.
He pointed out that it's difficult to accurately evaluate scientific research projects in terms of goals, methods, inputs, timelines, risks, etc., but when preparing project funding budgets, it often requires predicting the consumption of materials and reagents three to five years in advance. The "lump sum" system has lifted the shackles on researchers from "writing books and budgeting."
In recent years, Li Yujian has been developing a terahertz communication antenna system for the sixth generation, but due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, although travel expenses in project funding have been greatly reduced, they encountered an embarrassing situation where the cost of certain materials rose by over 50%. If it were under traditional policies, he would not only have to go through multiple procedures for changes but also write tedious materials. However, the "lump sum" policy allows researchers to use funds more flexibly.
The procurement mechanism of "handling special matters promptly and processing upon arrival" in the "lump sum" system also solved an urgent problem for Professor Zhang Chunjie of Beijing Jiaotong University.
In 2021, Zhang Chunjie originally reserved 100,000 yuan for purchasing hardware components, but suddenly encountered a sharp rise in prices. Every day of delay in purchasing resulted in additional expenses.
Due to the simplified approval process under the "lump sum" system, they were able to successfully purchase the required hardware equipment in advance. The availability of hardware also led Zhang Chunjie's team to win the championship at the DeeperAction Challenge held at the European Conference on Computer Vision in 2022.
Strengthening the red line and playing a good combination of scientific research ecology
Officially launched in October 2018 and now a global industry leader, Beijing Graphene Research Institute, as an "experimental field" for exploring the Beijing municipal technology research and development mechanism, has borne the "fruits of industry" from the flower of scientific innovation.
In 2016, the Beijing municipal government boldly innovated and jointly supported the establishment of the Beijing Graphene Research Institute with Peking University, led by academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Nanotechnology Research Center of Peking University, Liu Zhongfan, to carry out key common technology research and engineering of graphene.
According to relevant personnel from the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Management Committee, when the Beijing Graphene Research Institute officially started operating, the Beijing municipal government set up independent technology special funds to support the institute in conducting technical research, talent training, platform building, and creating a solid graphene advantage foundation to ensure the institute's development "lifeline" and enable researchers to carry out research work continuously and steadily.
As the first "independent legal person research and development institution technology special funds" pilot under the "lump sum" system, more than 300 researchers at the institute have further activated their innovation vitality.
Liu Zhongfan, the director of the Beijing Graphene Research Institute, introduced that the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Management Committee have delegated the project selection right to the institute, managing only according to a "negative list." The institute no longer needs to apply for each project to the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Management Committee, nor does it need to prepare budgets separately. Instead, it can plan overall layout according to the development direction, changing the problem of possible research fragmentation in the past.
The Beijing Graphene Research Institute Co., Ltd., established synchronously with the institute, also achieved an annual revenue of over 60 million yuan in 2022, more than five times higher than that of 2021, and successively won many honorary titles such as "national high-tech enterprise," "Zhongguancun high-tech enterprise," and "Beijing specialized and new" enterprise, accelerating its industrial development.
In March 2023, the first round of "lump sum" projects of the Beijing Graphene Research Institute passed expert acceptance and was rated as excellent.
"Establishing untouchable 'red lines' and boldly delegating authority for fund utilization." In Liu Zhongfan's view, the "lump sum" system is a policy that adapts to the characteristics of scientific research activities and the laws of scientific research innovation.
The "negative list" mechanism established by the Beijing Municipal Natural Fund has set a "red line" for the use of project funds, combining human-oriented approaches with corresponding supervision mechanisms, allowing researchers to balance the use of funds on a "balance beam" effectively.
Since the issuance of the "lump sum" plan, nearly 1,400 scientific research projects have been implemented, covering approximately 5,000 researchers, with a total support fund of about 490 million yuan. Under this resounding innovative system, the innovative vitality of researchers has been accelerated, helping Beijing accelerate the construction of an internationally influential hub of science and technology innovation.
2024 is a critical year for achieving the goals and tasks of the "14th Five-Year Plan." The Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau, in conjunction with the Municipal Science and Technology Commission and the Zhongguancun Management Committee, has sorted out the key points, difficulties, and bottlenecks of the implementation of the "lump sum" system, collected and focused on solving common problems, and formulated and issued the "Beijing Municipal Natural Science Fund Project Fund Management Measures," comprehensively promoting the implementation of the "lump sum" management in the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Fund.
