The General Office of the State Council “Several Opinions on Reforming and Improving the Management of Central Financial Research Funds” (hereinafter referred to as “Opinions”) was officially released on the 13th to further encourage scientific researchers to produce more high-quality scientific and technological achievements and make greater contributions to achieving high-level scientific and technological independence and self-reliance .
These include a number of important measures:
Simplify budgeting. Further streamline the preparation of consolidated budgets, and prepare direct cost budgets based on the three major categories of equipment costs, business costs, and labor costs.
Speed up the progress of fund allocation.
Increase incentives for scientific researchers. Increase the proportion of indirect costs.
Expand the channels for financial scientific research funding. Give full play to the leverage and guiding role of fiscal funds, guide enterprises to participate, play the role of financial funds, and attract private capital to support technological innovation and entrepreneurship.
Give researchers greater autonomy in funding management
The “Opinions” require that budget preparation be simplified. Further streamline the preparation of consolidated budgets, and prepare direct cost budgets based on the three major categories of equipment costs, business costs, and labor costs. In the direct costs, except for equipment costs above 500,000 yuan, other costs only provide basic calculation instructions and no details are required.
Decentralize budget adjustments. All the right to adjust the equipment cost budget is delegated to the project undertaking unit, and the project management department will no longer approve its budget increase. The project undertaking unit shall comprehensively consider the existing equipment configuration and the actual needs of scientific research projects, etc., and go through the adjustment procedures in a timely manner. The right to adjust other expenses except for equipment fees shall be delegated by the project undertaking unit to the person in charge of the project, and the person in charge of the project shall make independent arrangements according to the actual needs of scientific research activities.
Expand the scope of implementation of the funding contract system. In the scientific research projects of talents and basic research, the funding contract system is implemented, and project budgets are no longer compiled. The person in charge of the project promises to abide by the requirements of scientific research ethics, work style and academic integrity, and all funds are used for the expenditures related to the research work of this project, and then independently decide the use of project funds. Encourage relevant departments and localities to carry out pilot funding contracting systems in independent legal person scientific research institutions that are engaged in basic, cutting-edge, and public interest research.
The State Council executive meeting held on July 28 determined measures to further reform and improve the management of central financial research funds. This includes simplifying budget preparation and streamlining budget subjects from more than 9 to 3. Decentralize all budget adjustment rights such as equipment costs to the project undertaking unit, and implement a funding contract system for basic research and talent projects.
In fact, in recent years, the central government’s scientific research funding management system has continued to improve. As early as 2016, the Central Office and the State Council issued the “Several Opinions on Further Improving the Fund Management of Central Financial Research Projects”, which consolidated the subjects of conference fees, travel expenses, and international cooperation and exchange expenses. The “Opinions” again streamlined the budget subjects to three.
Industry insiders believe that measures such as streamlining budget subjects, decentralizing budget adjustments, and expanding the scope of implementation of the funding contract system have given scientific researchers greater autonomy in funding management, which is conducive to following the laws of scientific research activities, adapting to the actual needs of scientific research activities, and mobilizing The enthusiasm for scientific research and creation.
The “Opinions” also require speeding up the progress of fund allocation and increasing the proportion of indirect expenses. Indirect costs are determined in accordance with a certain percentage of direct costs after deducting equipment purchase costs, and the project undertaking units will make overall arrangements for their use. Among them, the proportion of indirect expenses is not more than 30% for the part below 5 million yuan, not more than 25% for the part between 5 million yuan and 10 million yuan, and not more than 20% for the part above 10 million yuan; for pure theories such as mathematics For basic research projects, the proportion of indirect costs is further increased to no more than 60%.
Attract private capital to support technological innovation and entrepreneurship
The “Opinions” clarified that the channels for funding scientific research funding should be expanded. Give full play to the leverage and guiding role of fiscal funds, guide enterprises to participate, play the role of financial funds, and attract private capital to support technological innovation and entrepreneurship.Optimize the guidance of scientific and technological innovationfundUse to promote the transformation and application of more scientific and technological achievements of great value. Broaden the funding channels for basic research and promote the benign interaction between basic research and demand orientation.
Pan Helin, executive dean of the Institute of Digital Economy of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told Zhongzheng Jun that the relevant policies mainly focus on the integration of industry, university and research and the commercialization of technology applications, and promote the benign interaction between basic research and demand orientation. This is different from the previous achievement orientation, and it will be closer to civilian use in terms of the transformation of basic scientific and technological achievements. Guiding enterprises to participate and attracting private capital reflects the direction of industry-university-research integration and promotes the commercialization of scientific research results. This will further promote the diversification of my country’s scientific research financing channels.
From the perspective of the capital market, relevant policies may be beneficial to listed companies such as military products, civilians and scientific research institutes. In the future, scientific research institutes will further liberalize scientific research and development and cooperate with private enterprises to accelerate the integration of scientific research and commerce, and accelerate the transformation of scientific research results.
Core points:
Office of the State Council: Supporting new R&D institutions to implement a “budget + negative list” management model
State Office: Expanding the autonomy of scientific research project funding management and simplifying budgeting
State Affairs Office: Expanding channels for financial scientific research funding to attract private capital to support technological innovation and entrepreneurship
The State Council issued several opinions on reforming and improving the management of central financial scientific research funds, and innovating financial scientific research funds input and support methods
(Source: China Securities Journal)
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