Editor's note: The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China concluded with a blueprint mapped out for China's future development in the next five years and beyond. CGTN is publishing "How China Works – Charting the Future," a special series delving deep into a key report adopted at the congress to see how the country can fulfill the goals and tasks on the new journey of the new era.

We should increase our country's strategic capacity in science and technology and improve the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. National strategic capacity in science and technology is the focus of international competition among scientific and technological powers. As important components, high-quality research universities, and leading science and technology enterprises should take on the mission of reinforcing China's sci-tech self-reliance and strength.

High-quality research universities should better integrate their efforts in developing science and technology as the primary productive forces, in cultivating talent as the primary resource, and in strengthening innovation as the primary driver of development. They should make good use of their strengths in basic research and inter-disciplinary integration to become the main force in basic research and a vital force for major scientific and technological breakthroughs. They need to better align the development of research universities with national strategic goals and tasks, and make greater efforts in researching basic and frontier fields and seeking breakthroughs in key technologies. They should build disciplinary, academic and discourse systems with salient Chinese features, style and ethos, and contribute to the cultivation of more outstanding talent.

Leading science and technology enterprises should leverage their strengths in market orientation, integrated innovation and organizational resources. They should open a channel through which science and technology can boost corporate, industrial and economic development. They should be the initiators in gathering and integrating innovation resources and forming innovation bases featuring intensive cross-sector collaboration. They should engage in the research and development of key generic industrial technologies, the application and commercialization of scientific and technological advances, and resource-sharing services. They should promote the comprehensive allocation of projects, facilities, personnel and funds for key sectors, improve the basic capacity of our country's industries, and modernize its industrial chains.

Provincial governments should produce well-designed plans for sci-tech innovation based on their respective strengths and industrial needs. They should support eligible localities in building comprehensive national science centers or regional scientific and technological innovation centers, and help turn these centers into global hubs for scientific innovation in frontier fields, technological innovation in emerging industries, and sci-tech innovation in other sectors.

(Source: Xi Jinping's speech at a meeting conflating the general assemblies of the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the national congress of the China Association for Science and Technology in Beijing, May 28, 2021.)

This episode is presented by Jiao Yang.