Chinese enterprises could invest in basic research to gain a competitive edge while advancing the country's scientific power.

Basic research aims to expand the knowledge of how things fundamentally work. While the knowledge may seem useless at the moment, it has the potential to reshape many industries in the long run.

A quick example is basic research in quantum physics. Its theories often contradict our feelings but have already enlightened tech giants to build the smartphone chips we use every day.

Traditionally, Chinese enterprises didn't pay much attention to this field, as it costs huge amounts of money and does not bring immediate profit.

One possible explanation is that most modern enterprises in China are too young to realize the power of basic research. Most Chinese companies we see today were founded in or after 1978, when the country decided to reform and open up.

As the younger enterprises gain a foothold and stabilize, they start to think about long-term survival and development and begin to eye basic research as a possible approach.

Huawei's success in 5G could be an example to make Chinese entrepreneurs think more long term.

The Shenzhen-based telecom equipment giant often puts more than 20 percent of its total investments into basic research like math and physics – the building blocks of modern telecom technology.

Huawei employees seldom say whether the money was worth it, but the company did play an important role – if not the most important role – in making the 5G standard we use today.

"Even if we estimate passively … the four giants of Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu have invested 24.34 billion yuan (about $3.39 billion) in basic research in 2019," wrote Zhang Chidong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Guang Ming Daily in 2020. "That's 18.2 percent of all money put into this field in China for that year."

"Enterprises like these could be the 'third pole' of China's basic research system in addition to universities and research institutions," he added.

China is under strong scrutiny from the West regarding technologies, and basic research could be a way to break free from the "tech lockdown."

There are many examples where foreigners stopped selling tech products and domestic companies created a better one to occupy the market, from as small as semiconductors to as big as tunnel boring machines.

Though Chinese enterprises are making progress, more can still be done.

"In South Korea, about 58 percent of the fund for basic research in 2019 came from enterprises," Wang Yifang, head of the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said during a keynote speech in 2021. "The percentage for the U.S. was 30 percent."

"In China, the number was only 4 percent," he said. "We are still far behind the developed countries."

Wang called for Chinese enterprises to invest more in basic research to swiftly adopt the latest scientific advancement into their business and gain a competitive edge.

As the International Congress of Basic Science kicked off in Beijing on Sunday, it can be expected that more enterprises will realize the importance of basic research and put more effort into it.

(Cover via CFP.)