Blog: Why China Is Restructuring Its Science and Tech Ministry

The State Council Institutional Reform Plan unveiled Tuesday the restructuring of the Ministry of Science and Technology. It’s the third time the ministry will undergo such a reorganization in six years.

By all technology policy expert accounts, this restructuring is very significant. The ministry’s current management responsibilities and various subordinate agencies will be separately transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the National Health Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

For example, the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, which was integrated into the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2018, will be transferred to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

In addition, the Central Science and Technology Commission will be established.

Allocation of scientific research funds

One important aspect of the restructured Ministry of Science and Technology is that it will no longer participate in specific scientific research project evaluations and management.

According to the plan, the reorganized ministry will mainly be responsible for guiding and supervising the operation and management of professional institutions for scientific research management, as well as strengthening the supervision and evaluation of the implementation of scientific research projects and their results.

The ministry has been managing multiple national special science and technology programs for a long time, including the Spark Program, 863 Program, Torch Program, 973 Program, and industry-specific research projects.

By managing and reviewing numerous scientific research projects, the ministry had a management funding scale of over 40 billion yuan in 2020, the highest among the 40 central government R&D funding management departments.

However, as a policymaking department, the ministry’s participation in the allocation and use of scientific research funds has long been criticized by the industry.

Li Zhimin, former director of the Science and Technology Development Center of the Ministry of Education, stated that “It is illogical to make plans, distribute money, and act as referee, athlete, and judge at the same time.”

Liu Yidong, a researcher at the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Center for Science, Technology and Society Studies, believes that the ministry’s withdrawal from specific scientific research project review and management can make it more impartial and objective in supervising, inspecting, and evaluating scientific research project results.

Sun Yutao, a professor at the School of Economics and Management at Dalian University of Technology, who has long studied China’s research funding policies, believes that the research funding managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology will be significantly reduced after the restructuring.

Sun said some research funds will flow from the ministry to other parts of government such as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which have task-oriented goals.

The central science and technology commission

Xue Lan, director of the Tsinghua University Su Shimin College, said that the establishment of the Central Science and Technology Commission is a key priority for the reorganization of the ministry as it is geared toward strengthening the Communist Party’s leadership in scientific and technological innovation and enhancing the top-level design capabilities in this area.

The overall coordination of scientific and technological work has always been a difficult. Scientific and technological work involves many departments, and national scientific and technological tasks are now scattered among many ministries or ministerial-level institutions within the State Council, each with its own research plans and projects.

Although the ministry has the function of guiding the construction of national innovation pilot zones and scientific and technological system reform, it is only one of many departments and the effort in coordinating multiple formulating plans and budgets puts a limit to its ability to formulate macro policies and budgets.

The industry generally agrees that the establishment of the Central Science and Technology Commission is to put the focus back on scientific and technological work.

Sun Yutao believes that the establishment of the Central Science and Technology Commission represents “the organization and coordination of scientific and technological work at the central level. There was no such agency before, and this time it was singled out, indicating the level of attention the central government attaches to scientific and technological work.”

Sun said that although the restructuring was to streamline the ministry, the status of the scientific and technological cause has become stronger. The Central Science and Technology Commission is positioned high enough to coordinate various departments.

Xue Lan also said that the “slimming down” of the Ministry of Science and Technology does not mean a decrease in the importance of science and technology at the central level, but rather an increase. The Central Science and Technology Commission has stronger authority as a coordinating department.

The ministry has undergone two rounds of restructuring in the last five years. The first round of restructuring took place in 2018, and the second one was completed in 2021. The reason for these changes is to better coordinate and manage China's scientific and technological resources, especially in key areas of technology development, to achieve greater self-reliance and competitiveness in the face of international competition and external pressures.

According to the plan, the restructuring is necessary because of the changing international environment. Previously, China relied heavily on importing and adapting foreign technologies, but now it needs to focus more on developing its own technologies through original research and innovation. This shift requires a more streamlined and effective management system for China's scientific and technological resources.

Li Zhimin suggested that the restructuring will make it easier to implement science and technology policies because it will give the ministry greater authority to enforce the central government's directives. Previously, the ministry had to negotiate with other departments to gain support for its policies, which was often challenging.

Liu Yidong said that the restructuring of the ministry is part of China’s broader efforts to strengthen its domestic scientific and technological capabilities, reduce its reliance on foreign technology, and achieve greater self-reliance and competitiveness in the face of international competition and external pressures.

He believed that the changes are expected to be part of a larger set of reforms to China's scientific and technological management system in the coming years.

The views and opinions expressed in this opinion section are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial positions of Caixin Media.

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