Editorial: Freedom and Openness Are at the Heart of Sci-Tech Innovation

China is revamping its sci-tech administration system. The first session of the 14th National People’s Congress approved a plan to reform its state institutions under the State Council. In this plan, a revamp of the country’s science and technology ministry has attracted much attention. Under the plan, some of the ministry’s existing functions will be allocated to other government bodies, while a new commission — the Central Science and Technology Commission — will be established above the restructured ministry. After restructuring, the Ministry of Science and Technology will no longer take part in evaluating and managing specific research projects. Instead, it will mainly be responsible for guiding and supervising the operation and management of scientific research institutions, supervising the implementation of scientific research projects and evaluating their results. This substantial shift in the sci-tech administration system is expected to unleash the internal vitality of the country. All sectors of society have high hopes for this sci-tech reform as innovation is a must for China to achieve high-quality growth amid the current global decoupling trend.