On the 16th of March, Prof. Lu Benfu was interviewed by People Net on the issue of “Lack of Motivation to Innovate in State-owned Enterprises (SOEs)”.
Regarding the relevant information and data mentioned in the “White Book of Enterprise-Universities Cooperation with National Science and Technology Awards-2011” and other relevant sources, Prof. Lu demonstrated his views about the innovation ability of SOEs in China.
In 2011, 17% of the projects rewarded by the five top scientific awards in China were conducted through enterprise-universities cooperation, which was higher than the ratio of 14% in 2010. Among these projects, 32% involved the SOEs of the central government and their affiliated enterprises. In sum, the participation ratio of SOEs in enterprise-universities cooperation projects was over 50%.
Through systematic evaluation, Prof. Lu considered the above ratio as satisfactory, but still far from what it should be. He indicated that enterprises should be the core force of technology innovation and the winners of national scientific and innovation awards. However, the current major innovators are universities and research institutes, as enterprises, particularly the SOEs, have not seen the potentials of technology innovation as a source of future profits and market share growth. Such structure does not accord with the rules of market-oriented economy. Therefore, how to boost enterprises’ motivation in technology innovation and transform SOEs into the core force of technology innovation is highly important for our nation.
Moreover, Prof. Lu also pointed out that technology innovation is not an easy task, despite its huge potential profits, since financial, human and technological capitals, as well as global patent strategy are all critical for the success of technology innovation. Particularly the accumulation of human capital, SOEs should enlarge their technological talent pool in order to build a strong innovation team. Overall, the technology-oriented industrial transformation should be our nation’s unshakable goal.
Besides SOEs, Prof. Lu also complimented the success of technology innovation in SMEs, and paid serious attrition to their financial constraints. He thought SOEs should acquire those SMEs and support their technology innovation. However, such acquiring is still uncommon due to various factors, such as lack of motivation, and the strict control and audit of state assets.
Prof. Lu suggested the state to break such constraints through policy making. The state should change and soft atmosphere, value science and technology innovation as the first productive force, and set innovation as our primary goal. In addition, the state should support SOEs to acquire other forms of enterprises if such acquiring is beneficial for technology innovation.
