Recently, Shanghai Jiao Tong University held its first graduation ceremony for the Master of Technology Transfer (MTT) program, marking the completion of studies for China's first batch of specialized technology transfer professionals.

In March of last year, the Torch High Technology Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the "Action Plan for High-Quality Cultivation of Science and Technology Achievement Transfer and Transformation Talents." This plan aims to train over 100,000 professionals in science and technology achievement transfer and transformation by 2025, highlighting the national goals and planning for technology transfer talent cultivation.

Liu Shaoxuan, Executive Dean of the SJTU-BOC Fintech School, Vice Dean of the Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Director of the first MTT program, believes that "technology transfer is not merely a simple relocation of technology, but also includes cross-domain and cross-industry innovative applications, which are crucial for promoting scientific and technological progress and industrial development."

How has China's scientific and technological innovation and technology transfer development progressed? How can we address the growing demand for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements? What is the demonstrative role of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in technology transfer and achievement transformation? What kind of talent does the country's first "Master of Technology Transfer" program aim to cultivate?

The Flowering of Scientific and Technological Innovation

Over the 40 years of China's reform and opening up, significant progress has been made in the field of scientific and technological innovation, especially after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, when this process reached a new level. The country has positioned innovation as a national strategy, clearly establishing its crucial role in modernization. Liu Shaoxuan uses a set of data to demonstrate the effects of this strategy's implementation.

Firstly, in terms of R&D investment, China's total social R&D expenditure in 2012 was 1.02 trillion yuan, while by 2022, this figure had grown to exceed 3 trillion yuan, tripling in a decade. This shows the magnitude and speed of China's investment in R&D.

Secondly, looking at R&D intensity, the proportion of R&D investment to GDP was 1.91% in 2012, but by 2022, this proportion had increased to 2.55%, approaching 3%. This indicates that China's investment intensity in R&D is continuously improving, which is significant for the country's long-term economic development.

Investment in basic research has also been increasing. In 2012, basic research investment accounted for only 4.8% of overall R&D investment, but by 2022, this proportion had reached over 6.3%. This shows that while focusing on technological applications, China is also continuously strengthening investment in basic research to enhance the country's scientific and technological innovation capabilities.

In terms of R&D personnel, China has also made tremendous progress. The number of R&D personnel across society was 3.25 million in 2012, but by 2022, this number had grown to 6.35 million. This growth not only reflects China's emphasis on R&D talent but also indicates China's increasing competitiveness in the global R&D field.

Regarding the export of emerging industrial economies, China's new industries, new business formats, and new models have developed rapidly. The total economic output of these emerging industries has reached 21 trillion yuan, accounting for over 17% of the overall GDP. At the same time, China's export growth in emerging industries such as new energy vehicles, batteries, and photovoltaics ranks among the top globally.

It is evident that new quality productive forces are playing an increasingly important role in China's economic development.

Meeting Supply and Demand: This Is How It's Done

China's R&D investment has been continuously growing over the past few decades, not only covering national-level investment but also seeing enterprise-led R&D activities become the main force driving innovation-driven development. "As direct market participants, enterprises have a profound understanding of social needs, so their R&D activities are often more targeted and effective. This innovative concept makes enterprises play a key role in scientific and technological innovation," Liu Shaoxuan explained.

He compared the gap between China and other countries, noting that compared to international tech-innovative enterprises, Chinese companies still lag in terms of connecting scientific and technological innovation with industrialization. For example, most of the top ten listed companies by market value in the United States are tech-innovative enterprises, while in China, financial institutions and energy companies still dominate.

Liu Shaoxuan believes that the Chinese government has played an important guiding role in innovation investment. As the world's largest Limited Partner (LP), the Chinese government has invested large amounts of capital through establishing and increasing capital in private equity investment funds, guiding industrial development. Taking 2022 as an example, the number of private equity investment funds in which the Chinese government participated in capital increase or establishment exceeded 1,800, with a total investment of over 3 trillion yuan. This figure is unique in the global market, demonstrating the Chinese government's innovative work in guiding industrial development.

He noted that in terms of the project attributes invested by private equity funds, government-guided funds mainly focus on mid to late-stage projects, with less involvement in original and early-stage high-risk projects. This investment tendency makes it difficult for some potentially original projects to obtain sufficient financial support, thus affecting the in-depth development of scientific and technological innovation. At the same time, due to the many constraining conditions on capital preservation and appreciation for government-guided funds, their participation in high-risk and highly uncertain projects is relatively low.

Liu Shaoxuan suggests that to further improve China's direct financing market construction, there is a need to increase enterprise participation in mid to late-stage projects in the future, while encouraging government-guided funds to pay more attention to original and early-stage high-risk projects. This would not only better play the role of enterprises as the main body of innovation but also promote the continuous development of China's scientific and technological innovation, narrowing the gap with international advanced levels.

Shanghai Is Moving Towards a Global "Sci-Tech Innovation + Finance" Center

Regarding Shanghai's development in the field of technology achievement transfer in recent years, Liu Shaoxuan believes that this economic center of China has unique advantages in promoting scientific and technological innovation. Its innovation-driven development not only has resource advantages but also receives full policy support. As an important engine of national development, Shanghai's future development direction is clearly positioned as a global science and innovation center, forming a linkage effect with the construction of a global financial center, jointly promoting high-quality economic development.

Shanghai has achieved remarkable results in the field of venture capital. Liu cites examples to illustrate this point. In the past, Shanghai introduced advanced foreign technologies and combined them with local market characteristics for secondary innovation, achieving significant results. For example, Shanghai introduced General Motors to cooperate with SAIC Group, quickly developing China into one of the world's largest automobile markets. This model reflects Shanghai's strategic vision and achievements in exchanging market for technology.

Shanghai's industrial planning is both forward-looking and bold. Its "3+6" industrial plan focuses on strategic emerging industries, including integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine. Shanghai's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has become a leading global semiconductor manufacturing enterprise. At the same time, in the new energy vehicle field, the Shanghai government introduced Tesla, a leading enterprise, which not only improved the supply chain system of the new energy vehicle industry but also drove the rapid development of the entire industry. This move demonstrates Shanghai's determination and strength in promoting industrial innovation and upgrading.

Shanghai also undertakes the research and development tasks of major national projects, such as the large aircraft project. These projects have long cycles and large investments, which only cities with strong capabilities like Shanghai can undertake. Shanghai's investment and achievements in scientific and technological innovation have not only enhanced its own industrial competitiveness but also made important contributions to the country's scientific and technological progress and economic development.

Last April, Shanghai issued special policies to promote the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements and formulated detailed implementation rules and action plans. This policy will strongly promote Shanghai's scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation work in the process of building a global science and innovation center. Shanghai aims to become not only a source of basic research innovation but also a central city for the application of innovative achievements.

Liu Shaoxuan points out that in promoting the strategy of scientific and technological innovation-driven development, Shanghai faces challenges in how to better attract and utilize long-term capital to support high-risk and highly uncertain scientific and technological innovation projects. Compared with the long-term companionship and investment of dollar funds in leading companies during the internet boom, Shanghai still has room for improvement in using local financial capital to support innovation.

Comprehensive Reform of University Technology Transfer and Achievement Transformation

Liu Shaoxuan believes that China's innovative development is experiencing a "sinking" trend, meaning that the sources of innovation-driven results are gradually shifting from enterprises and state-owned units to universities and research institutes. In the past, these results mostly came from enterprises, but now, universities and research institutes are becoming new sources.

"Previously, the research of these institutions was disconnected from market demands, and their transformation capabilities were weak. The main problem was that the rights and interests of researchers were limited, lacking disposal rights, distribution rights, and income rights, which led to their lack of motivation for technology transfer and achievement transformation," Liu Shaoxuan points out.

In 2015, the national level significantly revised the "Law on Promoting the Transformation of Scientific and Technological Achievements," granting universities and researchers the right to share benefits in the process of technological invention and scientific and technological achievement transfer and transformation. This milestone event greatly stimulated the innovation enthusiasm of researchers.

It was against this background that Shanghai Jiao Tong University became a pilot unit among national universities in promoting technology transfer and scientific and technological achievement transformation. It actively seized the policy benefits of being a pioneer and introduced a systematic implementation plan for technology transfer and achievement transformation, including a programmatic document as guiding principles, complemented by five specific management measures covering incentive measures, process management, and intellectual property operations. In addition, 20 specific action plans were designed, forming a complete management system with over 90,000 words of written rules and regulations.

Liu Shaoxuan introduces that the university has successfully established a clear management system for technology transfer and achievement transformation from the institutional level, solving the problem of difficulty in distributing the benefits of scientific and technological achievement transformation due to the inability to accurately define on-duty or off-duty behavior. Now, professors and researchers can not only enjoy the benefits brought by transformation but also receive a higher proportion of benefits, stimulating greater work motivation.

He states that Shanghai Jiao Tong University has effectively solved various problems faced by researchers in the process of technology transfer and transformation through a one-stop service system, providing all-round support for the rapid landing of research results.

Liu Shaoxuan also mentions that to strengthen technical support, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has, for the first time in China, established a "technology transfer specialist" team, training a group of professionals familiar with policies, markets, and technical regulations to provide services specifically for professors. In addition, the university took the lead in establishing a new degree program, "Master of Technology Transfer," in China, filling the gap in the cultivation of specialized compound talents in technology transfer in the field of academic education, complementing the shortcomings of the existing talent team in practical operations, and powerfully promoting the efficient development of university technology transfer and achievement transformation work.

Building a Five-Force Model for Compound Technology Transfer Talent

China's scientific and technological innovation achievements are fruitful, with universities already ranking at the top globally in terms of research paper publications and patent applications. However, the conversion rate from research results to actual products and enterprises is relatively low, not exceeding 10%, with a large number of scientific and technological achievements not being effectively transformed.

Liu Shaoxuan laments that although professors have technological inventions and research results, the success rate of actually starting businesses and bringing these results to market is extremely low, less than 3%. This is mainly because there are huge differences between research and business, and the transformation of research results into products requires support from multiple aspects, such as market demand analysis, profit model design, corporate strategy, operational system construction, etc. These elements are indispensable, and each is crucial.

Successful companies often have a high level of technology transfer and achievement transformation, and excel in several aspects, thus gaining competitiveness. Failed companies, on the other hand, often have deficiencies in one aspect, leading to overall failure. Therefore, the professional cultivation of technology transfer talents is particularly important, requiring the cultivation of compound abilities, including technology, market, finance, law, and organizational management.

"In the process of technology transfer, there are many uncertainties. How to cross the 'valley of death' in technology transfer is a major challenge before us. To this end, we have proposed a 'five-force model' as the talent cultivation goal for the Master of Technology Transfer program," he states. This cultivation model aims to comprehensively develop students' abilities from multiple dimensions to adapt to the complex and changing market environment, improve the conversion rate of scientific and technological achievements, and promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial development.

Liu Shaoxuan clearly emphasizes that when cultivating compound specialized talents for technology transfer, five dimensions of ability are emphasized - the five-force model. Specifically:

First, technical ability. Technology is the foundation, and technological innovation ability is the core, which includes mastery of cutting-edge technologies and innovation capabilities. Second, market ability. Market insight ability is crucial, requiring a deep understanding of market demands to ensure that technological innovation matches market needs. Third, financial ability. Financial knowledge and the ability to use financial tools are indispensable because financial support is needed in the process of scientific and technological innovation and achievement transformation. Fourth, legal ability. Intellectual property operation and legal knowledge are guarantees for technology transfer and achievement transformation. Fifth, management ability. Organizational and comprehensive management abilities are the safeguards to ensure the smooth progress of technology transfer and achievement transformation, including the operational management and investment management of enterprises.