Aerial photo taken on July 23, 2021 shows Yachihe Bridge of Guiyang-Qianxi highway in Southwest China’s Guizhou province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By LI Linxu

China has drawn up a blueprint to transform the country into a transportation powerhouse driven by sci-tech innovation.

To accelerate this mission, a sci-tech innovation system will be initially established by 2025, according to a guideline jointly released by Ministry of Transport (MOT) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) on August 26.

By then, basic research and applied basic research in the transportation sector will be significantly enhanced, breakthroughs in the key core technologies will be made, and integration of transportation with cutting-edge technologies will be accelerated.

"In recent years, remarkable progress has been made in China's transport sector," said Sun Wenjian, spokesman of MOT, adding that roads, bridges, ports, highways and high-speed railways built by China at home and abroad have become the country's business card.

Up to now, high-speed railways cover 95 percent of cities with a population of more than a million, highways cover 98 percent of cities with a population of more than 200,000, and civil transport airports cover 92 percent of prefecture-level cities.

"However, there are a series of weak points in the sector, such as insufficient in basic research, lagging behind in cutting-edge technologies, and inadequate in sci-tech innovation system," said Sun.

To tackle these weak points, an array of measures are set out in the guideline, such as strengthening high quality sci-tech supply, stimulating innovative industrial development, promoting integration with new technologies, and enhancing the implementation of sci-tech innovation.

Directed at the weak points in basic research, theoretical research on transportation will be enhanced, said Sun, adding that thematic studies will be carried out by relevant R&D institutes and universities.

In addition, China is pushing forward the construction of scientific observation networks to monitor the long-term performance of transportation infrastructure, so as to provide sci-tech support for infrastructure construction and maintenance through analyzing the evolution patterns of its key performances in a long time span.

Meanwhile, "we are also actively pushing forward the cooperation among relevant ministries, concerned enterprises and National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the establishment of basic research joint fund, to ensure a sustainable and stable fund investment for basic research," said Sun.

Of note is that the guideline has not only set the goals for the next five years, but also the goals for the next fifteen years.

By 2035, a sci-tech innovation system meeting the requirements of a transportation powerhouse will be fundamentally established, according to the goals set by the guideline.

By then, basic research and original innovation capabilities will be comprehensively strengthened, self-reliance of key core technologies will be achieved, and full integration of transportation with cutting-edge technologies will be realized.

To achieve these goals, the importance of original innovation cannot be overemphasized.

Transportation sci-tech innovation bases will be established, high-level sci-tech talents will be cultivated, synergy of regional innovation capabilities will be promoted, and international cooperation will be enhanced, according to the guideline.

"To build a transportation powerhouse requires building first class facilities, first class technologies, first class management, and first class services," said Li Xiaopeng, Minister of Transport, adding that opening-up and cooperation is one of the important experiences in the development of China's transportation sector.