Science and Technology Daily:

In recent years, Ningxia has intensified its efforts in scientific and technological innovation, achieving several landmark achievements, including coal-to-liquid technology. Could you brief us on Ningxia's progress in technological innovation, talent acquisition, and development? Thank you.

Zhang Yupu:

Let's invite Mr. Mai to answer your question. 

Mai Yanzhou:

Thanks for your interest. The coal-to-liquid technology mentioned by the reporter involves converting coal into oil through the chemical process of indirect liquefaction. This technology has broken the foreign monopolies and was awarded the first prize in the State Scientific and Technological Progress Awards. It is also a representative example of Ningxia's scientific and technological innovation. In recent years, we have vigorously implemented the innovation-driven development strategy, firmly grasping scientific and technological innovation, which is crucial to overall development. We have strengthened our innovative capabilities, cultivated innovative entities, and nurtured an innovation-friendly ecosystem. Scientific and technological innovation is becoming the defining feature of Ningxia's high-quality development.

In terms of R&D expenses, we regard science and technology as our primary productive force and have established diversified investment channels. With fiscal funds as the guiding force, corporate investment as the mainstay, and financial markets as the support, we have set up a government science and technology guaranty fund and developed financial products like ningkedai (Ningxia sci-tech loans). These efforts have effectively addressed the difficulties and expensive costs of financing faced by sci-tech innovation enterprises, driving an annual average growth rate of over 14% in R&D expenditures.

In terms of cultivation of sci-tech innovation entities, we reinforce the principal role of enterprises in technological innovation and continuously improve our incubation systems. On the one hand, we pay close attention to platform construction. Last year, 32 science and technology innovation platforms, including Liupanshan Laboratory, were newly built, bringing Ningxia's total number of innovation platforms to nearly 1,000. We have launched a science and technology innovation center in Shanghai. In other locations across the country, we have established numerous sci-tech innovation enclaves where we conduct R&D work with the results being applied in Ningxia. The Ningxia Institute for Advanced Study, one of the first such institutes jointly built by the Ministry of Education and autonomous regions, has cooperated with 28 renowned domestic universities and is making every effort to build a high-end platform for talent cultivation and commercialization and application of scientific and technological research outcomes. On the other hand, we pay close attention to enterprise cultivation. We select 300 sci-tech innovation model enterprises each year, driving continuous growth in the autonomous region's sci-tech sector. The number of national high-tech enterprises has increased by over 20% annually.

In terms of talent acquisition, we remain committed to considering talent as our primary resource and continue to enhance openness and cooperation. We have built the country's first leading demonstration zone for science and technology cooperation between the eastern and western regions, continued to build partnerships for sci-tech innovation, and conducted joint innovation with more than 800 research institutions across the country. We have implemented a talent cultivation and introduction project, attracting over 150 academicians and more than 9,200 sci-tech professionals in various fields over the past five years, reversing the trend from talent outflow to inflow.

In terms of application of sci-tech achievements, we regard innovation as our primary driver of growth, reinforce coordination between industries, universities, research institutes, and end-users, and conduct scientific and technological research on major projects addressing bottlenecks hindering high-quality development. The high-end equipment components developed by Ningxia enterprises have played an active role in China's deep-sea and lunar exploration projects. Several advanced technologies, such as water-saving drip irrigation and desertification prevention and control, have been adopted globally.

That is all from me for this question. Thank you.