By Shen Hengchao, Research Team on "The Demand-oriented Funding Mechanism of Municipal Natural Science Fund", Research Department of Techno-Economy of DRC

Research Report No 85, 2015 (Total 4770)

Abstract:

The fundamental research funded by the US National Science Foundation (hereinafter referred to as NSF) is divided into two categories: demand-oriented basic research and basic research for free exploration. The former one is directly oriented to demands and the latter one caters for social demands through the introduction of entrepreneurs and engineers in the management process. The program of demand-oriented basic research set by NSF includes integrant projects that belong to its subsidiary Engineering Faculty and priority areas set by the Foundation. The projects relating to demand-oriented basic research mainly include the White House decisions, NSF internal proposals and advices from NSF funding agencies and external experts. The inspiration drawn from NSF’s experience indicates that China should increase financial assistance to demand-oriented basic research, and focus on meeting social demands during the project management of various types of basic research, while improving demand-oriented mechanism. After adjusting science and technology plans at different levels, the major science and technology programs in the strategic field need to be deployed according to local strategic requirement.