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Archives of Peking University News - PKU English - 北京大学

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<strong>北京大学</strong>英语新闻网/<strong>Peking</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

China in Urgent Need <strong>of</strong> Grassroots Innovative Talents<br />

Science Times: Nice to see you, President Li. Such wording like innovation is very<br />

familiar to us, but people‘s understanding <strong>of</strong> this word is strikingly different.<br />

According to your understanding, what is innovation? What are the basic qualities<br />

expected in the innovative talents?<br />

Li Peigen: Innovation is demonstrated in many layers in that innovation may occur<br />

with people <strong>of</strong> different backgrounds from the Nobel Laureates to the common<br />

technicians. There is the top-notch innovation as reflected in the new knowledge or<br />

new theory initiated by the Nobel Laureates as well as the grassroots innovation<br />

which is reflected in the following case about Wang Hongjun. Wang is a worker with<br />

the FAW-VW Automobile Co., Ltd. and he is one <strong>of</strong> the 99 winners <strong>of</strong> the Chinese<br />

Youth Scientific Achievement Award this year; Wang is just a graduate from the<br />

secondary technical school without college education, but he has made innovations<br />

in repairing cars and condensed his practical experience into a book. The innovative<br />

talents like Wang Hongjun are in most need in China.<br />

The above case indicates that innovation is nothing mysterious because innovation<br />

is possible at various posts. It can be concluded from the experience <strong>of</strong> the Nobel<br />

Laureates and the car repairmen that innovation is in essence the fulfillment <strong>of</strong><br />

something that has not been attempted or fulfilled prior to that very innovation.<br />

I have such an opinion that innovation occurs in a pyramid-like pattern. The<br />

top-notch contribution by the Nobel Laureates represents the peak <strong>of</strong> the innovation<br />

pyramid below which there are applied inventions, technical innovations and<br />

integrated innovations and so forth. And the pyramid pattern holds true for the<br />

distribution <strong>of</strong> the innovative talents: the grassroots innovative talents account for a<br />

big proportion while the high-caliber innovative personnel make up a small ratio. The<br />

fact is that the Nobel Laureates total slightly over 770 ever since 1901 when the prize<br />

was firstly established.<br />

It goes without saying that the top-level innovation is significant for a nation‘s<br />

development, but the nation‘s overall innovative capacities can‘t rank high if not for a<br />

solid foundation constituted by the grassroots innovations. At present China is stuck<br />

in a shortage <strong>of</strong> more than the high-caliber talents since even in terms <strong>of</strong> grassroots<br />

innovations such as the integrated technologies and the common engineering<br />

innovations we lag far behind the developed countries, i.e. we are terribly lacking in<br />

grassroots innovative talents.<br />

There are not definite qualities expected in the innovative talents. Speaking from the<br />

angle <strong>of</strong> college cultivation <strong>of</strong> innovative talents, qualified graduates from the college<br />

should possess the capabilities <strong>of</strong> adopting appropriate methodology to resolve<br />

practical problems in the first place, for instance, in the design <strong>of</strong> a machine either in<br />

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