观察家｜“一带一路”: 推动科技创新之路

I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn and here's what I'm watching: the future of the Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, in catalyzing a new-era economy driven by "science, technology, and innovation," following the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, celebrating the BRI's 10th anniversary. President Xi Jinping directed the BRI to focus on "high-quality development," as he has directed China's domestic development, and he announced "eight major steps."

我是罗伯特·劳伦斯·库恩，以下是我正在关注的：未来“一带一路”将如何以科技创新为引擎，驱动新时代经济发展，以落实第三届“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛成果，庆祝“一带一路”倡议提出十周年。习近平主席指出“一带一路”要着重高质量发展，这和他对中国国内发展的要求一致，习主席也宣布了（支持高质量共建“一带一路”的）八项行动。

Here I focus on the fifth: advancing scientific and technological innovation. These are not just mid-course corrections of BRI problems, like excessive debt or corruption which President Xi addressed with respect to "small yet smart" programs and an "integrity-based" Compliance Evaluation System, but enhanced visions for the future. Measures for BRI partner countries include 100 joint laboratories over the next five years and supporting young scientists to work on short-term programs in China. 

这里我重点关注第五项：推动科技创新。这不仅是对“一带一路”建设过程中遇到问题的中途纠偏——比如过高债务或腐败问题，我们知道习主席对此提出要建设“小而美”的项目，并推出“一带一路”企业廉洁合规评价体系——这也是对未来发展提出的更高目标。针对促进“一带一路”共建国家科技创新的举措包括：未来五年把同各方共建的联合实验室扩大到100家，并支持各国青年科学家来华短期工作。

President Xi calls for the BRI to become "a road of innovation" : prioritizing innovation-driven development, strengthening scientific and technological cooperation, optimizing an innovation environment, and establishing technology trading and transfer markets. Faced with a lack of innovative talent in some BRI partner countries, China is organizing scientific training activities to help cultivate innovative talent. Given uneven global digital development, building the digital economy in developing countries, like in China itself, can promote economic growth and narrow the digital divide. For example, smart cities, mobile payments and cross-border E-commerce.

习主席呼吁把“一带一路”建设成为“创新之路”，优先创新型发展，加强（与共建国家的）科技合作；优化创新环境，建立技术交易及转移市场。一些“一带一路”共建国家面临创新人才短缺的问题，中国通过组织科学培训活动，帮助这些国家培养创新人才。目前全球数字发展存在不均衡的现象，借鉴中国经验，如果在发展中国家推动数字经济，就可以促进其经济增长，缩小数字鸿沟，比如建设智慧城市、推广移动支付、促进跨境电子商务。

At the end of 2021, China had established scientific and technological cooperation relationships with more than 160 countries and regions, covering medicine, agriculture, oceans, energy resources, public health, advanced manufacturing and high-end fields such as materials and information technology. As of June 2023, China had signed the "Intergovernmental Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation" with more than 80 BRI partner countries.

截至2021年底，中国已经与160多个国家和地区建立了科技合作关系，合作范围覆盖医学、农业、海洋、能源资源、公共健康、先进制造业、材料及信息技术等高端领域。截至2023年6月，中国已与80多个共建 “一带一路”国家签署了《政府间科技合作协定》。

For example, the China-Kenya Joint Laboratory of Crop Molecular Biology focuses on food and horticulture and is committed to ensuring food supply security. The China-Austria Joint Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Manufacturing integrates China's digital economy and artificial intelligence technology with Austria's traditional manufacturing technology, and it developed a landslide geological disaster monitoring system and a city based on 5G communication and Internet-of-Things technology. The China-Egypt Joint Renewable Energy Laboratory is based on China's mature solar energy technology and leverages Egypt's abundant solar lighting and silicon mineral resources.

举例来说，中国-肯尼亚作物分子生物学联合实验室聚焦粮食和园艺，致力于确保粮食供应安全。中国-奥地利人工智能与先进制造联合实验室将中国的数字经济和人工智能技术与奥地利传统制造技术深度融合，研发了泥石流地质灾害协同监测系统，以及基于5G通信和物联网技术的城市公共安全管理系统。中国-埃及可再生能源国家联合实验室基于中国成熟的太阳能技术，开发利用埃及充足的太阳能光照和硅矿资源。

For the long future, basic science is especially important. Many Chinese scientific institutes and universities have established research centers with BRI partner countries. One way of assessing cooperation in basic sciences is via co-authored papers. Topics include materials science, electronic circuits, chemical physics, applied physics, chemistry, nanoscience and environmental science. However, there is a huge difference in innovation cooperation between China and various BRI partner countries. The number of cooperation patents with only five countries accounts for more than 80 percent, namely Singapore, India, Israel, Russia and Malaysia. 

从长远来看，基础科学尤其重要。中国很多科研机构和大学都和“一带一路”共建国家建立了联合研究中心。基础科学合作可通过共同发表论文来实现，课题可以包括材料科学、电子电路、化学物理学 、应用物理学 、化学、纳米科学和环境科学。然而，具体情况也不尽相同。在创新合作方面，中国与不同的共建“一带一路”国家之间也存在巨大差异。中国仅和新加坡、印度、以色列、俄罗斯和马来西亚五国的合作专利数量就超过了总数的百分之八十。

China is establishing a targeted BRI basic research fund to enhance the scientific and technological innovation capabilities of BRI partner countries. China is also strengthening cooperation with BRI partner countries in their key research areas such as information technology and biological sciences in Singapore; physics, aerospace and mathematics in Russia; and oil and gas exploration, storage and transportation in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Moreover, the space agencies of Pakistan and Azerbaijan will join other international partners in China's lunar research-station project, which aims to build a permanent base on the Moon in the 2030s.

中国正在设立专门的“一带一路”基础研究基金，用来提升共建“一带一路”国家的科技创新能力。中国也在加强与共建“一带一路”国家在其重点研究领域的合作，如新加坡的信息技术和生物科学领域研究；俄罗斯的物理、航天和数学领域研究；以及沙特阿拉伯、阿联酋的油气开采与储运等。此外，巴基斯坦和阿塞拜疆的太空机构将和其他国际伙伴一道加入中国的月球科研站计划。该计划预计在2030年左右在月球上建立永久基地。

But nurturing basic science, I caution, differs from building infrastructure. That China now prioritizes both basic and applied research in BRI partner countries is a significant upgrade to the BRI.

但我想提醒的是，基础科学合作不同于基础设施建设。如今，中国优先考虑在共建“一带一路”国家同时开展基础科学的研究和应用，这标志着“一带一路”的重大升级。

I'm keeping watch. I'm Robert Lawrence Kuhn.

我将持续观察。我是罗伯特·劳伦斯·库恩。

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