WANG Zhigang, the minister of science and technology, said the foundation should focus on supporting projects that can solve major and key challenges regarding China’s socioeconomic development and national security. The NNSF should pay greater attention to basic research, optimize institutional management, strengthen social services using new technologies and uphold academic honesty. Training innovative talents will be a priority for the foundation, alongside a mechanism that links basic research, applied research and commercialization. The foundation’s budget grew from 16.1 billion yuan ($2.49 billion) in 2013 to 26.7 billion yuan in 2017 and has supported more than 739,000 researchers throughout China. Globally, the foundation has funded 4,398 science projects and has partnered with more than 91 scientific foundations from 49 countries and regions.

CAS news release, June 20, 2018