The Impact of National Goals on Basic Research: Results of a Symposium

148 Pages·2000·0.978 MB·English

Sino-German Centre
for Science Promotion
in Beijing
The Impact of National
Goals on Basic Research
Results of a Symposium
The Impact of Natinoal Goals on Basic Research: Results of a Symposium.
Edited by Sino-German Centre for Science Promotion in Beijing
Copyright © 2000 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH; ISBN: 978-3-527-27147-4
Sino-German Centre
for Science Promotion
in Beijing
The Impact of National
Goals on Basic Research
Results of a Symposium
Chinesisch-Deutsches Zentrum für Wissenschaftsförderung
c/o Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
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IV
Contents
Welcoming Speech on the Opening of the Symposium
"Impact of National Goals on Basic Research". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XI
Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
Greetings on Behalf of the Senate of Berlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ingolf Hertel
Opening Address to the Deutsch–Chinesisches Symposium
of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft on the Impact of
National Goals on Basic Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Zhang Cunhao
1 National Objectives and Motivation of Scientists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Wei Yu, Weng Shilie
1.1 Research Activities in Chinese Universities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 Basic Research in Chinese Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 National Objectives and Motivation of Scientists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 The German Industrial and Scientific Location:
The Importance of Basic Research and Challenges Arising. . . . . . . . 12
Lothar Späth
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2 The German Industrial and Scientific Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.1 Today’s Economic Relevance of Basic Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.2 Technological Transfer within the Framework of Public Research . . . 14
2.2.3 Increasing National and International Research Co-operation . . . . . . 15
2.3 Increasing Scientific Co-operation between the People’s Republic of
China and Germany as an Important Step into a Successful Future. . 15
3 Applied Research in the Context of National Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Hans-Jürgen Warnecke
V
Contents
4 Priority Setting: A Way to Link National Goals and
Basic Research Funded by NSFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Zhou Bingkun
4.1 Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2 Objectives and Principles for Priority Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.3 Working Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.4 An Overview of Priority Areas of the NSFC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.5 Impact of Priority Setting on NSFC Supported Basic Research. . . . . . 23
4.6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5 National Goals and Scientific Self-Governance:
Its Impact and Conflicts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
6 China’s Basic Research at the Turn of the Century and its
National Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Zhang Cunhao
7 Science Planning and Research Perspectives in Germany:
Views from the German Science Council and from the
Max Planck Institute for Human Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Karl Ulrich Mayer
7.1 The Question: Agenda Setting in the German Research
System – Overprotected Autonomy or Effective Decentralization?. . . 36
7.2 Evidence I: The Role of the German Science Council in
National Research Agenda Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
7.3 Evidence II: Research Planning within the Humanities,
Law and Social Sciences Faculty of the Max Planck Society. . . . . . . . 41
7.4 Evidence III: Research Planning within a Single Max Planck Institute 42
7.5 The Answer: Research Autonomy and National Goals Reconsidered. 44
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8 Excellence in Basic Research: National Goals
and International Cooperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Hubert Markl
8.1 Basic versusApplied Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8.2 National Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8.3 The Max Planck Society. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
8.4 Promoting and Safeguarding Excellence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
8.5 Promoting Young Scientists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
8.6 International Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
8.7 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
VI
Contents
9 The Role of Universities in Basic Research in Germany. . . . . . . . . . . 56
Peter Frankenberg
9.1 Objectives of Modern Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
9.1.1 Teaching and Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
9.1.2 Research and Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
9.1.3 Education and Training of Young Researchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
9.1.4 Continuing Academic Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
9.1.5 Services to Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
9.2 Research Funding in Germany and in German Universities . . . . . . . . 58
9.3 The Future of Universities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
9.3.1 Individual Profiles and Cooperation in Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
9.3.2 Interdisciplinarity and Specialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
9.3.3 Internationality and Regional Responsibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
9.4 Research Organization in Universities and DFG-Funding. . . . . . . . . . 61
9.5 Consequences for Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
10 Mathematical Science and National Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Jin Duo
10.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
10.2 The Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
10.3 New Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
10.4 Two Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
10.5 Remarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
11 Cultural and Social Acceptance of Scientific Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Heidi Diggelmann
11.1 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
11.2 The Changing Relationship Between Science and Society . . . . . . . . . 70
12 Funding of Oriented and Non-oriented Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Hans R. Friedrich
12.1 General Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
12.2 Main Sources and Characteristics of Research Funding. . . . . . . . . . . . 76
12.2.1The Business Enterprise Sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
12.2.2R&D Expenditure of the Länder and the Federal Government . . . . . . 79
12.2.3Federal R&D Expenditure: Funding Areas, Priorities and Profiles. . . . 81
12.3 Some Conclusions and Recent Trends in the
Federal Funding Policy of R&D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
VII
Contents
13 National Key Development Program for Fundamental Research. . . . 86
Shao Liqin
13.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
13.2 The Major Purpose of the Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
13.3 The Key Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
13.4 Improved Research Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
13.5 Outstanding Research Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
13.6 Systematic Collection and Accumulation of Scientific Data
and Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
13.7 International Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
14 The Necessities of Putting National Goals into Basic Research . . . . 92
Wu Shuyao
14.1 Why did Emphasizing National Goals in Basic Research
Emerge after the Cold War?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
14.2 To Balance Bottom-up and Top-down Approaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
14.3 From Science Policy to Innovation Policy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
14.4 Strategic Inflection Points for Science Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
15 The Influence of University Research Work on High-tech Industry . 96
Wang Xuan
16 From Basic Research to Applied Research and Back Again . . . . . . . 100
Jürgen Mittelstraß
17 Impact of National Goals in Agriculture on Research into
Life Sciences in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Xu Zhihong
17.1 Achievements and Problems in Agriculture in China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
17.2 Contributions of Life Scientists to Sustainable Development
of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
17.3 National Goals and their Impact on Life Science Research . . . . . . . . . 106
References and Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
VIII
Contents
18 National Goals–Program-oriented Interdisciplinary Research. . . . . . 108
Detlev Ganten
18.1 The Mission of the Helmholtz Centers: Long-term National Goals . . 110
18.2 Quality Assurance–Performance Review by External Evaluation . . . . 110
18.3 The Strength of the Helmholtz Association:
Interdisciplinary Research Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
18.4 The Helmholtz Program on Genome Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
18.5 The Strategy Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
18.6 Future Potential: Technology Transfer–Cooperation with
Industrial Partners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
18.7 Internationality–World-wide Networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
18.8 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
19 Carbon Nanotube Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Sishen Xie, W. Z. Li, Z. W. Pan, B. H. Chang, L. F. Sun
19.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
19.2 Experimental Procedures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
19.2.1Aligned Carbon Nanotubes Grown on the Bulk Silica Substrates. . . . 115
19.2.2Very Long Aligned Carbon Nanotubes Production on the
Film-like Silica Substrates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
19.2.3Characterization of the Aligned Nanotubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
19.3 Results and Discussion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
19.3.1SEM and TEM Investigations on Aligned Carbon Nanotubes
Formed on the Bulk Silica Substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
19.3.2SEM and TEM Investigations on Very Long Aligned Carbon
Nanotubes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
19.3.3Raman Scattering on Aligned Carbon Nanotubes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
19.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
20 The Leibniz Institutes: Goals of Application-oriented
Basic Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Frank Pobell
21 Some Aspects of the Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Reinhard Grunwald
21.1 Contents and Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
21.2 Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
21.3 Means, Instruments for Research Promotion and
Framework Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Agenda: Impact of National Goals on Basic Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Addresses of the Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
IX
Welcoming Speech on the Opening of the Symposium
"Impact of National Goals on Basic Research"
Prof.-Dr. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn
"When friends come from afar – is that not a great joy?" (You peng zi yuan fang lai,
bu yi le hu?) – with this quote from the first chapter of the Analects of Confucius,
I would like to welcome you all to Germany for the symposium "Impact of National
Goals on Basic Research".
Last year – dear Chinese guests – you welcomed us twice to important events
in Beijing: on May 26 to lay the foundation-stone for our joint Centre for Research
Promotion in the Shuangqing Road, and on October 5 to celebrate "20 years of Sino-
German scientific-technological co-operation" in the Great Hall of the People.
Today, I would like to welcome you, Professor Zhang Cunhao, and your important
delegation to our capital, Berlin.
Furthermore, I would like to welcome Professor Weng Shilie, Chairman of the
Commission for Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Professor Xu
Zhihong, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Science, as well as the vice-
presidents of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Professor
Zhou Bingkun and Professor Liang Sen, both of whom we know well from many
negotiations and who have both played a decisive role in the conception and the
construction of the Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion. Unfortunately, I
cannot greet all the members of the large delegation individually, and so I therefore
welcome all the remaining Chinese guests.
Dear colleagues from Germany, if I am to leave enough time for Professor
Zhang Cunhao to deliver his address, I cannot welcome you all by name, even
though the temptation is very great. However, I will make an exception in the case
of Professor Ingolf Volker Hertel who was invited to this symposium last year as
President of the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft. In the meantime he has become the State
Secretary for Science in the Berlin Senate and in this function he will address a few
words to us, for which I thank him in advance.
I would also like to welcome Professor Heidi Diggelmann, President of the
Schweizer Nationalfonds, who has travelled here from her country in the heart of
Europe and who will entertain us this evening with an after-dinner speech.
Our symposium takes place in the middle of joint discussions on the prepara-
tion of the work to be covered by the Sino-German Centre which we are now build-
ing together. Just what will this work involve?
XI
Welcoming Speech on the Opening of the Symposium
The NSFC in China and the DFG in Germany have very similar functions: both
are responsible for the support of research and for the promotion of international co-
operation in all or in most of the research institutions in our respective countries.
When both organisations agreed to a mutual co-operation in 1988, it was a far-sight-
ed step towards the establishment of a joint future. In the same spirit, the Centre
should help to serve as a bridge to link those scientists from both countries who wish
to collaborate. It should provide up-to-date information, help to bring future part-
ners together, and do everything to promote the understanding and joint work on
the research projects. We hope that in China researchers from all types of scientific
institutions—universities, academic institutes and so on—will be available, and in
Germany researchers from the universities, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, the
Leibniz- and the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, and wherever else they may work. In
particular, we hope that young scientists will take advantage of this offer and that,
in time, it will become a matter of course to participate in joint projects.
I am delighted that the "small working delegation" headed by Professor Liang
Sen has met in Bonn in the run-up to this symposium and has already achieved
some important results. The building progress in China is far in advance of that of
the DFG's new building: we will not be able to celebrate our topping-out ceremony
until the middle of the year.
On March 24 we wish to take a further important step: together we will
appoint a joint committee for the Centre from the NSFC and the DFG. Its function
will be to accompany the work of the Centre and see that it maintains the right
direction. Of course, our symposium, which will take place today and tomorrow,
shows that we are already working closely together, even before the building has
been completed. At the last symposium, "Peer Review and Evaluation" in March
1997, we discussed the Chinese and German expert review systems. In this way, we
can improve our knowledge and understanding of each others' scientific systems so
that our scientists can use this information to formulate promising joint research
projects and to set them into motion. Already in April of this year, a "Rainbow
Conference" will be held in Beijing which will offer the young scientists who par-
ticipate the opportunity to get to know one another better so that they will, perhaps,
become involved in joint research projects.
In the spring of 2000 we wish to hold the official opening ceremonies for our
Centre in Beijing. We are thinking not only of holding one or two expert symposia,
but also of an exhibition to symbolise and illustrate the work of the Centre. A pos-
sible theme could be "Scientific exchange between Germany and China, past and
present". The foyer of our joint Centre would then be filled with activity right from
the start.
We will, however, confer on these topics the day after tomorrow in a further
workshop. Finally, I would like to wish us all interesting and fruitful discussions over
the next two days on the relationships between basic research and national goals.
XII