Xinhua recently reported that China is actively planning to build several national labs in some areas of key innovation. This is considered a major change in the Chinese national science research structure. The Chinese Academy of Science just hosted a forum with well-known national lab managers from the U.S., Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, and Singapore. China’s plan is to concentrate the nation’s talent in the establishment of a series of cross-field and integrated research bases, which are aligned with China’s national goals and strategic needs. The large-scale and comprehensive national labs are first set to establish the Comprehensive Experimental Device in Extreme Conditions, Advanced Light Sources, and the Digital Earth Simulation System. The planned national labs will also cover the research areas of clean energy, materials genome, environmental science, brain science, accelerators and X-ray technologies. The mission of the labs is to address science and technology related needs that may impact national security or national economic and social development.
Source: Xinhua, February 2, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-02/02/c_128696147.htm