Research On The Management And Operation Mechanism Of New Type Science And Technology Think Tank With Chinese Characteristics

With decision-making processes becoming increasingly complicated,public decision-making requires increasingly stronger demand for expertise,which means more scientists that are familiar with trends of scientific development and know about scientific laws are required to offer their counseling.As institutionalized advisory bodies,science and technology think tanks have started to get extensive and profound involvement in decision-making processes,offering decision-makers specialized knowledge and scientific recommendations.Chapter ? discusses the background and significance of the research on managing and operating China's science and technology think tanks.At a time when China's economic and social development enters into a new historical period,science and technology think tanks,as an integral part of the scientific decision-making system of the country that endeavours to implement the innovation-driven development strategy and become a global scientific power,provide intelligent support to the modernization of China's governance system and capacity,provide scientific support and research proposal to the handle of emergencies such as novel coronavirus pneumonia.The systems of managing and operating science and technology think tanks are key to developing China's science and technology think tanks.The policy process,principal-agent,and total quality management theories are adopted in this paper.In chapter ?,according to the policy process theory,science and technology think tanks can play significant roles in raising problems and introducingsolutions as well as developing,implementing,and evaluating policies,but their roles in the policy process are affected by the scientific decision-making advisory system.With respect to the principal-agent theory,sophisticated systems of examining,incentivizing,and constraining science and technology think tanks can be put in place to avoid adverse selection and moral risks therein.In regards to the total quality management theory,the product quality of think tanks is the key,with whole-process management for product quality adopted to highlight total involvement and staff development,meet user demands,produce high-quality products,and put forward high-level research reports and advisory recommendations.In July 2013,the Chinese President Xi Jinping required the Chinese Academy of Sciences(hereinafter abbreviated to as the CAS)to "take the lead in establishing a national high-level science and technology think tank".In November 2015,the CAS was put on the list of the first organizations tasked with a pilot program of setting up 10 level-one high-end think tanks affiliated to the Party Central Committee,the State Council,and the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China,and the top priority on the agenda of the pilot program for the CAS was to set up the Institute of Science and Development.Chapter ? of this paper is introduced from the perspective of a staff at a science and technology think tank,where the participant observation method is adopted to focus on the systems of managing and operating science and technology think tanks based on the problems confronting the institute in terms of its reform and development and to build a theoretical framework for the research in systems of managing and operating science and technology think tanks at the macro,meso,and micro levels through information collection,data coding,theoretical analysis and research hypothesis.The scientific decision-making advisory system at the macro level lays the foundation for the management and operations of science and technology think tanks;the external systems of managing science and technology think tanks at the meso level help create favorable external conditions;and the internal systems of operating science and technology think tanks at the micro level serve as the driving forces.With a view to having a better understanding of the internal operations of various science and technology think tanks in China and challenges confronting them in external management,this paper is based on field research in 10 science and technology think tanks that are official,semi-official,affiliated to universities,or privately funded across Beijing,Shanghai,Wuhan,Suzhou,and Nanjing,which has been documented with 130,000 characters in the aspects of scientific decision-making counseling,external management of science and technology think tanks,and their internal operations.Chapter ? summarizes the status quo of the systems of managing and operating science and technology think tanks in China and the existing problems based on the documented field research in the 10 science and technology think tanks and verifies the research hypothesis proposed in Chapter III with the conformance procedure.In piloting the establishment of a national high-level think tank,the Institute of Science and Development of the CAS has made explorations in the systems of managing and operating science and technology think tanks with considerable best practices.With a focus on human resources management,product quality management,and the spread of outcomes from think tanks,Chapter ? analyzes the internal system of operating the institute,summarizes the contributions of the institute as a national high-end science and technology think tank,discusses factors that contribute to its development,and further confirms the research hypothesis proposed in Chapter ?.Developed countries have already had many best practices obtained from their practices in scientific decision-making counseling over the years,which hold lessons for us as we strive to establish and develop our own science and technology think tanks.Chapter ? deals with the scientific decision-making advisory systems and the external management and internal operation systems of science and technology think tanks in the United States,Britain,the Netherlands,and Japan,the international best practices in the management and operations of science and technology think tanks,and what inspirations China can draw for its own management and operations of the new types of science and technology think tanks with Chinese features.Chapter ? puts forward a series of recommendations on how to improve the systems of managing and operating China's science and technology think tanks and promote the high-quality development of the new types of science and technology think tanks with Chinese features.Specifically,they are introduced at three levels:at the macro level,it's imperative to enhance the awareness of scientific decision-making counseling,offer legal and institutional support,set the stage for a market brimming with think tank ideas,and establish a system for government purchase of decision-making counseling;at the meso level,it's necessary to encourage competition and cooperation,optimize the systems of expenditure input and management,and improve the evaluation and appraisal systems;and at the micro level,it's essential to improve the systems of managing the people that work for science and technology think tanks and product quality as well as the spread of outcomes from science and technology think tanks.This paper is wrapped up with an outlook on the integration of Chinese and international research in science and technology think tanks in chapter VIII,deeper development of methods for their research,and the blend of their decision-making counseling with public engagement.