LI Rongrong, Chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), a part of the State Council, said recently that the industrial enterprises under the direct jurisdiction of the central government have established 476 institutes working on technological innovations, with a working staff of 276,000 people. All these enterprises have their own research institutes at the national level.

LI briefs that 17 central S&T enterprises have been honored with 5 second prizes of the National S&T Progress Award and 108 awards at the provincial level in 2005. The enterprises have worked out 20 international standards, 97 national standards, and 127 industrial standards. Having realized a leap-forward development in designing super large hydro generators, through technology import, digesting, and innovation, Harbin Power and East Power successfully won the design contracts of hydro generators for the right bank of the Three Gorge project, bidding with overseas power generator giants. China Space Group has found solutions to numerous internationally acknowledged technical difficulties, through proprietary innovations and system integration of key links, and achieved successful launch and return of the Shenzhou 6 capsule. The event is deemed by HU Jingtao, Chinese President, the nation?痵 most influential and strategically important S&T activity in the year, as it establishes China?痵 strategic position in the high tech world.

LI also underlines seven major activities that SASAC will push forward in 2006, including proprietary innovation capacity building, overall quality raising, and sustainable development capacity building geared to national industrial enterprises.