Chongqing - In the report that President Xi Jinping delivered at the opening session of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Oct 16, he stressed the need to invigorate China through science and education and develop a strong workforce for the modernization drive. Education, science and technology, and human resources are the foundational and strategic pillars for building a modern socialist country in all respects.

"Chongqing always gives high priority to the development of education and will move faster to build a city with a high-quality educational system," said Huang Zheng, Director of the Chongqing Municipal Education Commission.

Regarding primary education, the city's three-year preschool gross enrollment rate is 91.01%, and the public-interest preschools account for 54.45% of the city's preschools. The completion rate of nine-year compulsory education has reached 95.67%, generally achieving well-balanced and integrated mandatory development of education in urban and rural areas. The gross enrollment rate in high school reached 98.61%.

To develop the urgently required talents for industrial growth, relevant institutions have introduced 116 undergraduate majors and eliminated 25 undergraduate majors in the last three years. The building of 43 majors related to big data intelligence cost 43 million yuan.

To help construct science and technology innovation centers with national influence, the city's universities have established 261 industry-university-research cooperation institutions and alliances, 11 scientific and technological transformation centers, and three national university science and technology parks. Among them, 27  projects were included in the Science and Technology Innovation Center and Western China(Chongqing) Science City construction project bank.

This year, Chongqing will host the 8th China International "Internet +" College Students' innovation and Entrepreneurship, aiming to promote higher education's high-quality development in Chongqing.

Ming Ju, Director of the Chongqing Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, introduced that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the city has deeply implemented an innovation-driven development strategy and has achieved some positive results. 

The city invested more than 60 billion yuan in R&D(research and experimental development) in 2021, a 65.6% increase compared to 2017. Over 200,000 people worked in R&D, doubling from 2017.

The numbers of technology-based and high-tech enterprises exceeded 40,000 and 5,000, respectively, and the total industrial output value of 16 high-tech zones reached more than 40% of the city's total value.

The city adheres to constructing the Western (Chongqing) Science City, Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone, and Guangyang Isle Smart Innovation Eco-City with high standards. Chongqing introduced 65 new research institutions, such as the Chongqing Automotive Software Innovation Research Platform of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chongqing Innovation Center of the Beijing Institute of Technology. At the same time, Chongqing is accelerating Chongqing Laboratory, represented by Jinfeng Laboratory.

The Western (Chongqing) Science City is the core carrier of building a scientific and technological innovation center with national influence. Relevant departments have launched  312 high-end R & D platforms, such as the city's first large scientific installation, the Spatio Temporal Omics Center of BGI, Pathology Science Research Center of Chongqing - Guangdong, the Intelligent Networked Vehicle Innovation Center, and Peking University Chongqing Big Data Research Institute.

Meanwhile, more than 1,500 high-level talents and 30 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering highlight the leading role of Chongqing in science and technology innovation and high-quality development. Also, the city cultivates nearly 1,400 science and technology-based enterprises, demonstrating Chongqing's improving systems for scientific and technological innovation.

(As interns, Chen Lu and Chen Qian also contributed to the report.)