The 11th annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) was inaugurated on September 8, 2009 in Chongqing.
Mme. Liu Yandong, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and State Councillor, sent a message of congratulation, extending warm greetings and best regards to all the participating science and technology professionals.
Mr. Bo Xilai, member of the CPC Political Bureau and secretary of CPC Chongqing Municipal Commttee, also sent a congratulatory letter to the meeting. In his letter Mr. Bo paid high tribute to CAST, praising it as a main force in advancing science and technology in China. "The decision made by CAST to hold this year's annual meeting in Chongqing is the solicitude for and confidence in the municipality," Bo wrote, "The annual meeting, with the theme of ‘Innovation and Sustainable Growth', is bound to contribute significantly to the development of Chongqing."
Prof. Han Qide, president of CAST, Prof. Zhou Guangzhao, honorary president of CAST, Prof. Lu Yongxiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr. Xu Kuangdi, president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Mr. Wang Hongju, mayor of Chongqing, and about 3,500 scientists and engineers coming from all over the country were present at the opening ceremony.
In his opening speech, President Han Qide said that the development of science and technology in the present world is on the eve of a new revolutional change and that the radical changes that has been brought about by the current global financial crisis in world economy and industrial structure are very likely to accelerate the arrival of a new technological revolution. At this crucial moment, it is of great importance to make accurate prediction of the areas in which breakthroughs will be first achieved in the new technological revolution. In this rspect, Chinese science and technology community should be confident and courageous to make foresighted judgement and prediction, and help the government make strategic decisions so as to place our country in favorable postion in the new round of technological revolution.
When talking about the defects in China's science and technology appraisal system, Han said that one of the reasons for the problem lies in failure of scientific community in playing its due roles in academic appraisal. Itseems that our scientific community has not shown sufficient initiative, sense of responsibilty, enthusiasm and capability in this regard. It is important to bring to the full play the fundamental role of scientific community in improving the academic appraisal system.
Han pointed out that all the issues related to science, including appraisal of research ersults, standards in cacdemic judgement, disputes in science, can only be solved by relying on the scientific community. While an important thing right now is to make necessary institutional arrangement, we must stress self-discipline and place ourselves under the supervision of the whole society.
A number of prizes were presented at the opening ceremony.
Following the opening ceremony, Prof; Lu Yongxiang, Mr. Xu Kuangdi, Mr. Wang Hongju, Mr. Wu Hequan, Mr. Zhang Shuguang, Prof. Way Kuo and some others delivered invited speeches at the plenary session.
|
