Zeng Jingjing: Pioneer for “Science and technology inducement prizes” research in China

On January 4, 2017, Huang Zhen, Deputy Director of Shenzhen Scientific and Technological Innovation Committee, Sha Xinhua, Director of the Department of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Yan Li, Director of Technology Transfer Promoting Center, Dai Zhongqun,Secretary of the Service Department of Promotion Center for Technology Transfer came to Wuhanto consult Zeng Jingjing, Associate Professor of the School of Public Administration, about the core issues of Science and Technology Inducement Prize and reached the follow-up consulting cooperation agreement. Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee believed that Associate Professor Zeng Jingjing and other scholars had sound academic foundation, as well as the keen insight to discover new problems, which embody the ultimate goals that the academic achievements should serve the society.

Zeng Jingjing, who is only 33 years old, has been engaged in science and technology policy and management research. As early as five years ago, she started to notice that other than the traditional system of science fund, the foreign governments also support the scientific research with “inducement prize”. Zeng translated it into Chinese as “Science and technology inducement prizes” and systematically studied some aspects for the first time, such as its definition, application boundary, systematic structure, and operating mechanism. She has published more than 30 articles, two of which were reprinted by XinHua digest, in Science Research Management, Studies in Science of Science, Forumon Science and Technology in China, Science & Technology Progress and Policy, Scientific Management Research, Science and Technology Management Research and other authoritative core journals. With the research of this subject, Zeng had applied successfully for the National Natural Science Foundation, China's Post-doctoral First-class Funding, China's Post-doctoral Special Funding, Social Science Fund of Hubei Province, Soft Science Projects of Hubei Province and other national and provincial support. There is no other domestic scholars studying this subject at present.

Zeng has been to Florida State University and other overseas universities and repeatedly visited the United States, France, Japan and other countries to attend international academic conferences. Zeng, the first Chinese scholar to translate, introduce and study Science and Technology Inducement Prize”, introduced that from 1714 when British government set up the first Science and Technology Inducement Prize--British Longitude Prize, an important means of research funding by the government, science and technology inducement award system began its history of 300 years, and it was prevalent in the 18 and the 19 centuries. Later, it was replaced by the Science Fund and other forms of funding. After entering the 21st century, Science and Technology Inducement Prize had been back into fashion. The United States Department of Defense and Department of Energy have set up inducement prizes such as Prize for Faster Airport Security Technology and Wearable Power Prize. Dozens of countries, such as the United States, Britain, France, and Germany have set up more than 100 science and technology inducement prizes in major fields, greatly promoting the innovation of science and technology and enhancing the efficiency of government research funding.

To perfect the national scientific research funding system, Zeng has put forward to build a demand-oriented science and technology inducement system of government funding. Science and technology inducement system is a non-periodic competitive arrangement of science and technology prizes to gather science and technology innovation achievements in order to solve particular problems in some field.

Zeng believes that the following advantages of the system of science and technology prizes can solve some problems in our current research funding system: demand-oriented (problem-solving) innovation, opening application entrance to the whole society, result-oriented evaluation, achievements first, target management and export competition. Having no thresholds, Science and Technology Inducement Prize can gather talents in different fields. It can be regarded as innovation when the knowledge of one field was applied to an the.Innovation comes from different perspectives colliding with a problem. she says, There is little chance to systemize the collision before. But, fortunately, inducement prizes provide such a mechanism now.

The excellent performance in scientific research also benefits Ms Zeng’s teaching career. Many bachelor theses and master’s theses instructed by her were selected as school level and provincial excellent theses. She has also won the first prize of the Seventh Session of the Lectures of Young Teachers.