Chen Yuan： Building a Science and Technology Chain Network Model with China Characteristics Based on the Deep Integration of Science and Technology and Capital.
Source: China Financial Journal.
Original title: China Finance | Chen Yuan: Technology and Capital
Source: China Financial Journal.
Author | Chen Yuan’ Chairman of the Standing Committee of China Financial Forty Forum’
The world today is facing a great change that has never happened in a century, and international competition is increasingly reflected in the competition of scientific and technological strength. After the founding of New China, China’s scientific and technological development level has achieved a historic leap, and some areas have even reached the advanced level in the world. However, there is still a big gap from developed countries as a whole, and the problem of "sticking the neck" in key areas is more prominent. The history since the industrial revolution shows that finance is an important supporting force for the development of science and technology and a catalyst for the transformation of technological progress into real productive forces. At present, China’s financial system has insufficient support for the development of science and technology, lacking both a long-term and stable source of creditor’s rights funds and a mature equity financing market to support enterprise innovation. To further enhance the financial support for science and technology, we must improve our understanding of the relationship between science and technology and capital and promote their effective combination.
Evolution and development of the relationship between science and technology and capital
Science and technology and capital were originally two independent concepts with different origins and stages. Science and technology reach a certain stage to produce capital, and capital is born with scientific and technological content. The relationship between them has gone through a long historical stage from separation to integration. Before modern times, the development of science and technology was almost the result of isolated and individual research and development work of scientists, and it was not directly supported by social wealth in the form of capital. After the first industrial revolution, mankind entered the "age of steam", and scientific research achievements were put into industrial application more quickly by capital, which served for capital appreciation. At the same time, capital provided a material basis for the development of science and technology, and science and technology and capital began to gradually merge and promote each other. After the second industrial revolution, mankind entered the "electrical age", and capital gradually realized the great role of science and technology, and shaped the path of scientific and technological development according to its will, which was reflected in the capital’s control over science and technology. Since the two world wars in the last century, the progress of science and technology has been greatly accelerated, and a new situation has emerged in which the government actively supports the development of science and technology. During this period, the capital promotes the development of science and technology mainly in the government-led mode represented by DARPA (the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Department of Defense, which is responsible for researching and developing high-tech for military use-editor’s note) and the enterprise-led mode represented by Bell Laboratories.
Examining the evolution of the relationship between science and technology and capital, we can see that there is a close coupling relationship between them. Credit and capital are not only the key forces to promote scientific and technological innovation achievements from laboratory to industry, but also to promote the progress of human history. They have also evolved and given birth to new forms in the process of serving science and technology. The decline of Bell Laboratories with AT&T’s disintegration shows the limitations of the combination of enterprise capital and technology, and also proves that the concept of "capital takes precedence over technology" in the United States is wrong, but this does not mean the failure of the new economic development model. On the contrary, it promotes the combination of technology and capital into a new stage and forms a higher form of mutual conditions and deep integration-technology capital. This stage can fully develop science and technology, guide the whole society to eliminate all blind spots in science and technology, make the respect for science and technology and laws the highest standard for the whole society to transcend economic interests, solve the fundamental problem of capital, promote the long-term, universal and socialized capital, and open up new roads and ways for economic and social development.
Science and Technology Credit and Science and Technology Capital
Science and technology credit
Credit in the traditional financial field is a category related to commodity economy, and it is a social relationship that starts from lending behavior. Science and technology credit is a special kind of credit, which originates from the social consensus generated by people’s trust in scientific knowledge. This rational power makes people have confidence in science and technology itself, and then turn science and technology into achievements with practical value, and eventually become a social force with credit core functions such as resource allocation. From this point of view, science and technology credit is a kind of generalized credit and a part of social credit, which not only represents the trust and confidence at the macro social level, but also has various financing functions at the micro financial level. The characteristics of high risk, high investment and long cycle in the field of science and technology, as well as the practice of capital supporting the development of science and technology in western developed countries, show that the financing function contained in science and technology credit should be mainly equity financing.
Science and technology capital
Science and technology capital is the product of the combination of science and technology credit and capital, and it is a capital form that invests in scientific research based on science and technology credit and expects to realize value-added. This process is manifested in scientific and technological credit and capital transaction, capital supports scientific research, obtains scientific research results, and the results turn into income and increase capital. Although the combination with science and technology has not changed the profit-seeking nature of capital, it has made capital have stronger systematic development ability by improving the content of science and technology, and focusing on the operation of high-tech fields has become the main feature that science and technology capital is different from low-level capital. Science and technology credit and science and technology capital are specialized components of national scientific research capacity. Science and technology credit can allocate science and technology capital, which can gather scientific research capacity and capital at key points, break through the bottleneck of science and technology, form and extend the scientific research and development chain and industrial chain, and promote the benign development of economy and society.
Science and technology capital embodies the organic composition and new development form of capital.
From the perspective of science and technology, the development of organic composition of capital can be divided into six stages: capital without organic composition, such as land capital and other forms without scientific and technological content; Capital with science and technology as external guidance and industry and industrial output as content; Taking science and technology as the primary form of the primary driving force for enterprise development; The stage with the technology market as the object and the capital market operation as the characteristic but not fully developed; The stage of combining science and technology with capital supported by national or social capital; From basic research and development to various applications, it can be supported by national or social capital and has not yet appeared. In this form, capital is fully scientific and technological, filling every corner of human society, forming fully rational technology and fully rational capital, which must and can only be supported by the community of human destiny.
Deep integration of technology and capital
Based on the deep integration of science and technology and capital, we can build a science and technology chain network model with China characteristics.
The structure of scientific and technological innovation system: chain, chain network and three-dimensional chain network structure
Innovation chain of science and technology involves the concepts of nodes, elements and links. Node refers to a specific stage in the operation of scientific and technological innovation system, and its operation is carried out by a certain subject. Elements refer to all kinds of tangible and intangible resources that constitute and support the operation of nodes, including capital, talents, organizations, culture, policies and so on. Link is the connection between nodes, elements and nodes. The essence of chain is the main body and elements in the scientific and technological innovation system, which is the connection established through links driven by the self-organization and adaptability of complex systems. There are three types of chain: process-based chain, including scientific research chain, industrial chain and market chain, in which the core of scientific research chain is to verify the principle, the goal of industrial chain is to open up technical routes to realize products, and the goal of market chain is to sell products to realize cash flow; Factor-based chain, including financing chain, financial chain, etc., in which financing chain is a process of allocating different forms of funds to different nodes, and financial chain is supported by capital, which promotes the consolidation and perfection of financing chain, with creditor’s rights as the main part in the initial stage and equity as the main part in the advanced stage; Value-based chains include value chains measured by capital gains and value chains measured by non-capital gains (such as the spiritual needs of researchers).
The real world is not a simple linear superposition relationship, but a universal and complex nonlinear relationship, so the chain network structure will be derived from the chain. Two-dimensional chain network is a plane structure composed of nodes, elements, chains and their combinations. From a macro point of view, the typical case of two-dimensional chain network is the inter-industry input-output table proposed by Leontieff, and the matrix relationship between departments (that is, industrial chain) listed in the table is a typical chain network structure. From the micro perspective, each specific scientific research project and R&D product has its own chain structure, which links different industries, professions, regions and enterprises to form a chain network.
The internal reason for the development of the chain network structure from two-dimensional to three-dimensional lies in the self-organization of the scientific and technological innovation system as a complex system. Under the catalysis of key elements, the chain network structure began to develop three-dimensionally and deeply. Based on the definition of two-dimensional chain network, it can be considered that three-dimensional chain network is a three-dimensional system with complex system characteristics formed by two-dimensional chain network under the catalysis of value. The significance of introducing three-dimensional chain network is to analyze the internal motivation of the system to form a framework in a self-organizing way driven by key elements, and to analyze the operating mechanism and explore ways to optimize the system on this basis.
Take Figure 1 as an example, the life service industry has low capital content, low technology content and high social value; The "big science and technology" industry represented by integrated circuits has high capital content, scientific and technological content and social value.
Problems existing in the scientific and technological innovation system
From the perspective of three-dimensional chain network, the strength of key nodes in China’s scientific and technological innovation is still weak, which is highlighted by the relative weakness of basic scientific research, the obvious problem of "sticking neck" in key technical fields and the weak independent innovation ability of enterprises. The nodes and chains are divided, and the scientific and technological strength is self-contained, scattered and repetitive, and the overall operation efficiency is not high. The allocation mode of scientific and technological resources needs to be optimized.
The reasons for these problems lie in several pairs of contradictions. One is the contradiction between short-term and long-term. Driven by profit-seeking, capital often pursues short-term excess profits, which conflicts with the need for large and long-term stable capital support for technological innovation. The second is the contradiction between supply and demand. The traditional capital supply is limited, and the financing mode focusing on national key projects has some problems, such as limited capital, low efficiency, excessive projects, lack of scientific planning, rent-seeking power of project approval and so on. The third is the contradiction between the part and the whole. The outstanding performance is that enterprises adjust their business strategies to achieve short-term profits, which makes individuals profit but the whole industry is damaged, and the large profits in the downstream application stage cannot be passed on to the upstream R&D link, and the value chain fails to form circular compensation.
To solve the contradiction, we need to find an element that reflects the will of society as a whole and has strong strength to drive the whole chain network, so that it can constantly strengthen the strength of nodes, open up all links and develop healthily in the direction of maximizing the overall interests of the country under the self-organization function. This element is national credit. National credit can effectively improve the cognitive level of science and technology from all walks of life through top-level planning, promote the close combination of scientific cognition and capital, quickly penetrate the barriers of various industries in the whole society, reorganize resources, build a self-developed capital market, and closely combine short-term interests with medium-and long-term interests, thus becoming a new important driving force for scientific and technological progress.
Tentative idea of promoting scientific and technological innovation with the financing mode of national credit chain network
Science and technology chain network is a new type of national innovation system, which relies on national credit and science and technology credit, organically combines the two forces of government and market, injects national credit into the whole process of science and technology research and development, and makes scattered, weak and blind short scientific research chains become scientific and reasonable, covering the whole situation and dynamically adjusting long scientific research chains, attracting, decomposing and extending long-term innovative basic elements such as capital, talents and policies to every research and development node of the science and technology chain network. Realize the organic integration of science and technology chain, credit chain and capital chain, eliminate information asymmetry, disperse the risk of investment in science and technology research and development, help solve major bottlenecks and problems in science and technology development, and form a scientific and technological ecological network with win-win cooperation among government, enterprises, scientific research institutions and financial intermediaries.
The upstream R&D section of science and technology chain network should realize the transformation from financial allocation to equity financing, and equity funds should be allocated to platforms and leading enterprises. The goal is to establish the structure of science and technology chain network, and ensure that the tasks on the nodes are clear, and talents, technology, scientific research ability and capital can gather at the nodes. Sources of equity funds include state equity, such as issuing equity securities with national credit; It also includes corporate equity, and the sources include the following aspects: First, large-scale market platform enterprises and venture capital enterprises become shareholders; Second, the company’s own income is converted into equity, mainly leading enterprises; Third, banks and other financial institutions contribute to form funds and form equity capital injection; In addition, we can also consider the source of static equity in dynamic capital flow, such as establishing a large floating deposit pool to finance static equity demand. The downstream market segment of science and technology chain network is dominated by credit capital or short-term high-yield funds. The main goal is to ensure that the upstream layout can realize the final product, complete the transformation from technology to income, and feed back the upstream to achieve a virtuous circle of capital.
Six stages of scientific and technological capital in the development of chain network structure. First, the organic chain network structure takes chain as the main body and capital as the service means. Second, the chain gradually develops and interweaves into a network structure, and the capital chain grows accordingly. Third, the development process of the first chain and then the network promotes each other, and the capital chain network begins to form, which is still dominated by the science and technology chain network. Fourth, capital extends with the development of chain network, and finally forms a capital chain network with science and technology chain network as the core. With the improvement of the service level of capital for social development, capital began to serve science and technology spontaneously and actively. Fifth, the capital chain network finally forms a complete capital chain network system derived from the science and technology chain network, and the chain network is transformed into a technology-oriented capital, and the organic composition of capital reaches the highest level, which can actively promote new scientific and technological innovation. Sixth, under the organic composition of the top-level capital, science and technology capital plays an active role, consciously integrates with science and technology and serves social interests. The generation and development of science and technology chain network is reflected in the healthy growth of scientific and technological achievements in the soil of science and technology capital.
The operating mechanism of the financing mode of science and technology chain network can be summarized as the "twenty-cross" law. "Top-level planning": by paying attention to different key points in an orderly manner at the top, the key points of various disciplines are scanned out, and top experts and scholars are organized to formulate scientific and technological development plans. "Credit injection": injecting national credit into major scientific research projects and subjects determined by the state, and giving all-round policy support such as finance, taxation, finance, talents, intellectual property rights and law. "Layer-by-layer decomposition": relying on the laws of science and technology, adopting the methods of spontaneous participation from bottom to top and competitive selection from top to bottom, the next R&D node is decomposed through the decision of experts at the next level, and the national credit is decomposed accordingly, finally forming a complete science and technology chain network structure. "Capital service": Capital forms a capital chain network along the science and technology chain network. With the support of national credit, science and technology credit and node credit, according to the financing needs of nodes, it gives corresponding capital support and actively serves the development of science and technology. At the same time, the high income of the downstream market segment feeds back the low income of the upstream R&D segment to realize the safe and sustainable development of the capital itself. "Science and technology ecology": Science and technology is the skeleton and the driving force in the chain network structure; Capital is a muscle and a supporting force; Credit is blood and vitality; The perfect combination of science and technology chain, capital chain and credit chain has formed a complete science and technology ecology.
The difference between the financing mode of science and technology chain network and the existing financing mode of science and technology. First, the motivation is different. The old model dominated by capital takes profit as the ultimate goal, while the chain network structure originates from science and technology, takes science and technology as the core framework, and guides the direction of capital with scientific and technological rationality. The priority of science and technology is greater than that of capital. At the same time, the national credit allocated through the chain network structure can form financing advantages, and replace the advantages of the old model with qualitative advantages. Second, the role is different. In terms of the total amount, the existing model is short of funds, and the chain network model can form a large amount of scientific and technological capital through national credit mobilization. From the perspective of coverage, the existing model relies on enterprise credit to form a chain spontaneously, with incomplete coverage and insufficient capacity, and the chain network model can fully cover it.
Conditions and challenges of implementing the financing mode of science and technology chain network. First, the conditions for implementing the national credit chain network financing model. On the ideological level, the leadership and social organizations at all levels should realize that science and technology is not a matter for a few people, but is related to everyone’s interests. On the material level, it is necessary to establish and improve the social security system as soon as possible, so that people can support science and technology with adequate food and clothing, and on this basis, scientific and technological personnel can enjoy the highest standard of social security. At the organizational level, it is necessary to establish a lifelong education system for basic science and technology, as well as a wide-ranging software and hardware education system covering basic laboratories and tool laboratories. Second, the challenge of implementing the national credit chain network financing model. First, the source of funds. The new model needs the support of long-term and stable equity securities tools based on national credit. Second, the issue of ideological understanding, science and technology and capital do not fully understand each other, and the existing concepts restrict their deep integration, so it is necessary to have a correct understanding of the integration of science and technology and capital ideologically. ■
[The author would like to thank the experts of the evaluation team for their valuable comments and useful supplements. The list of experts in the judging panel is as follows (sorted by surname strokes): Wang Xiangsui Kong Dan Ye Tianchun Xu Shanda Li Jiping Yang Hongwei Xiao Gang Wu Guosheng Wu Ling Qiu Xusheng Shen Wenjing Zhang Guoqing Zhang Mingxi Zhang Xiaohui Yibi Yi Zheng Minzheng Feng Songlin Gao Jian Huang Haizhou Cao Li Cao Jianlin Dong Save Jiang Lincheng Zeng Lining Xie Ping Concise Pan Jiaofeng Xue Qiang Mu Rongping]
Article | China Finance, No.23, 2020
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