The Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) held a meeting on the preparation of guidelines for Macao’s Key R&D Funding Projects on 25th and 26th of April in Zhuhai. Participants included Cheang Kun Wai, member of FDCT’s Administrative Committee, Liu Lianggang, Technology Advisor, Chen Weiwei, Deputy Division Chief of the Department of Resource Allocation and Management under the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Xu Hongbin, Division Chief of China Science and Technology Exchange Center under the Ministry. Other guests present were Mainland experts in artificial intelligence, namely, Huang Tianjun, Zhaojie, Ou Yongsheng, Chen Xilin and Yang Shiqiang, in precision medicine, including Wang Xiaoning, Li Yixue, Zeng Changqing, Wang Luhua and Guo Hongbo as well as in traditional Chinese medicine, who were Zhu Xiaoxin, Yu Boyang, He Yi and Jia Tianzhu. There were also 22 Macao specialists in relevant areas attended the meeting.
 
      In his speech, Cheang Kun Wai noted that the Macao’s Key R&D Funding Projects were initiated in line with the policies about enhancing support for the development of Macao’s key areas stated in the SAR government’s Policy Address for the Fiscal Year 2019, in the hope of achieving complementarity of strengths of different disciplines and integrated innovation through collective use of Macao’s scientific and technological resources, while yielding convertible research results. Cheang continued that FDCT had received a total of 45 research subjects from some tertiary education institutions and R&D organizations in its call for submission at the end of last year and found that most of them dealt with artificial intelligence, precision medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. In light of this, the research conditions, needs and orientations of the tertiary education institutions and the science and technology innovation and development directions of the Greater Bay Area, FDCT finally chose the aforesaid three areas as the focuses of its guidelines for this year, and commissioned the China Science and Technology Exchange Center to assist in their compilation. Cheang emphasized that the guidelines should be made following the two principles of “National Needs and Macao’s Strengths” and “Being at Frontiers of Disciplines and Linked with Industries”. In other words, he expects the guidelines to be aligned with national development strategies, to enable the best use of Macao’s characteristic strengths and correspond to the development trends of related disciplines and the needs of industries concerned.
 
      Experts from Mainland China and Macao also made their remarks afterwards. The former introduced the country’s strategic planning in relevant areas, the compilation, execution and future development direction of the National Key R&D Projects and so on. The latter mainly briefed on their entities’ research development in related areas, their research conditions and capabilities, and offered suggestions on resource allocation and guideline preparation. The experts of both sides agreed, after an in-depth discussion on the positioning, development directions and objectives of the guidelines, that the launch of Macao’s Key R&D Funding Projects carries a significant meaning to Macao’s science and technology development and that the guidelines should be created through comprehensive consideration of the relations between the country and Macao, and the balance between proactiveness and practicability. After the remarks, they held a close-door meeting to go in-depth into the content of the guidelines as well as related indexes and requirements. The mainland experts put forth their suggestions on the execution of Macao’s Key R&D Funding Projects.
 
      The China Science and Technology Exchange Center will draw up the guidelines based on these experts’ opinions, while FDCT will work with the Center to improve their content. The Fund will strive to promulgate the guidelines for the R&D projects in June so it could start taking applications for the Programs in the same month and it expects that the application review will be finished this year.
 
      Besides, FDCT had talks with the Department of Resource Allocation and Management over the inclusion of Macao’s experts in the National Science and Technology Programmes Expert Database, determining how they could be included, the qualifications and work responsibilities required of them as well as communication mechanisms between different entities. The work on including these experts will commence in early May this year.

Meeting on Preparation of Guidelines for Macao’s Key R&D Funding Projects