On January 8 2019, the 2018 National Science and Technology Awards Ceremony was held at the Great Hall of the People. President Xi and other CPC leaders attended the event to present the awards. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) once again won lion’s share of the awards.

The top science prize was awarded to professors Liu Yongtan of the Harbin Institute of Technology, and Qian Qihu of the Army Engineering University of the People’s Liberation Army.

Of the total 224 projects winning awards in the General Category (including the State Natural Science Award, State Technological Inventions Award and State Scientific and Technological Progress Award), 185 or 82.6% were completed with HEIs as major contributors, of which 147 or 65.6% were led by HEIs.

The first prize of the State Natural Science Award was conferred to a project from Tsinghua University entitled “Experimental findings on the quantum anomalous hall effect”. Of the total 38 projects winning an award in this category (one 1st prize and 37 2nd prizes), 76.3% were led by HEIs.

First prizes for the State Technological Inventions Award were conferred to projects from the Central South University named “Large-depth, high-precision and wide-field electromagnetic exploration technology and equipment,” and Beijing University called, “Resource reflection mechanism and efficient interoperable technology for a Cloud-End Fusion System”. Of the total 49 projects winning awards in this group (2 1st prizes and 47 2nd prizes), 75.5% were led by HEIs.

Of the total 137 projects winning a State Scientific and Technological Progress Award (11 1st prizes, 123 2nd prizes and 3 team innovation prizes), 119 or 86.9% were completed with HEIs as major contributors (10 1st prizes, 106 2nd prizes and 3 team innovation prizes), including 81 or 59.1% led by HEIs (5 1st prizes, 73 2nd prizes and 3 team innovation prizes.)

25 Special Category prizes were awarded to 15 HEIs for being the first to complete their projects, accounting for 46.3% of the total: of which, one 1st prize (Beihang University) in the State Technological Inventions Award category, 3 1st prizes (Beijing Institute of Technology, National University of Defense Technology and the Second Military Medical University) in the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award group.

These results, showing that in 2018 HEIs again won a high proportion of the National Science and Technology Awards, demonstrate that HEIs through their basic research and major original innovation research programs, continue to contribute significantly to developing scientific and technological innovation and boosting economic development in China.