"Continue to concentrate on development and economic structural adjustment driven by the Reform and Opening-up Policy and by scientific and technological progress, to promote industrialization and modernization supported by information technology, to undertake efforts to put a number of important high-tech programs with independently owned intellectual property rights into practice, to accelerate the development of some new high-tech industries, such as electronic information, software, bio-tech, environmental protection, etc., and to form advantageous new high-tech industry groups with self-characteristics as soon as possible, to contribute to the fast and leaping development of technologies for China," as expressed by President Jiang Zemin during his working inspection tour on January 30 in Beijing.
On February 1, Premier Zhu Rongji commented in his speech at the National Scientific and Technological Reward Conference that in the aspect of basic research and strategic high-tech research, China must make significant achievements in some fields through strengthening R & D in high technology areas, to enhance our creativity to master more core and key technologies with independently owned IPRs, to further develop new high-tech industries, and to accelerate optimization of industry structure with advanced technologies so as to promote our national economy to a new stage more quickly and in a better fashion.
On March 8, Vice Premier Li Lanqing said at a group discussion between Members from the field of science and technology of the 5th Session of the Ninth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), that we must formulate strategies for developing talent, for strengthening the patent system, and for establishing standardization, so as to promote the development of science and technology, strengthen IP protection, and attach great importance to the application, protection and utilization of patents.