Policy Exploration of Original Innovation in Basic Research:from Non-consensus Innovation to Original Exploratory Program
Since its establishment,National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)has played an important role in promoting the development of basic research and supporting the original innovation of basic research.Based on extensive and systematic collection and analysis of archives,literature,interviews and statistical data,this paper reviews the policy exploration of NSFC to support original innovation in basic research,examines the original intention and historical background of the establishment of relevant funding policies,and clarifies the policy evolution.Research findings:NSFC has an early history of funding original innovation in basic research,which starts from 1987 by properly handling applicants'"claims"to fund non-consensus innovation research;The policy supply has explored three ways:non-consensus innovation project(1987 to date),small-grant project(2001~2018)and original exploratory program(2019 to date).The policy direction has experienced three stages of evolution,from initiation and primary exploration(1987~1991),protection under peer review(1992~2017),to incentive under the special funding scheme(2018 to date).Reviewing the policy exploration,development and effectiveness of NSFC funding original innovation in basic research in the past 38 years is conducive to researchers'in-depth understanding of NSFC related funding policies,and is an important reference for the optimization of original innovation funding policies for basic research in the new era.
original innovation in basic researchNational Natural Science Foundation of Chinafunding policy evolutionnon-consensus innovation projectsmall-grant projectoriginal exploratory program