Collaborative Innovation Center of Regional Economic Transition and Management Transformation
In accordance with the basic principle of “demand-orientation, overall opening-up, deep integration and selective supporting” and the mode of “trinity system of talents, disciplines and research,” a collaborative innovation system has come into being, which integrates theoretical research, policy design and practical operation. This system works on the basis of the advantage disciplines of School of Economics and School of Management, Nanjing University, in cooperation with research strength of School of Management and Engineering, Nanjing University, the Research Office of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, and People’s Government of Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. By doing so, it incorporates resources of Nanjing University, the Research Office of the Jiangsu Provincial CPC Committee, Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, and People’s Government of Kunshan. Therefore, it will meet the innovative demand of Jiangsu Province and lead the nation in the field of innovation.
The economic and social development of Jiangsu Province has entered a critical period of economic transition and management transformation. Faced with great changes of resource endowment, competitive environment and values of the public of Jiangsu province, we have to carry out timely reforms on the original economic development mode and managerial patterns in order to maintain comprehensive and coordinated economic and social development. In recent years, Jiangsu Province has put forward the goal of building all-round well-off society all over the province, with Southern Jiangsu taking the lead in basically achieving modernization. This goal is not only a blueprint for the future of the province, but also defined the direction for the province’s economic and social development. To achieve this goal, the essence is to accelerate economic transition and management transformation.
Modernization is an advanced stage and a development trend of human society. A modernized society is characterized by economic prosperity, common affluence, social harmony, ecological soundness and political civilization, and it features comprehensive and coordinated economic and social development, with emphasis on the development and well-being of its people. Within the process of modernization, the existing problems mainly include insufficient innovative capacity, lopsided emphasis on industrial structure, excessive discrepancy in growth between urban and rural areas, and between different regions, lagging development of social undertakings, and tough task of equalizing public services. In addition, the ecological environment and the market economy system are badly in need of improvement. It is of great importance to probe deeply into the inherent rules and mechanisms of economic and social development, to explore the path to economic transition and management transformation, as well as to design effective policies that promote the all-round economic and social development of Jiangsu Province.
Concentrating on major theoretical and practical issues of economic transition and management transformation in the modernization process of Jiangsu Province, the collaborative innovation center will establish innovative platforms for “research on basic theories and evaluation of regional modernization,” “research on innovation-driven development,” “research on modern industrial system,” and “research on economic internationalization.” The center will develop with all its strength a high-end think tank integrating personnel training, scientific research, social services and cultural inheritance and innovation, and to take the lead in academic and theoretical innovation both at home and abroad.
The platform of research on basic theories and evaluation of regional modernization is set up to solve the basic theoretical problems of economic transition and management transformation in Jiangsu’s modernization, to lay a theoretical foundation for subsequent theme-based applied research of other platforms, to evaluate regional modernization, and to monitor the modernization levels of cities and counties in Jiangsu Province.
Other platforms are for theme-based applied research. They were set up to meet the actual needs of Jiangsu and focus on the research of the practice of Jiangsu’s economic development, that is, on the implementation of the country’s “Construction Plan for the Modernization Demonstration Zone in Southern Jiangsu.” To promote economic and social transformation, Jiangsu Province has put forth “Six Stresses” and “Eight Projects.” The “Six Stresses” mainly include “stressing the acceleration of the transformation of methods of economic development,” “stressing the strengthening of self-initiated innovation,” and “stressing the strengthening of cultural construction.” The “Eight Projects” mainly include the project of transformation and upgrading, the project of scientific and technological innovation, the project of agricultural modernization, the project of cultural construction, the project of people’s happiness and livelihood, and the project of ecological civilization construction. The “Construction Plan for the Modernization Demonstration Zone in Southern Jiangsu” stipulates that Southern Jiangsu be constructed into a “demonstration zone of self-initiated innovation,” a “zone of clustering modern industries,” a “leading zone of opening-up and cooperation,” an “advanced zone of integrated urban-rural development,” and an “affluent and cultural zone of high habitability.” The platforms of the center are aimed at exploring the rules and determinants of economic transition and management transformation, to put forward scientific measures and proposals and to make high-level research achievements with theoretical and practical values through the combination of theory with practice.
