Despite a rise in the number of patents they are taking out, scientists and technology researchers in the country still lack an innovative spirit, Yu Hongru, who is affiliated to the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, made the comments in an interview published on the WeChat account "Translation Teaching and Research."
The 90-year-old scientist of aerodynamics, who helped build the world's largest simulated hypersonic flight test site at his institute, said Chinese scientists need to think bigger and be prepared to take more risks.
Part of the problem, Yu said, was that in the Chinese paradigm researchers are not given the luxury of being able to fail, or to recover after failure. This limits the sort of risks most are willing to take and restricts their ideas and actions.
As things stand, he said regarding original technological research, those with skills lack an explorative spirit and are failing to engage in pioneering research, instead developing incrementally the work of other researchers.
Yu was interviewed by Zhang Zhihui of the Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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