Shanxi restructures provincial key labs

North China's Shanxi province recently completed the restructuring and establishment of 21 provincial key laboratories and 12 provincial key laboratory incubators jointly built by government departments and cities. 

Since 1996, a total of 142 key laboratories have been established in the province, shaping up as a strategic scientific and technological force for promoting innovation, leading development and addressing economic and social needs.

However, these labs have faced issues such as unclear positioning, scattered research directions, small scale, and weak support for key industries. 

The restructured Shanxi provincial key labs are categorized into three types: those related basic research and applied basic research, frontier technology research, and government department and city joint construction. 

The labs of the first type focus on acquiring new principles, knowledge, and methods to provide scientific support for enhancing future core competitiveness and major technological innovation activities. 

The labs of frontier technology research emphasize forward-looking, pioneering, and exploratory technological breakthroughs for future technology upgrades and the development of emerging industries, supporting key core technology breakthroughs. 

Those in the third category focus on promoting major provincial development strategies such as the green energy revolution, as well as ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River basin.

The conditions for these restructured labs have been further improved. Their research and development area are each at least 2,000 square meters, with a fixed asset value of research equipment of at least 20 million yuan ($2.8 million) and a total research and development investment of at least 20 million yuan in the past three years.

In addition to receiving financial support from the provincial government, the affiliated units are required to provide a special funding support of at least 1 million yuan annually to these labs.

The personnel structure has also been further optimized. Among the directors of the 21 newly established provincial key labs, six are national-level high-level talents, including recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. 

The average number of permanent lab staff members has increased from 38 to 61, with an average age of 41. 

After this optimization and restructuring, the total number of provincial key laboratories in the energy field has reached 25, covering the fields of mineral resource development, clean and efficient use of coal, hydrogen energy, renewable energy, energy storage, and smart power grids. 

Seven new laboratories have been established in high-efficiency hydrogen storage and production technology, nuclear energy technology, and strategic mineral resources.