By LI Linxu

To balance and coordinate development among regions once again was one of the strategies prioritized at China's annual Two Sessions.

The strategy for balanced and coordinated regional development will be fully implemented, according to this year's government work report.

To further implement this strategy, as well as the innovation-driven strategy, the sci-tech cooperation between the eastern and western regions is essential.

Such cooperation is of great significance to improve the innovation capability of western regions and solve the issue of unbalanced and inadequate development there, noted a document recently released by the Ministry of Science and Technology in conjunction with eight other ministries and departments.

The document, titled the Implementation Scheme of Sci-tech Cooperation between the Eastern and Western Regions During the 14th Five-Year Plan Period, details the goals and tasks of promoting such cooperation in the following years.

Focusing on national sci-tech strategies and major regional development needs, the mechanism of sci-tech cooperation between the eastern and western regions will be improved, and the orderly flow of innovation elements across regions will be promoted.

By 2025, the sci-tech innovation capability of western regions will be significantly boosted, with the spillover effects of eastern regions' sci-tech innovation being more noticeable, and the innovation and industrial chain more closely intertwined between eastern and western regions, as per the goals.

To achieve these goals, the scheme laid out a series of key tasks, such as the sci-tech assistance to Xinjiang, Xizang, Qinghai, Yunnan, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, and Gansu.

Xinjiang will receive support in the joint R&D efforts on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality technologies in key fields, as well as their demonstration applications, said the scheme, adding that Silk Road Economic Belt Innovation-driven Development Pilot Zone will play a leading role in building a regional sci-tech innovation hub.

Xizang will be supported in developing a systematic technological solution to the ecological protection of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, according to the scheme, calling for accelerating the transformation of sci-tech achievements in its specialized agricultural and animal husbandry industries.

Caka Salt Lake, Haixi prefecture, Qinghai province. (PHOTO: VCG)

Qinghai will deepen cooperation with Tianjin, Shandong, Anhui and Chongqing to build a world-class salt lake industrial base, as per the scheme, highlighting that the upstream and downstream collaborative innovation mechanism will be improved.

The innovation capability of Yunnan, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou and Gansu will also be boosted through cross-regional sci-tech cooperation.

Resources will be shared, platforms will be co-built, R&D will be jointly conducted, and talent exchanges will be enhanced across these regions, proposed the scheme.