Praise for an emerging powerhouse

China has become an emerging powerhouse of innovation, embodied by a dramatic increase in scientific discoveries, according to a lecture by experts from publishing company Springer Nature, owner of the world’s leading science journal Nature.

Back in 1997, only 0.3 percent of original research papers published by Nature had any Chinese authors, but in 2015, that had risen to 7.9 percent.

China is now second only to the United States in terms of high-quality research publications, said Arend Küster, director of Open Research of Springer Nature China, in the lecture at the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University.

Arnout Jacobs, president of Springer Nature China, said the whole ecosystem of innovation in China had greatly improved in recent years. It has been growing fast, and China had become world leader in some aspects, he said.

Jacobs said that Shanghai, where Springer Nature has its China headquarters, is open and international and has great research resources for people all over the world, .

Shanghai is among the 10 most innovative cities in the world, according to a Springer Nature survey, and figures showed that Shanghai scientists have published 85 articles in three of the top international journals Science, Nature and Cell in 2018, accounting for 32.2 percent of the nation’s total.

“Science has to be international to be successful,” Jacobs said, implying that Shanghai is a perfect birthplace of international cooperation in innovation projects.

Monday's lecture was the first of a Science Salon event initiated by the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Resources Center.

The event is designed to strengthen and deepen exchanges and cooperation between local researchers and the world’s academic journals, and to support the city’s goal to become an innovation center with global influence, according to the center.

The lecture attracted an audience of more than 300, mostly local students.

Nature experts shared their views on three topics — how to make research count, how to do impactful and responsible research, and how to develop research and build the reputation of institutes.