The President of the University of Hong Kong, Cheung Cheung, said that technology is "stuck in the neck" because in the past, others acted recklessly, and we were busy with other things

On May 30, it was reported that at the 2023 Zhongguancun Parallel Forum Future Science Forum, Zhang Xiang, President of the University of Hong Kong, academician of the National Academy of Engineering, and academician of the CAS Member, said that the reason why China has a "neck jam" problem now is that 30 years ago, when others were doing things that were unconstrained, you were still doing other things. So how to stay ahead of time requires us to truly do some innovative and disruptive research at the source

On May 30, it was reported that at the 2023 Zhongguancun Parallel Forum Future Science Forum, Zhang Xiang, President of the University of Hong Kong, academician of the National Academy of Engineering, and academician of the CAS Member, said that the reason why China has a "neck jam" problem now is that 30 years ago, when others were doing things that were unconstrained, you were still doing other things. So how to stay ahead of time requires us to truly do some innovative and disruptive research at the source.

Zhang Xiang stated that the essence of science is exchange and openness, and science cannot be monopolized by one person. Society is inclusive towards scientists and scientific research, and inclusivity is determined by the essence of science. In fact, 95% of the time an experiment fails and 5% of the time it succeeds, if within 95% of the time it fails, others always blame it for not being able to do so.

Zhang Xiang mentioned that, in larger terms, many enterprises, including government projects, are goal oriented, which is good. Many projects need to solve "bottleneck" issues, but there must also be some wild ideas. There is a scholar in Princeton who wrote 'The Usefulness of Unused Knowledge'. Many scientific discoveries are not made by seeking goals, but when there are no goals. If the goal is too strong, there is a problem. I hope that society can give Chinese scientists more years to sharpen their swords.

Zhang Xiang stated that a leader from the Ministry of Science and Technology visited several universities in Hong Kong before, and mentioned that scholars in Hong Kong do research differently from other places. He said that these scholars are not as tasked and urgent, which can easily cause some professors to work for a long time or with little interference. In fact, our school leaders generally do not have the right to pressure professors in the laboratory. We usually evaluate the entire university every 6 years, and we need to produce 4 articles every 6 years.

Zhang Xiang proposed that there is fierce competition in talent and innovation among various countries. Our country has organized top research institutes and university organizations to solve the problem of "bottleneck" technology through specialized teams in many areas.

He talked about why there is a "bottleneck" problem now, because 20 or 30 years ago, when others were doing wild things, you were still doing other things. Now solve the problem of "neck sticking", while others are studying the next "neck sticking" issue today. So how to stay ahead of time? We need to truly conduct innovative and disruptive research at the source. ASML in the Netherlands has accumulated at least 30 to 50 years of technology, and it is not just a technology. This requires strong support from the entire society for source innovation and basic research. From a national perspective, with 1.3 billion people, how can we promote innovation? There needs to be a group of scientists sitting on the sidelines, even doing long-term useless work.