A big balancing act

When assessing research strengths, quality-versus-quantity is a persistent debate, as is basic-versus-applied research. CAS appears to be achieving a balance in both, with generally consistent patterns of overall and high-quality research performance and symmetry between its basic and applied research.

On the world stage, CAS’s overall research output in the natural sciences is already formidable and is still growing. It has historical strengths in chemistry and physics, but in the past decade has started to diversify its research output. Notably, applied areas like medical sciences and information and computer science are growing fast, and engineering has overtaken physics to become CAS’s strong field.

In high-quality science, CAS is growing even faster. Particularly, chemistry and engineering have an overwhelming edge compared with other top international research organizations. And the trend to diversify continues, with the strongest growth of medical sciences, particularly, cancer research.

Underlying these patterns is CAS’s emphasis on transformative research or research with societal impacts. Chemistry and engineering, both of which have strong applications, represent the alignment of CAS’s research with national strategic needs, as does the rapid growth of medical and health sciences.

As a large organization with a range of multidisciplinary research institutes, CAS has the capacity to mobilize resources across the disciplines to drive such strategic research. The Priority programmes are good examples, which target science and technology issues of strategic importance and may well have boosted output in relevant subjects from quantum physics to neuroscience. Similarly, the establishment of Centres of Excellence, part of CAS’s Pioneer Initiative to restructure the way it organizes research, also demonstrates its competitive edge in integrating its multidisciplinary fields to boost its strengths in frontier science fields, the effects of which are just starting to show.

A large, yet nimble organization, CAS has demonstrated the advantages of a research agglomerate, being able to quickly respond to the needs of growing frontier sciences, which are usually cross-disciplinary. As CAS strives to enhance its leading position, it also seeks to produce more breakthroughs for societal impact, to truly boost the science and technology innovation capacity of all its institutions, and of the nation.

However, there are also weaker areas in CAS’s research development. CAS still has a lot to catch up in the medical sciences, although this area is growing fast. Moreover, it needs to further enhance its growth in high-quality research, and maintain its traditional areas of strength, such as physics.

Furthermore, publications are not the only indicator of innovation capacity. Whether the output in research can be transformed to real-world applications is another story. There is also a danger that CAS’s heavy emphasis on applied research, or immediate applications, could impair the development of its very fundamental science, which may be the real engine that powers ground-breaking innovations.

Although a lot is said of the distinction between basic and applied research, and between the scientific disciplines, it is a continuum. Too much emphasis on their differences risks undermining interdisciplinary development. Research should be driven by the intrinsic curiosity of researchers, who are naturally attracted to questions that likely to make societal impacts. How best to foster and support such curiosity is the remit for research institutions like CAS.