新型举国体制如何提升创新效率——基于中国铯原子钟突破的案例

How the New System for Mobilizing Resources Nationwide Enhances Innovation Efficiency——The Case of China’s Cesium Atomic Clock Breakthrough

传统举国体制往往强调不惜代价集中力量解决“有无”问题,但是面对越来越多领域中的“卡脖子”风险,新型举国体制将如何解决效率问题?原子钟是一项大国才需要的关键核心技术,其中最难的铯原子钟正是到新时代才取得的突破。基于对国内相关科研单位和技术专家近三年的调研和访谈,发现铯原子钟的国产化源于美国、欧洲和本土三条不同技术路线的竞争,最后都取得了突破,其中北京大学还贡献了自主创新。这证明市场竞争同样可以在关键核心技术的突破中发挥作用,只是需要搭配一套协调型的治理政策,后者正是新型举国体制所演化出来的关键特征——包括广泛参与的规划引领,分散试错的竞争和相互交叉的协作。案例展示了新型举国体制与市场经济融合的过程和细节,协调多元主体合作、高效配置创新资源的经验,也可以为其他领域的突破提供借鉴。

The traditional system for mobilizing resources nationwide, which emphasizes concentrated efforts to solve problems at any cost, may not be effective in addressing the growing issue of efficiency in an increasingly complex world. The atomic clock, a key technology only needed by large countries, serves as a case study in the effectiveness of the new system. Through nearly three years of research and interviews with domestic research institutions and technical experts, it was found that the breakthrough of cesium atomic clocks in China was the result of competition between three different technical approaches: the US, the European, and the local approaches. This demonstrates both the potential for market competition to drive the development of key technologies, and the importance of coordinated governance policies, such as broad participatory planning and leadership, decentralized trial-and-error competition and cross-collaboration in the new system mobilizing resources nationwide. This provides a valuable example of how the new nationwide system can effectively integrate with a socialist market economy and efficiently allocate innovation resources, with potential lessons for breakthroughs in other areas.