Beijing rolls out measures to accelerate tech commercialization at universities

China

Beijing rolls out measures to accelerate tech commercialization at universities

2026-03-29 14:14 Last Updated At：16:57

Beijing on Saturday rolled out a new policy package aimed at accelerating the commercialization of scientific research from local universities, seeking to remove long-standing bottlenecks and build a market-driven system that better connects campus innovation with industry demand.

During the ongoing 2026 Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and other departments released a set of measures to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements from universities in the capital city.

Targeting common obstacles in tech transfer, the measures aim to strengthen policy support from the source of innovation, remove institutional barriers, and improve service capacity for commercialization.

The document proposes building a closed-loop innovation ecosystem in which enterprises raise demands, universities provide solutions, and the market evaluates results. Universities will be encouraged to tackle key corporate technology challenges through joint university-enterprise funds among other supporting mechanisms.

It also calls for reforms in talent evaluation and professional title reviews. Universities are instructed to give greater weight to actual commercialization outcomes.

"[We have proposed that] universities must not simply include the number of patent applications and authorizations as evaluation indicators. Instead, they should establish an assessment mechanism oriented toward commercialization outcomes. At the same time, we are vigorously promoting the reform model of 'granting rights first, exercising rights later,' so that achievements with commercialization potential by teachers and research teams can enter the market first, while universities focus on future revenue rights. We also encourage universities, in accordance with the new Degree Law, to recognize joint innovation projects by teachers and students that achieve breakthroughs and deliver strong commercialization results as practical achievements for awarding academic degrees," said Zhang Yaotian, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission.

C919 to operate more domestic routes in new flight season

China's civil aviation sector commenced its 2026 summer-autumn flight season on Sunday, with more routes featuring the domestically produced C919 large passenger aircraft in the new season.

The new flight season will run until November 24, lasting 210 days.

China Eastern Airlines began operating C919 on a new route on Sunday linking Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi in the northwest, with Xiamen, a coastal city in east China's Fujian Province. The airline also announced the resumption of a seasonal route linking Shanghai with Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning Province, also operating C919.

China Southern Airlines plans to deploy its C919 planes on major routes from Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province to Beijing, Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, and Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Air China will add two more C919 destinations - Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Xiamen - during the new flight season to further expand the domestic aircraft's operation network.

"With the steady increase in the number of domestically produced civil aircraft, the C919 aircraft will appear at more domestic destinations in the new flight season," said Cui Hongqiang, deputy director of the Commercial Committee at Air China.

The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.