The Nanjing Road of Shanghai. [Photo/VCG]

The number of national science and technology awards given to Shanghai accounts for a large proportion of the total number, which is encouraging, said Chu Junhao, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, in a recent interview.

In the past 10 years, Shanghai has won an increasing number of national science and technology awards, the top science awards in China. Chu said this can be done due to three reasons.

Firstly, Chu said that the current environment for scientific and technological development is very good. "Our government and our society have never attached so much importance to science and technology as now, and everyone knows the role of science and technology in our social development and economic development," Chu said.

He recalled that in the 1980s some experiments had to be carried out overseas because it was not possible to do them in China. "Now our experimental equipment is advanced, and the equipment of some laboratories is comparable to international ones, and some even surpass them," He said.

In addition, Shanghai's achievements in scientific and technological development are inseparable from the efforts of scientific and technological talents. In Chu's view, Chinese scientists are very hardworking. "They are engaged in innovative work by taking advantage of the current experimental conditions and accumulated foundations in China."

He pointed out that there are many overseas Chinese in Shanghai who have returned from abroad. "These scientists have improved their scientific research level abroad and helped foreign scientific research teams to do a good job in scientific research. After returning to China, they have also contributed to advancing the country's scientific and technological development."

Lastly, Chu added that the growth of scientists requires personal effort and struggle and scientists should also combine their own struggles with the development and needs of national scientific undertakings.

For example, Shanghai has several major scientific research facilities, good universities, research institutes and enterprises for scientific researchers to display their talent, so Shanghai has won a relatively large proportion of national science and technology awards. "Scientific research involves inheritance, continuity and accumulation. Some of Shanghai's achievements are the result of long-term accumulation," Chu added.

He pointed out that Shanghai's conditions for scientific and technological development are very sufficient, and in such an environment, Shanghai has great prospects for scientific and technological development.