The recently concluded Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee further painted a magnificent picture of reform and declared the historical initiative and firm determination to carry reform through to the end. As a pioneer of reform and opening up, Zhejiang has always "worked solidly, stayed ahead, and stood at the forefront of the tide." Starting today, Zhejiang Daily launches the column "Anchoring Modernization, Deepening Reform," dispatching reporters to the frontline at the grassroots level to publicize the vivid practice of the spirit of the plenary session taking root, and to report on the reform exploration experience of various fields in Zhejiang that has spread from local areas to the whole country in recent years. Stay tuned.

　　Scientific and technological achievements with considerable market valuation can be tried out by small, medium, and micro enterprises without spending a single cent. In the workshop of Sichuan Mianyang Liangda Technology Innovation Service Co., Ltd., a magnetic material achievement from a Zhejiang university, under a free authorization of "use first, transfer later," is undergoing small-scale pilot experiments. Once successfully prepared, this new material can be applied in multiple fields such as wind power generation and healthcare.

　　"Free trial use has resolved the risks and costs we face in taking on scientific and technological achievements; we can boldly experiment with the achievements we favor as soon as we get them," Yu Nengjun, the company's relevant person in charge, happily told the reporter.

　　Pan Minxiang, a researcher at the School of Materials and Chemistry of China Jiliang University, which owns the achievement, said that free trial use is a win-win for both enterprises and institutions; through the enterprise's "antennae," the research team can discover and solve more practical application problems.

　　"Use first, transfer later" means scientific and technological achievements are "tried free of charge first and paid for upon transfer later." The Decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee proposed to "encourage and guide universities and research institutes to license scientific and technological achievements to small, medium, and micro enterprises for use on a use-first, pay-later basis." This innovative move in the reform of the science and technology system originated in Zhejiang.

　　In 2021, targeting problems such as the shortage of innovation resources, limited technology transfer capacity, and low matching of scientific and technological achievements in the 26 mountainous counties and small and medium-sized enterprises, Zhejiang implemented reforms to break through obstacles in the transfer of scientific and technological achievements, taking the lead nationwide in exploring the "use first, transfer later" mechanism and promoting the "sinking" of scientific and technological resource elements to underdeveloped areas and small and medium-sized enterprises. Jinhua Wuyi, Lishui Longquan, and other pilot areas have seen vigorous university-enterprise cooperation.

　　On the basis of the pilot program, Zhejiang has actively "checked for leaks and filled gaps," applying one institutional "patch" after another to "use first, transfer later."

　　On the desk of Jin Cong, director of the Achievement Transfer Division of the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, documents related to "use first, transfer later" are neatly stacked—the "Specification for Public Trading of Scientific and Technological Achievements" was issued in January 2023 to standardize the transaction process of "use first, transfer later"; the "Regulations on Scientific and Technological Progress of Zhejiang Province" officially took effect on December 1, 2023, legally enshrining the "use first, transfer later" mechanism; the "Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a Market-Oriented Mechanism for the Transfer of Scientific and Technological Achievements" is a ** policy released in January this year, stipulating that scientific and technological achievements generated with financial fund support that have not been transferred for two full years shall be included in the "use first, transfer later" transfer pool.

　　"Use first, transfer later" has also developed special insurance products and linked with credit centers to avoid intellectual property infringement risks during the trial use of achievements.

　　"'Use first, transfer later' has explored a standardized implementation path for the highly non-standard transfer of scientific and technological achievements, comparable to 'the same track for carriages and the same weights and measures,'" said the above-mentioned person in charge. On the basis of reaching intentions, research teams can authorize multiple enterprises to try out simultaneously for free, saving the originally substantial communication and friction costs regarding transfer methods, transfer prices, and transfer targets, and improving the efficiency of achievement transfer. This standardized path is being extended and promoted to more provinces and cities.

　　As institutions and mechanisms continue to improve, an atmosphere in which researchers "try with peace of mind" and small, medium, and micro enterprises "dare to try" has gradually taken shape in Zhejiang. "Achievements that used to be locked in drawers are now all being taken out again," Jia Jiangming, a teacher at the School of Mechanical Engineering of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, told the reporter. In recent years, the university has sent 12 expert teams to the grassroots to promote "use first, transfer later" in the bearing industry of Changshan County, helping extend the service life of bearing molds from an average of 2 hours to 6 hours, greatly improving the industry's efficiency.

　　As of the end of June this year, a total of more than 5,500 scientific and technological achievements from Zhejiang universities, research institutes, and medical and health institutions have been transferred through "use first, transfer later," with 1,355 free trial uses accumulated, and some achievements have even flowed across provinces.

　　It is worth noting that follow-up surveys show that among the two parties to transactions implementing achievement transfer through "use first, transfer later," about 60 percent have already used free trial as a medium to go beyond the achievements themselves and achieve further industry-university-research cooperation.

　　After three years of exploration, Zhejiang has initially established the "135" use-first-transfer-later system, namely "one support platform" mainly consisting of the China Zhejiang Online Technology Market and its Taobao portal, "three types of application scenarios" led by leading enterprises, service institutions, and local governments, and "five supporting mechanisms" including laws and regulations, implementation standards, insurance products, credit guarantees, and standardized contracts.

　　Next, Zhejiang will incorporate a series of supporting supports for collaborative innovation among industry, universities, and research institutes—such as team services, technical consulting, and technical development behind the achievements—into the "use first, transfer later" system, further improving the full-chain puzzle of "market-led, entities dynamic, and institutions guaranteeing."