The 7th science popularization report, 2008 China Science Popularization Report, compiled and published by the China Institute of Science Popularization, was released on the 7th. According to the report, China's per capita funding for science popularization is less than 1.5 yuan per year, and the largest source of funding for science popularization comes from government investment. In general, the proportion of social donations in the annual funds raised in various regions is still relatively small, which indicates that the funds for science popularization from society still need to be increased (according to the Beijing News on November 8).
China's per capita annual funding for science popularization is less than 1.5 yuan. From the perspective of funding sources, it is not surprising that the government's investment is low, but also that the funding channels are single. In addition, there are biases in ideology, such as thinking that science popularization investment is soft investment, more or less is irrelevant, and there is nothing to delay or lack. If the science popularization construction is often cut off as a non basic construction, the source of funds will be more predictable. The low total amount of government investment in science popularization will inevitably lead to the small original base of science popularization funds. It is not only difficult to open the door when popularizing science and technology, but also difficult to pry open the door of social contributions to science popularization. The growth of the total amount of science popularization funds is bound to be more worrying.
To solve the problem of insufficient investment in science popularization in today's society, it is impossible to do without a system, because the system is fundamental and long-term, but it is not enough to just have a system. After all, there are still people standing behind the system. Moreover, it is still very difficult to change the current thinking and system of rule of man. It can be said that the legalization of science popularization in China is not lagging behind. As early as June 2002, the Law of the People's Republic of China on Science and Technology Popularization was promulgated and implemented, and this law is the first national law in the world to focus on science popularization. This shows that China has taken the lead in science popularization legislation in the world, laying a good foundation for the systematization of science popularization policies and regulations, including opening up funding channels. Unfortunately, in some places, the Science Popularization Law is still written on paper and has not been effectively implemented. "The world does not suffer from impossibility, and there is no need to act when suffering from it." The words in Hengkuan's "On Salt and Iron" of the Western Han Dynasty hit the heart of the problem.
To promote the implementation of policies and regulations on science popularization, we need legal protection, and more importantly, we need specific and perfect supporting measures. In fact, in terms of science popularization investment, China not only has the problem of not abiding by laws and not using laws, but also has the prominent contradiction of insufficient systematicness and matching. As a national public welfare undertaking, science popularization involves all fields of the whole society. Since science popularization is a common task of the whole society, the government financial funds cannot be solely responsible for raising funds for science popularization. In fact, China should learn from the advanced experience of foreign countries and work hard to improve supporting measures to form a diversified and multi-channel funding direction for science popularization.
In fact, in some countries where there is no legislation on science popularization, the actual work is far more solid and effective than ours, and the experience and practice are worth learning from. For example, the US government explicitly stipulates that donors to non-profit organizations or completely public organizations can enjoy tax incentives; The production machines of the factory must be selected by the local museum organization before being scrapped. In doing so, it is necessary to effectively drive non-governmental organizations to donate to science popularization through policy leverage. In addition to government funding and encouraging social investment, some governments have also issued science popularization lottery tickets in special cases. The Korean Science and Culture Foundation, with the government's special permission, sells science and technology lottery tickets every year in the financing process. Part of the funds raised is used to supplement the science and technology fund, and the other part is used to commend the scientific and technological personnel and popular science workers who have made contributions. The British and Finnish governments also issue science and technology lottery tickets, which are mainly used to support the construction and operation of science museums. The Finnish Lottery Company is the only Finnish national lottery company under the Finnish Ministry of Education. Except that 5% of its turnover is turned over to the Ministry of Finance as tax, all profits of the Finnish Lottery Company are turned over to the Ministry of Education for arts, science, sports, youth activities, libraries, museums and other educational, scientific and cultural undertakings.
Of course, increasing investment in science popularization should also focus on improving residents' consumption structure. With the general improvement of people's living standards, the government should seize the opportunity to actively promote the construction of the cultural industry, so that the media science popularization can get greater development, so that the construction of science popularization venues can speed up, constantly enrich new display content, and influence and drive the individual residents to increase their investment in cultural entertainment, broadcast film and television, book publishing, sports rehabilitation, tourism and other spiritual life, With the prosperity and development of cultural industry, we will promote the popularization of science and technology, the improvement of citizens' comprehensive quality and the development and progress of society.
