Correlation between economic and industrial demand and scientific innovation: a case study of thermodynamics discipline statistics of National Natural Science Foundation of China

Abstract

The thermodynamics discipline has developed rapidly in China in the past 30 years, especially with the integration of nanoparticles and other cutting-edge disciplines. However, it is still needed to discuss how to promote the interdisciplinary scientific innovation in thermal science. This paper makes an empirical analysis of counting data through Poisson regression, and constructs mixed Poisson distribution and panel Poisson distribution through project approval data of Thermodynamics of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and China Education Statistics Yearbook from 2015 to 2017. The empirical results show that the four cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Shanghai account for 23% of youth projects and 42% of key projects. The human resources invested by universities and the use of teaching and research resources have a significant positive impact on the project approval of thermodynamics. In addition, empirical evidence shows that general projects and key projects have a higher chance of being approved than youth projects. It is worth noting that the empirical results reveal that the projects are more likely to be approved for applicants with expected deliverables of monographs or handbooks. In our conclusion, this result is related to the importance that NSFC attached to the practicability of technology and the urgency of industry needs. Monographs or handbook can provide more systematic guidance and more detailed illustration of a certain thermal scientific outcome. Therefore, applicants whose expected results are mainly published academic papers have a smaller chance of project approval in China.