Consultation agencies should work harder to help research institutes link into the demands of the market, a source from the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday.

He said too many institutes focused on theoretical studies, instead of looking seriously at applied technologies.

A lot of research findings produced by universities and research institutions are set aside each year because most of them are not useful to industrial or agricultural sectors, said Zhang Jing'an, director of the ministry's Department for Policy, Regulation and System Reform.

Statistics show that although the country achieves an annual average of 6,000 agricultural research findings, only about one-third of them are commercialized.

A source from the ministry's rural and social development department said the findings were too abstract to be applied in agricultural production. China's farmers need products like high-yield crop seeds, new pesticides, fertilizers and biological technologies.

Intermediary agencies can help both governmental departments and research institutes make market-oriented decisions by offering up-to-date information, said Zhang.

The Beijing Software Industry Promotion Centre, for example, last year suggested that 67 governmental departments in the nation's capital should use patented Chinese-made computer software.

Under the centre's recommendation, the departments purchased products developed by 10 Chinese companies, pulling the Beijing market share of local software products up to 65 per cent. Foreign software products were used in 90 per cent of cases in China.

"Under the ongoing scientific system reform, government departments are meddling less in business circles and instead are focusing more on creating a favourable policy climate to better serve companies," said Zhang.

He said developing intermediary agencies is necessary to drive the national economy by advancing technology.

Consultation agencies in Western countries are well-developed, providing services for such fields as finance, investment, education, real estate, industrial design, law, accounting and environmental protection.

In the middle of the 1980s, the Chinese Government said all economic sectors had to submit feasible research reports before they could implement projects, in a bid to ensure efficient investment.

Starting in 1985, the United Nations Development Programme, Asian Development Bank and World Bank began to invest in China.

Some domestic consultation agencies started to provide services for these international organizations, helping pave the way for China's consultation agencies.

Incomplete statistics show the country has more than 60,000 technological intermediary agencies in its big cities.

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