From institution building to decision intelligence enhancement:

Since the issuance of The Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of New Think Tanks with Chinese Characteristics in 2015, the development of new think tanks with Chinese characteristics has gone through a full decade. This period marks not only a critical transition from simply establishing think tanks to improving their quality, but also an important starting point for China’s transformation from a major producer of knowledge into a strong producer of ideas. Over the past decade, China’s think tank development has achieved staged progress: from initial institution building to systematic formation, from ex post commentary to whole-process policy engagement, from single-source supply to multi-source support, and from passive response to proactive agenda-setting. As a result, the national think tank system has gradually taken shape. At the same time, however, structural problems remain prominent. The long-term dependency of knowledge systems, the short-term orientation of evaluation mechanisms, and the misalignment between organizational structures and talent composition have resulted in a persistent imbalance characterized by many think tanks but limited intellectual capacity. To address this problem, it is necessary to further clarify the distinctive functions of think tanks as differentiated from general research institutions, especially, their unique mission to identify and respond to major issues in key national domains, the multi-level policy reference and social influence of their research outputs, and the cultivation of strategic, forward-looking, long-term, and reality-oriented research perspectives among think tank researchers. In the context of the AI era and the development of an autonomous Chinese knowledge system, China’s think tanks need to move beyond institution building to decision intelligence enhancement and accelerate the transition toward quality-oriented new think tanks.