The biennial conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, on June 7, 2010. The conference will be attended by academicians from the 709-member Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the 751-member Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the top honorary bodies that advise the government and industries on key scientific and technological issues. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Hu Jintao Monday stressed the role of science and technology in "building an innovative nation, transforming the growth pattern and gaining initiative in development."

Hu told more than 1,400 scientists and engineers attending a biennial conference of China's two leading science and technology organizations which opened in Beijing Monday, "The key is to greatly improve innovation abilities."

Hu said the science and technological sector "shoulder an important mission" in transforming the economic growth pattern.

The five-day conference was attended by academicians from the 709-member Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the 751-member Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), the top honorary bodies that advise the government and industries on key scientific and technological issues.

"The competition on science and technology has an important status in the competition of overall national strength," Hu told them.

"The rapid development of science and technology has profoundly changed the growth mode and the mode of production, and innovation has become an important way to resolve global problems such as energy resources, ecological environment, natural disasters and health, and has become a main driver of economic and social development," he said.

Hu said efforts must be made to develop technologies of energy resource exploitation so as to form a sustainable system featuring recycling and low carbon emissions.

More efforts should also be focused on advanced material and manufacturing science, the equipment manufacturing industry, information technology, agriculture, biology, food safety, health sciences, and environment protection technologies, he said.