National S&T Major Projects (国家科技重大专项)

National S&T Major Projects

Supports Chinese mission driven teams through National S&T Major Projects to build deployment ready solutions for national priorities.

The National Science and Technology Major Projects (国家科技重大专项, STMP) are China's highest-priority mission-driven R&D programme, administered by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) under direction of the Central Science and Technology Commission. Unlike merit-based competitive grants, STMP projects target a short list of strategically critical technology challenges where the state has declared a national imperative. Post-2023 MOST reorganisation, STMP administration remains with MOST — the programme was not transferred to NSFC. Live 2026 calls have been confirmed via service.most.gov.cn across five active project families: Quantum Communications and Quantum Computers (call opened 11 May 2026), Coal Major Project Batch 2 including 600 MW-class post-combustion CO₂ capture engineering demonstration (opened 28 April 2026), Deep Earth Major Project supplementary 2026 notice (issued 10 March 2026), Jing-Jin-Ji Environmental Comprehensive Governance, and Magnetic Confinement Fusion Energy Development.

STMP projects are funded at large scale — mega-project consortia are typical, involving major research institutions, state-owned enterprises, and universities as lead and participating units. Awards are denominated in CNY; specific per-call award sizes are published in Chinese-language project guides released on service.most.gov.cn. Open competitive slots (公开竞争类) within project families represent the pathway available to non-pre-designated applicants. Eligibility is restricted to Chinese-registered legal entities; foreign researchers may only participate as partners under active intergovernmental cooperation arrangements, not as lead applicants. All application materials are in Chinese.

Proposals are submitted through service.most.gov.cn, which is operated by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC), an MOST affiliate. Application windows are typically 30 to 60 days following project guide release. Successful applicants are typically large established R&D organisations with prior track records in the relevant technology domain; individual researchers are not eligible as project leads. Applicants should monitor service.most.gov.cn for guide publication dates for each project family, as the guide sets the specific technical requirements, eligibility criteria, and submission deadlines for each open competitive slot.