One Tsinghua project, “The Common Foundation of Modern Large Applied Software Design”, has been adopted and funded by the 2004 National Basic Research Program (also called 973 Program) recently.

Through revealing the mechanism of the function of knowledge and the method of measurement, “The Common Foundation of Modern Large Applied Software Design” aims at building a structure of large applied software system which is multi-faceted, open, and adaptable to the wills of the customers, so as to form a new generation of principles and methods of production design. The project will provide applied testing platform for the design of sophisticated mechanical components and system of automobiles and the manufacturing industry at large, and is expected to promote China 's transformation production industry from a large one to a powerful one.

The project is led by Prof. Sun Jiaguang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, from the School of Software , Tsinghua University . He is also appointed by the Program as the chief scientist of the project. Up to now, up to 14 projects from Tsinghua have been funded by the Program, and 14 Tsinghua professors appointed as chief scientists.

The National Basic Research Program (973 Program) is China 's on-going national keystone basic research program which was approved by the Chinese government in June 1997 and is organized and implemented by the Ministry of Science and Technology. It is created on the basis of existing research activities and deployments made by the National Nature Science Foundation and major dedicated pre-studies, to organize and conduct basic research to meet the nation's major strategic needs.

Each of its research projects usually lasts for 5 years. Since its initiation in 1998, the National Basic Research Program has funded 190 projects.

Reported by Liu Aixiang