Vice Premier Tags Steve Jobs for Tech Inspiration

The bestselling biography of late Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs made an impression on one of China's top leaders.

While attending a group discussion of the ongoing CPPCC annual session Sunday afternoon, Vice Premier Li Keqiang raised Jobs as a model innovator to encourage science and technology researchers to constantly bring forth new ideas, Chinanews.com reported.

"I was turning over the pages of Steve Jobs' biography, which is very interesting. It is true that he made a careful study of science and technology, but his favorite subject was art," said the vice premier to the group composed of people without party affiliations and scientific researchers.

During the hour-and-a-half-long discussion, Li expressed high interest of topics in technological innovations, taking notes and occasionally raising questions.

Meng Luoming, a professor from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, spoke of the "lack of targets related to scientific and technological innovation and economic development mode transformation.

When the vice premier asked for an example for the professor's observation, Meng explained that currently more than 60 percent of China's intellectual properties rely on innovations in foreign countries.

"We have a large amount of patents, but 95 percent are junk patents which consume a great deal of human, material and financial resources of the country," Meng said.

Li said that China is enjoying stable and rapid economic development, and most spirited activities are those of scientific and technological innovations.

"The first person I saw when I came in today was Mr. Yuan [Longping]. His team has achieved 920 kg per mu yield. It is a miracle," the vice premier said, insisting on the honorific to address the scientist as one of "those teachers of authority and [who enjoy] moral eminence and high esteem."

"Technological innovation, humanistic spirit and humanistic philosophy cannot be separated," Li said.

The vice premier spoke about the various lines of Apple's computers, mobile phones, iPads, and iPods that are sold everywhere. "Those products have acquired an enormous market share, and they are beloved by young people," he said.