Abstract:National/Public Research Institutes as the national strategic scientific and technological force, play an extremely important role in solving major problems concerning the overall situation and long-term development of the country. Recently, China faces various challenges along with its ambition to achieve a significant breakthrough in core and key technologies. To better exert the important role of national research institutes such as Chinese Academy of Sciences, to address these challenges, in this study, the worldrenowned European public research institution, the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), was chosen to further investigate and summarize its successful experience and implications in strategic positioning, top-level design and institutional arrangements in the core technologies breakthrough. This study further elaborates how national research institutes contribute to and promote the efficiency of the breakthrough of core technologies by pushing on the institutional design and organizational mechanism innovation, by distinctly clarifying the strategic positioning as the core platform and the strategic tasks in the key general technologies' breakthrough. Meanwhile, it is also vital for national research institutes to construct modern and scientific management mechanism of relevant intellectual property achievements and promote the development of collaborative innovation based on deep trust.