Abstract:It is known that the innovation capacity of enterprises is an important indication for an innovation economy and basic research is the source of science and technology innovation. What role should China’s enterprises play in basic research has always been a topic for debate. Here in this article, we first discussed the connotation of basic research and clarified the importance of applied basic research to enterprises. We then compared the innovation performance of enterprises in world’s major economies in terms of their R&D investment, scientific output including publications and PCT patent applications, and competitiveness indicators. Furthermore, a visual landscape of innovation performance was formulated, which clearly shows the advantages and disadvantages of enterprises in various economies. The successful cases of some well-known enterprises prove that basic research is essential for leading enterprises to maintain competitiveness. In the past 40 years, China’s enterprises as a whole have made great progress, but their basic research has been weak. This phenomenon may be attributed to the historical context of our development. In the current stage of high-quality development, we propose that substantially strengthening the basic research is of crucial importance for China’s enterprises, especially industry-leading enterprises and innovative enterprises, to improve their global competitiveness and build a strong national innovation economy. In addition, the measures to strengthen the basic research for Chinese enterprises are discussed.