Abstract:Since the reform and opening up, China has made significant progress in economic and technological development. Nevertheless, the complex international situation has made us aware that there are still some visible and invisible key core technologies under the control of others, bring us into a passive situation in international competition. Technological advantages are increasingly being applied in political confrontations between nations, serving as important means of sanctions and invisible weapons. Being dependent on others for key and core technologies has become a hidden danger to China’s economic and social development. Based on case studies of some successful key and core technology breakthroughs and combining with the “window of opportunity theory” for latecomer countries to achieve technological catching-up, this study seeks the main entry points for breakthroughs according to the development stage of the technology, characteristics of market demand, and commercial attributes of products, determines the “catching-up model”, and provides both practical and theoretical significance for improving the institutional design of key and core technology breakthroughs.