This paper briefly discusses the periodic table of the civilizations (PTOC) and relative theories. In light of the periodic table of the elements and if human civilization is considered as an integrated organism, then the PTOC can be formulated by using periodicity and development level of the productivity and labor structure of human civilization. The PTOC divides the frontier process of human civilization from the birth of humankind to the end of 21st century into 4 periods and 16 stages. The 4 periods are those of primitive culture, agricultural civilization, industrial civilization and knowledge civilization, respectively, with each period including four stages, i.e. starting, developing, maturing and transition stages. The PTOC has three formats, i.e. simple, vertical and horizontal tables. The first modernization witnesses the great changes and transformation from traditional agricultural to modern industrial civilization, economy and society, and then the second modernization from the modern industrial to the higher modern knowledge civilization, economy and society. The PTOC and new modernization theory present a new reference for the international comparative and development studies, as well as a set of brief tables for the people who concern human civilization and world modernization.

As an important platform for knowledge transformation, the science and technology think tanks play an important role in supporting the decision-making. Through the analysis of the typical government science and technology think tanks, this paper summarizes the decision-making-oriented issues, the standard process of knowledge transformation, the team organization and coordination, the information collection, the quality assurance of reports, and the achievement transmission mechanism, and proposes the needs for the knowledge transformation and mechanisms at each stage. It is recommended to systematically organize experts, think tank researchers, and managers through the design standardized consulting procedure, pay more attention to the data collection and the analysis skills, and provide effective policy advice.

As the scientific societies play an increasingly important role in promoting the scientific and technological progress and building the national innovation system, it is urgent to carefully study the scientific societies to provide an important support for their development in the new era. By reviewing 1164 related journal papers, this paper analyzes the evolution, the research hotspots and the supporting systems of the domestic and foreign scientific societies, and proposes the development strategy of Chinese scientific societies.

It is of great significance for boosting our strategic scientific and technological strength and building an integrated national strategic system and capabilities to study how the United States manages national laboratories in the field of defense and how various kinds of national laboratories support defense security needs. The paper suggested that the top-level design of our national laboratory system should reflect the national strategic needs, determine the layout of national laboratories in accordance with the requirements of military-civilian integration, innovate the management mode of national laboratories by drawing on the experience of developed countries, and integrate defense science and technology key laboratories into the national key laboratory system.