[Innovation and application are vital for translational research in ophthalmology].

Although the resource devoted for scientific research increased substantially in recent years, the quality of our basic and clinical study still leaves much to be improved. Besides the shortcomings in administration of research funding, our researchers, as the entity of scientific work, should fully recognize that innovation and application are vital for basic and clinical research in ophthalmology. It is emphasized that the principles and methods in an innovative study, including comprehensive grasp for up-to-date information, proposal of a key project, collaboration of multi-disciplines, through design of a study, and acceleration of application in practice, should be followed in order to make new advances in our cause in ophthalmology.