Abstract: The relation between the scientific and technological innovation and the modernization indicates that the scientific and technological innovation is the endogenous driving power of the modernization. The theory and practice of modernization defines the connotation of the leading position of basic modernization in South Jiangsu. The total situation of the basic modernization in South Jiangsu is good, but the development of the different targets is not well balanced. The root of the problems in the process of the modernization in South Jiangsu is the insufficiency of the endogenous driving power for the scientific and technological innovation. We must optimize the talent structure to guide and boost the transformation and upgrading of the industrial structure and to develop the low-carbon economy. We must rely on the scientific and technological innovation to get rid of the dependence on the cheap labor force and to achieve the balanced development. We must supply policy support for the scientific and technological innovation to be the endogenous driving power.

Key words: scientific and technological innovation; endogenous driving power; modernization