Abstract: This paper is based on the discourses by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on the important role of citizens' scientific literacy in innovation and development. A theoretical and practical analysis is conducted of how improving the scientific literacy of different groups of people promotes innovation and development from three dimensions: the source, process and end of scientific and technological innovation. It holds that citizens' scientific literacy is a "booster" or "accelerator" that acts on the whole process of scientific and technological innovation in different ways. It influences scientific and technological innovation and ultimately promotes innovation and development by strengthening the "source" at the front end of scientific and technological innovation, smoothing the "flow" of the process and expanding the "pool" at the end. On this basis, adhering to the principle of "placing science popularization on an equal footing with scientific and technological innovation", and focusing on promoting the collaborative interaction and resonance between scientific and technological innovation and the improvement of citizens' scientific literacy, this paper puts forward policy and work suggestions on integrating the construction of citizens' scientific literacy and scientific and technological innovation into the target system, responsibility system, organization system and evaluation system of innovative development.