The Center for China Science Popularization is the strategic deployment of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) to build a new type of think tank with Chinese characteristics. The expert think tank is an important component of the Center for China Science Popularization. It aims to build a cooperation platform that brings together experts from the government, academia, and industry, form a resource database for science popularization think tank intelligence and talent data that integrates experts, intelligence data, and evaluation, and expand the expert cooperation resources of the "Center for China Science Popularization". It will give full play to the role of science popularization think tanks in providing political advice. It will also help science popularization work strategically supporting self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology and modernization of national governance. Through case analysis, this paper analyzes the innovation paths of the expert think tank in terms of function positioning, management mechanism, warehousing standard, function design, system planning, etc., and discusses the innovation mode of expert think tank construction：to achieve conceptual innovation by building an expert think tank development strategy oriented to think tank data governance; to realize practice innovation by creating a data-driven think tank platform for smart expert think tanks.

science popularization  /  think tank  /  expert database  /  construction mode  /  think tank data governance