China’s innovation challenge
Cong Cao
Neil D Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce, State University of New York, New York NY, United States of America
Denis Fred Simon
Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania PA, United States of America
Richard P Suttmeier
University of Oregon, Eugene OR, United States of America
PP: 253 - 259
Abstract
China has made tremendous progress in building its science and technology capabilities.
But to achieve its ambitions to become an innovation-oriented nation, the country has to challenge itself by establishing an enterprise-centered national innovation system, better spending the increasing sums of money on innovation, improving its intellectual property rights regime, overcoming talent shortage, and nurturing a culture of creativity.
Keywords
China, innovation, policy, intellectual property regime (IPR), IPR protection, talent, culture
Article Text
In the span of three decades, China has evolved from being a peripheral player to become the most potent engine in the global economy. Along with its rapid economic progress and the many improvements in the quality of life for large numbers of the Chinese population, a variety of indicators suggest that China's science and technology (S&T) capabilities also are on a sharply rising trajectory (Table 1).
China started to restructure its S&T management system in the mid-1980s to make it quicker and better able to respond to the need of the economy. Since the 1990s, and especially 1995 when 'strengthening the nation through science, technology, and education' (kejiao xingguo) became a new development strategy, China's expenditure on research and development (R&D) has been increasing at a rate approximately twice that of overall economic growth.
In 2007, China spent renminbi (RMB) 371 billion (USD 48.8 billion) on R&D, or 1.49% of its increasing gross domestic product (GDP), highest among countries with similar economic development level, though the percentage is still lower than that of most of the developed economies. This put China fourth in the world, after the US, Japan, and Germany.[1]
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[1] According to OECD (2006) projections, using the purchasing power parity (PPP) measure, China became the world's second largest spender on R&D (USD 136 billion), ranking only behind the US (USD 330 billion). Of course, it should be noted that attempts to measure China's economic output in PPP terms are subject to debate, as its GDP based on that was reduced by forty percent in a recent recalibration. It also should be recognized that the gap in spending between China and the US remains substantial with the US spending more than three times that of the Chinese spending.
The preliminary data show that China's 2008 expenditure on R&D reached RMB 457 billion (USD 65.8 billion), or 1.52% of its GDP.
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