In the last several years, China's leadership has placed high priority on shifting its economy from a "factory model" based on low-cost manufacturing of products designed elsewhere, to one that includes more original Chinese technology and design. To do this, Beijing has instituted so-called "indigenous innovation" policies resulting in massive investments in research-and- development infrastructure and higher education.
As a result, China is expected to overtake Japan soon as the world's second-largest R&D investor, although it still remains far behind the U.S. China's domestic doctorate awards in science and engineering have also increased more than tenfold since the early 1990s, and its share of the global pool of researchers has grown from less than 14 percent in 2002 to more than 20 percent today.
Only a few years ago, China's approach to innovation hardly played a role in international economic diplomacy. Today, it is a hot topic in U.S.-China economic relations, adding further to contentious disputes about exchange rates, trade and foreign direct investment.
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Author: Dieter Ernst
