Analysing Chinese innovation
Europe has strong trade and other interests concerning China. China's solutions to its innovation challenges both inform and affect Europe. The EU-funded 'Globalization, institutional reform, and China's innovation challenges' (CHINAINNOVATION) project investigated innovation in the Chinese sense. The team worked to document China's role in the global innovation network, and China's innovation trajectory. The two-year project concluded in October 2014. Project researchers made five fieldwork trips to Beijing, Shanghai and two minor Chinese cities. The purpose was to interview scholars at various Chinese universities and other agencies. The topics concerned indigenous innovation and technology transfer from academia to industry. During the final two visits, the project interviewed beneficiaries of China's talent development programmes. Other research elements involved analysis of Chinese government expenditure documents, aiming to demystify such spending. The team further examined, and attempted to integrate, inter- and intra-regional research collaborations with respect to patent applications. Both topics yielded journal papers. Project work queried the concept of innovation policy network as applied at various levels in China. The study analysed 463 Chinese government policy documents created between 1980 and 2011. Lastly, the team documented the role of the state in industrial innovation, focusing on mega-engineering programmes. The work attempted to illustrate the conditions whereby the state initiates such involvement. The CHINAINNOVATION project examined Chinese innovation and knowledge transfer, and penetrated the mystery surrounding government spending on such themes. The work yielded recommendations for Europe.
Keywords
Chinese innovation, government research, innovation policy, globalization, technology transfer
