Denis Fred Simon

China’s 15-year science and technology plan

As China implements its plan to improve scientific innovation, it will need to solve such political and economic problems as finding the proper balance between indigenous efforts and engagement with the global community.

China’s innovation challenge

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.

Whither Foreign R&D in China: Some Concluding Thoughts on Chinese Innovation

The purpose of this article is to highlight the impact of a new range of field-work driven scholarly research regarding foreign R&D in China on the field of Chinese innovation studies. The field of China innovation studies is positioned for a major take-off with the opening up and broadening of the field to a new generation of scholars and experts, including the growing participation and contributions of Chinese nationals from the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). With the continued opening of China to the outside world has come also increased scholarly access which is allowing for research on issues that heretofore was constrained due to the limited availability of information as well as political and national security sensitivities. The field also is benefiting from the increased visibility being given to innovation matters by the Chinese government and the rise in the number of foreign R&D centres that have been established by foreign companies. New ‘internally-focused’ questions related to R&D spending, the cultural and historical setting for innovation, and the institutional structure are being addressed with some promising results. In addition, a whole new series of ‘externally-focused’ questions also are beginning to dominate the research agenda as more and more foreign firms seek to take advantage of Chinas improved climate for overseas business as well as the growing number of scientists and engineers at the higher end of the Chinese talent pool. The more we seem to find out, however, the more we realize we need to know to truly understand Chinas technological potential. That said, it is increasingly clear that foreign influence is having an important shaping effect on the nature of the PRCs R&D system, especially with respect to the strategic role played or potentially being played by returned scholars and experts whose more cosmopolitan perspectives serve as a real asset in building bridges between Chinese traditional attitudes and modes of behaviour towards new knowledge creation and the current institutional constraints on Chinas innovation trajectory since 1949.The purpose of this article is to highlight the impact of a new range of field-work driven scholarly research regarding foreign R&D in China on the field of Chinese innovation studies. The field of China innovation studies is positioned for a major take-off with the opening up and broadening of the field to a new generation of scholars and experts, including the growing participation and contributions of Chinese nationals from the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). With the continued opening of China to the outside world has come also increased scholarly access which is allowing for research on issues that heretofore was constrained due to the limited availability of information as well as political and national security sensitivities. The field also is benefiting from the increased visibility being given to innovation matters by the Chinese government and the rise in the number of foreign R&D centres that have been established by foreign companies. New ‘internally-focused’ questions related to R&D spending, the cultural and historical setting for innovation, and the institutional structure are being addressed with some promising results. In addition, a whole new series of ‘externally-focused’ questions also are beginning to dominate the research agenda as more and more foreign firms seek to take advantage of Chinas improved climate for overseas business as well as the growing number of scientists and engineers at the higher end of the Chinese talent pool. The more we seem to find out, however, the more we realize we need to know to truly understand Chinas technological potential. That said, it is increasingly clear that foreign influence is having an important shaping effect on the nature of the PRCs R&D system, especially with respect to the strategic role played or potentially being played by returned scholars and experts whose more cosmopolitan perspectives serve as a real asset in building bridges between Chinese traditional attitudes and modes of behaviour towards new knowledge creation and the current institutional constraints on Chinas innovation trajectory since 1949.

Conflict and Cooperation in the Development of US–China Relations in Science and Technology: Empirical Observations and Theoretical Implications

Science and technology have played important roles in the development of US-China relations since the late 1970s. The mechanism of scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries has been a useful tool of diplomacy and remains so today. However, the use of that tool has become more complicated over the past three decades in the face of changing political, economic and security environments, the impact of China’s growing capabilities in science and technology, a deepening of economic globalization and the growing role of global production networks, and the rise of global environmental and health issues. Ethnic identity as a basis for collaboration and the changing roles played by US-based ethnic Chinese scientists and engineers have played important roles. While the imperatives for building a long-term, sustainable cooperative science and technology relationship between the two countries are stronger than ever, the potential for conflict also has increased, pointing to the need for new approaches to governance in the bilateral relationship.