EVALUATING CHINA'S EFFORTS TO FOSTER INNOVATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

Over the past thirty years, China has published various national plans and policies to foster science and technology innovation, with an emphasis on fostering an indigenous innovation capacity since the mid-2000s. In particular, these efforts include industrial policies to grow the role of private enterprises in spurring innovation as well as shifting the orientation of its education system away from instruction and lecture and towards fostering curiosity and the development of scientific inquiry. Using Chinese innovation policies as a starting point, this thesis qualitatively assesses the impacts and effectiveness of these policies at fostering innovation. It finds that on the one hand, Chinese efforts to increase activities that are consistent with innovative behavior are demonstrating some success. In particular, larger private technology firms have begun developing their own in-house research capability. Additionally, the development of an inquiry-based education system as well as the increased production of scientists and engineers could bode well for the future of Chinese research. On the other hand, China’s splitting of the research and development roles between the education system and industry, respectively, has created bottlenecks in the supply of both knowledge and technologies crucial to the development of S&T innovation. This lag has prolonged China’s reliance on exogenous sources of core technologies rather than developing an indigenous capacity to innovate.