Industrial Innovation in China

The Levin Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations held a working conference in conjunction with China's Ministry of Science and Technology on Industrial Innovation in China. It took place July 24^th-26^th, 2006 at the Council on Foreign Relations NY headquarters.

The conference focused on a comprehensive, detailed policy review and assessment of the operation, performance and prospects for China’s industrial R&D and innovation system.

China's increased prominence in international and regional science and technology affairs has created a growing need for a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of the structure, operation and performance of the Chinese science and technology system. A broad range of policies and programs have been put in place over the last two decades to initiate major improvements in the country’s innovation system.

This meeting evolved out of the growing need to conduct an assessment and evaluation of current policies to analyze the future course of industrial innovation in China. In addition, we need to better understand what the Chinese case might tell us about the impact of globalization on the innovation and knowledge creation processes, especially from the perspective of those polices that affect China’s openness and level of interaction with other countries.

More information:

• Full conference program
• Speaker bios
• View the pdf*, text, or web version of our conference publication.

Putting the Conference in Perspective

by Dr. Denis Fred Simon

China's top leaders and members of its technical community have placed great faith in the development of Chinese science and technology in the 21^st century.  The science and technology system has undergone two decades of extensive structural reform. The human resource base of the S&T system has been expanded and improved as a result of domestic educational reforms and extensive overseas study programs.  And, the inputs into formulation and implementation of science and technology policy have become more sophisticated and globally oriented.  After a long period of underinvestment in science and education, China is now committed politically and economically to increase its funding of both such that these expenditures represent an increasing percentage of an expanding GNP.  Read more >

*NOTE: You need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software) in order to view and print PDF files.