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On September 26th, Provost Denis Simon spoke to a group of US Navy officers as part of a program on contemporary Chinese affairs arranged by the National Committee on US-China Relations.  The NCUSCR, which was founded in the mid-1960s, works to help enhance Sino-US understanding and promote a range of dialogues between the two countries on political, socio-economic, and cultural topics of mutual interest.   The program, which was held at Airlie House, brought together a group of the most well-known experts on China in the United States.  The purpose of the program was to engage a group of naval personnel with present and future responsibilities in the Asia-Pacific region.  Among the topics covered were 1)the domestic challenges shaoing China's future, 2)China's foreign policy, 3)the Chinese energy situation, and 4) economics, trade and business issues in China.  Plans are in the works for other China-focused programs with other service components of the US military. 

 

Dr. Simon's presentation addressed China's evolving science, technology and innovation policies and capabilities.  A lively discussion ensued regarding his comments about China's technological strengths and weaknesses, and especially with respect to his comments about the status of scientific and engineering talent in the PRC.  Utilizing data from a soon-to-be published book (Talent: China Evolving Competitive Edge, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2008) with Dr. Cong Cao, on China's evolving scientific and engineering talent pool pool, Dr. Simon showed how and why the Chinese are facing some serious challenges regarding the supply and utilization of scientists and engineers.  Even though China graduates over one million engineers a year based on the Chinese National Sttaistical Bureau, the fact is that uneven quality, poor distributon, an immature labor market, and lack of work experience limit the size of the number of real new entrants into the high -end of the PRC work force.

 

For further information on the Simon/Cao study on China's evolving high-end talent pool, please contact Dr. Cong Cao at cong.cao@suny.edu