Publicly Funded Research and Innovation in the P. R. China and the Outlook for International Cooperation

During the end of the 20th century, China transitioned from a developing country to an emerging economy and an industrialized nation. By 2030, China expects to have pulled abreast of most advanced countries technologically, and to accomplish this goal, it is increasingly focusing on innovation that pushes outwards the technology frontier and builds upon current areas of acquired comparative advantage. Transport is one of these frontier areas with electrification of vehicles being in the forefront. The declared aim of successive Chinese governments has been to make China an innovation producing and originating nation, i.e., where innovations are invented and designed rather than imported from other countries. This aim, and its related policies, call for the modernization of the domestic innovation system through structural reforms, acccelerated formation of international collaborations, and large scale financial investment in education, research, and technology ventures. The policies for building innovation and entrepreneurship and for promoting international cooperation in Research, Technological Development, and Innovation (RTD&I) are described in the Medium and Long-Term National Plan for Science and Technology Development, or MLP, published in 2006. This chapter examines the above issues and the general scientific research and innovation situation in the P. R. of China with emphasis on the Transport sector. Chinese innovation and entrepreneurship policies are currently designed to promote more openness, a fact that—at the moment—leaves ample room for international cooperative research and development projects for the creation of innovations at home and abroad. The prospects and chances for succeeding in these policies are examined in this chapter in detail, including the enablers and obstacles for such cooperation and openness. The chapter also provides information on the historical background of Chinese economic development policies as well as the quantitative characteristics of the present RTD&I regime. Finally, the chapter provides a SWOT analysis of capacities and obstacles for additional international cooperation. The main conclusion is that in today’s China, attracting, absorbing, improving and owning knowledge is “a core strand of the current policies”. These policies however, may be affected by larger geopolitical considerations such as territorial disputes, and political differences between China and the other countries concerning the benefits of globalism and free trade.