“China to Surpass U.S. As World’s Top Investor in R&D”
The Chinese government and Chinese corporations are pushing to make China the world leader in innovation.
Innovation and technology are gaining a lot of attention across Chinese industries. Last year, Strategy &, a global management consulting firm established in the U.S. in 1914, released their China Innovation Survey which stated that innovation is now the top priority for 42% of Chinese companies, compared to 21% of multinational companies.
The government is encouraging the trend with multiple pro-innovation policies. China’s current five-year plan (2011-2015) establishes a particular innovation goal of 3.3 patents per 10,000 people. Due to this policy, Chinese patent applications have grown from 40,000 in 2003 to 800,00 in 2013.
The U.S. National Science Board conducted a study last year showing China’s share of global high-tech manufacturing had increased from 8% in 2003 to 24% in 2012. American companies such as Pfizer, Microsoft and General Motors, now have R&D centers in China due to the low-cost engineers and scientists, government innovation policies, a fast-growing market and a sea of young, go-getting entrepreneurs.
Based on this continuous upward climb in Chinese innovation, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which promotes policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world, projects that China will surpass the U.S. as the world’s top investor in R&D by 2020.
