CHINA INNOVATION

ByAditya Tanwar (07) Akash rawat (08) Sec - A

History Of Science & Technology In China

The Tang Dynasty (618 - 907 AD) was a time of great innovation in Chinese history. Some of the earliest inventions in China were: Silk has been used by the Chinese for approximately 5,000 years. The Chinese invented noodles 4,000 years ago. Ice cream was invented in China around 200 BC. The Chinese invented eyeglasses over 1,000 years ago. The Chinese were the first in the world to use paper money. Drinking tea is widely considered to have started first in China The Chinese invented the worlds first seismometer. The Chinese invented the crossbow around the 5th century BC. The Chinese invented the hot air balloon.

The Four Great Inventions

The Four Great Inventions are the inventions that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and serve as symbols of China's advanced science and technology. These are: 1. Paper 2nd century BC 2. Printing 6th century AD 3. Gunpowder 9th century AD 4. Compass 10th century AD

Chinas Scientific Research System

China's scientific research system comprises of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), schools of higher education, industrial departments, national defense departments and local scientific research institutes. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has six sections: 1. Mathematics and Physics, 2. Chemistry, 3. Life Sciences and Medicine, 4. Earth Sciences, 5. Information Technical Sciences, and 6. Technological Sciences. There are over 160 national scientific and academic organizations affiliated to the China Association for Science and Technology. The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) is the highest honorary, consultative institute in engineering science and technology.

Development
In 1900, China had no modern science and technology at all. Now, in the early 21st century, 60 percent of technologies, including atomic energy, space, high-energy physics, biology, computer and information technology have reached close to the world advanced level. For example, China has made great progress in the field of astronautics. October 15, 2003 saw the successful launch of the first manned spacecraft "Shenzhou V. "Shenzhou V" sent China's first astronaut into space and returned successfully, making China the world's third country to independently develop and deploy manned space flight technology.

Global Innovation Index

The Rise And Rise Of China

Chinas innovation performance will improve by 11% and it will rise from 54th to 46th place between 2004-08 and 2009-13.

India will move up four places, whereas the ranking for Brazil will remain unchanged and Russia will go down two places.

The country is investing heavily in R&D and education, and its innovation environment is improving.

China now leads the world in the number of people engaged in science and technology.

University graduates with degrees in science and engineering represent 40% of the total and far above the 15% recorded in the US.

The Erosion Of USAs Position

From 2003 to 2011, the growth in patent filings by US residents has slowed, while other countries continue to catch up. Growth in the number of researchers has slowed relative to China and a smaller proportion of graduates obtain degrees in science and engineering than in those countries. Fewer articles have been published in scientific and technical journals.

Proportion Of Global Publication Authorship By Country

China To Overtake USA In Scientific Output In Two Years

China is on course to overtake the US in scientific output possibly as soon as 2013 - far earlier than expected.

In 1996, the first year of the analysis, the US published 2, 92,513 papers - more than 10 times China's 25,474.

By 2008, the US total had increased very slightly to 3, 16,317 while China's had surged more than seven-fold to 184,080.

Previous estimates for the rate of expansion of Chinese science had suggested that China might overtake the US sometime after 2020.

4 Reasons That China May Succeed

1. China's leadership understands engineering because eight of nine members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau having engineering degrees. 2. China is spending money in various fields, from supercomputers to nanotech, including clean energy. 3. China has a huge technical labor pool. The large Shanghai-based outsourcing company screens applicants with an IQ test with a cutoff score of 140; less than 1 percent of the population reaches that high. 4. China's rate for undergraduates earning science or engineering is 42 percent of all college graduates. Only 2 percent of U.S. 9th-grade boys and 1 percent of girls go on to attain the same degrees.

National Patent Development Strategy (2011-2020)

It discusses broad economic objectives as well as specific targets to be attained by 2015. Chinas goal for annual patent filings by 2015 is two million. China intends to roughly double its number of patent examiners, to 9,000, by 2015. (The United States has 6,300 examiners.) China also wants to double the number of patents that its residents and companies file in other countries. To lift its patent count, China has introduced an array of incentives. They include cash bonuses, better housing for individual filers and tax breaks for companies that are prolific patent producers.

PCT Applications By Country Of Origin

Comparative Proportion Of Global Citations By Country

Chinas 2010 R&D Expenditure Statistics

Total R&D Expenditure in 2010 = $111.23 billion. Growth Rate = 21.7%

R&D expenditure (as a proportion of GDP) in 2010 = 1.76%. In 2009 = 1.70%

Chinas R&D expenditure per R&D personnel (full-time) = $ 43623.43. $3622.16 more compared with the previous year.

Breakup by Activity Type: Basic research activities = $5.11 billion. Growth = 20.1%

Applied research activities = $14.08 billion. Growth = 22.3%

Experiment and development = $92.04 billion. Growth = 21.7%

Breakup by Executive Agency: R&D expenditure by Industry = $81.66 billion. Growth = 22.1% Government research institutions = $18.68 billion. Growth = 19.1% Higher learning institutions = $9.41 billion. Growth = 27.6%

Percentage Investment in R&D by Different Executive Agencies in 2010

Industry Government research Institutions higher learning Institutions

9%

17%
74%

Conclusion
China is making a concerted effort to build a more innovative economy. It is investing heavily in R&D and Education and its innovation environment is growing. China even leads the world in the no. of people engaged in science and technology. 40% of total university graduates pass with degrees in Science and Engineering which is far above the 15% recorded in US. Also China globally leads in the no. of Trademark and Industrial Design Registrations which clearly shows Chinas edge over other countries in competitiveness and innovation.

But the prospects for China are not entirely positive: it also faces barriers to innovation. 1. Weak protection of intellectual property (despite improvements in recent years) stands out. 2. Although China leads the world in no. of Trademark and Industrial design Registrations but it significantly lacks behind in the no. of Patients Registered when compared to United States or Japan. In 2010, China accounted for 20% of the worlds population, 9% of the worlds GDP, 12% of the worlds R&D expenditure, but only 1% of the patent filings with or patents granted by any of the leading patent offices outside China.

3. Also industries in China spends huge amount of money in R&D ($81.89 billion in 2010) but despite such huge investments none of the Chinese company is as innovative as any of the American or Japanese Companies. Companies like Apple, Microsoft or SONY are the top innovators in the world and gives an edge to US and Japan over China.

China is making rapid strides in some areasHowever, on an across-the-board basis, it still has quite some distance to cover before becoming a global innovation power. It will take a long time for developing countries like China that rely on manufacturing for export to close the innovation gap with the West.