Independent Innovation In China

Using a combination of theoretical analysis and case studies, this book analyses the theoretical issues — concept and type of independent innovation, and the practical issues — construction of institutional system which is in favor of independent innovation. It is written for researchers who are engaged in similar fields and readers who are interested in independent innovation. In this book, a comparison of the independent innovation modes of China, Japan and South Korea is presented. The ability, mode and track are defined clearly. The efficient path of Chinese independent innovation is put forward through case studies.

Given the most popular understanding of Chinese comparative advantage is their low labour cost, The Source of Innovation in China argues the fundamental source for Chinese economic growth is its innovation. Based on case studies and surveys collected from 600 firms, this book describes competitive advantages of successful Chinese enterprises.

A key question for China, which has for some time been a leading global manufacturing base, is whether China can progress from being a traditional centre of manufacturing to becoming a centre for innovation. In this book, Shang-Ling Jui focuses on China’s software industry and examines the complete innovation value chain of software in its key phases of innovation, standards definition, development and marketing. He argues that, except for software development, these key phases are of high added-value and that without adopting the concept of independent innovation as a guiding ideology, China’s software enterprises – like India’s – would have an uncertain future. In other words, the lack of core competence in the development of China’s software industry might restrain the industry from taking the leading position and drive it towards becoming no more than the software workshop of multinationals over the long term. Shang-Ling Jui contends that China’s software industry should and can possess its own complete innovation value chain. Having worked in China’s software industry for many years, the author provides an inside-out perspective – identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the industry and defining the challenges in China’s transition from "Made in China" to "Innovated in China."

China is in the midst of transitioning from a manufacturing-based economy to one driven by innovation and knowledge. This up-to-date analysis evaluates China's state-led approach to science and technology, and its successes and failures. In recent decades, China has seen huge investments in high-tech science parks, a surge in home-grown top-ranked global companies, and a significant increase in scientific publications and patents. Helped by state policies and a flexible business culture, the country has been able to leapfrog its way to a more globally competitive position. However, the authors argue that this approach might not yield the same level of progress going forward if China does not address serious institutional, organizational, and cultural obstacles. While not impossible, this task may well prove to be more difficult for the Chinese Communist Party than the challenges that China has faced in the past.

Chinese enterprises have relied on importing technology and imitation as their main technology strategies in the past. Based on analysis of cross-countries' case studies and the history of industrial innovation, the authors proposed the concept of industry-driven basic research and expounds the important role of scientific discovery in industrial technological innovation. They are convinced that both the government and enterprises should focus on industry-driven basic research in order to bridge the gap between the government's target and what enterprises actually do in China. The challenge remains to be seen if China can transform Science and technology investment into real industrial innovation capability.

In the past three decades, China has successfully transformed itself from an extremely poor economy to the world’s second largest economy. The country’s phenomenal economic growth has been sustained primarily by its rapid and continuous industrialization. Currently industry accounts for nearly two-fifths of China’s gross domestic product, and since 2009 China has been the world’s largest exporter of manufactured products. This book explores the question of how far this industrial growth has been the product of government policies. It discusses how government policies and their priorities have developed and evolved, examines how industrial policies are linked to policies in other areas, such as trade, technology and regional development, and assesses how new policy initiatives are encouraging China’s increasing success in new technology-intensive industries. It also demonstrates how China’s industrial policies are linked to development of industrial clusters and regions.

China has attracted a huge amount of investment in R&D internationalization of multi-national corporations (MNCs), which is playing an important role in its economy. Constrained by natural resources, China has to attach more importance to technological progress and indigenous innovation in order to move beyond the old economic growth model. Technology seems inaccessible to outsiders, which prevents others from doing research in a comprehensive and systematic manner. In this book, technology is regarded as a factor of production that is allocated by MNCs across the world to maximize profits. Such rational economic behavior serves as our entry point to enhance existing theoretical achievements on R&D internationalization.

Governments in Greater China (Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore) are striving to create higher valueadded-- and homegrown--products, services, and technologies. No longer satisfied with China's role as the "world's factory," the Chinese government calls its effort "Independent Innovation." Likewise, Taiwanese firms are endeavoring to become global architects of many products, and Hong Kong and Singapore are rising to similar challenges. This book addresses topics at the heart of these efforts: - What specific actions are Greater China's governments taking to advance their respective competencies? - How do foreign firms bring technologies to them? - How adequate are the pools of talent and how are they changing? - What do patent and publication data tell us about trends in science and technology? - Why are China's research institutes being reorganized? - What has made a small set of hightech regions so productive? The authors, leading scholars and business people from Greater China, the United States, and Europe, offer valuable insights into the region's transition from workshop of the world to wellspring of innovation.