A historical perspective of China's innovation system reform: a case study

Abstract

Abstract 1995 marked the 10th anniversary of the structural reforms on China's innovation system, which started in 1985 when ‘the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the structural reform of the science and technology system’ was passed [ CCCPC, 1985 ]. These reforms are now at the crossroads, making this an appropriate juncture to review what led to these reforms, what they have achieved, and the prospect for their future. This review is organized as follows: the rest of this introduction will focus on the motivation of this paper, followed by a brief account of the neoclassical economic framework for the analysis of R&D and its limitations. The third section of the paper will provide an overview of China's pre-reform innovation system, identifying its deficiencies and constraints. Section four will discuss in detail the major reforms and their impacts on China's innovation system from 1985 to 1995. Finally, the last section concludes the paper with a focus on unresolved issues facing China's innovation system reforms and prospect for their future.