Beyond Competition: Past, Present and Future on EU-China Science and Technology Collaboration

Abstract

As the EU-China relations grow rapidly and comprehensively, their partnership in S&T has grown fast, too, both in terms of people mobility, collaboration in research projects, or active involvement in grand projects. Meanwhile, S&T has increasingly become one of the priority issues on the agenda of EU-China summits. In line with Sandholtz's theory on S&T cooperation, EU and China regarded S&T cooperation as a means of market and technology access, and an illustration of their strategic partnership against the backdrop of international geopolitical and economic mutual interests. However, with China's political and economic power rising, the Galileo case reveals the limitations of their partnership, and the hidden difference of their perception of S&T governance and cooperation. National security interests often prevail over other foreign policy objectives. If their S&T cooperation remains in linear innovation approach with the focus on R&D, their collaboration will be marginal, as relative gains would end their partnership once their complementarity faded away. We suggest that the employment of EU's non-linear innovation approach in EU-China S&T cooperation offers the two sides an opportunity to deepen their partnership in S&T. First, China, with its exponentially rising science budget and declining marginal production profits, needs to improve S&T governance, respond to societal challenges, and find alternative driving force of economic growth to sustain the social and political stability in China. By the same token, EU intends to place more emphasis on the S&T cooperation with China to regain economic momentum through heterogeneous and interaction-oriented innovation. Second, the EU's non-linear innovation approach can help China resolve its domestic problems through science development led by socio-economic breakthrough, and the EU can make contribution to governance in China and raise its profile there.