Innovation as a Multiplier to China's Economic Development

Abstract

An age long ago for about 5 decades to date, China’s long-term economic growth outlook has placed this giant indisputably on the global economic platform as one of the fastest geometrically growing emerging markets and the second largest economy in the world to that of USA and has gone through several sound policy reforms for addressing the needs of self sufficiency for better standard of living, sustainable human livelihood and socio-economic expansion for effective, efficient and secured global competitiveness. This has placed China in the centre stage as one of the giant in the world being the fastest growing economy, largest trading partner and one of the world’s core exporter of capital with an average real GDP growth rate of about 6.7% as at the of the 1st quarter 20161. Academic scholars and researchers have been laying more premiums with the notion that the core stimulant of Chinese economic development includes but not limited to; technological enhancement, capital investment expansion, huge input of resources with a committed and relatively abundantly cheap labour forces. Albeit to this fact, policy makers and regulators are of the strong conviction that that innovation activity is the multiplier of the prowess of economic prosperity and empowerment double also as a pre-requisite in meeting global challenges in domains without clearly reflecting the complementary role of innovation played in transforming China's economic development. This is a Concept paper to identify the different strata of innovation patterns existing in China’s economic space with a reflection to the great importance of its eminent role played in the developmental trend over the past 30 years highlighting the “reform strategies and opening-up policy” constituting; Institutional, Technological, Incremental and Integration Innovation and the list goes on. China’s economic transition with the current “New Normal model and the one Belt-Road Initiative” readily needs sound, quality and tradable Innovative ideas for a sustainable and meaningful economic development. The research finding would serve as a bedrock specification as a proxy to by macroeconomic policy analyst and regulators for enforcing and enriching innovation as a multiplier to sustainable economic development in China.