The Chinese National System of Innovation

Abstract

This chapter suggests that China’s achievements in terms of technology creation result from the bundling of seven key assets. ① A group of leading research universities combined with ② public research centers now produce the largest number of scientific articles in the world. ③ Infrastructures such as science and technology parks, clusters and incubators, were created to foster the development of ④ an impressive number of high-tech startups and a record number of unicorns. ⑤ A dynamic sector for the financing of technological innovation has emerged in parallel to subsidies distributed by different levels of government. ⑥ Both Chinese public and private companies, as well as foreign companies, cumulatively achieved the second largest R&D budget in the world. ⑦ Innovators are now protected by a regulatory framework comparable to what can be found outside China.