Innovation driving force for development

Innovation has become a catchword in China. And not without reason. In the official document released at the conclusion of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee late last month, it was mentioned more than a dozen times as the central leadership vowed to pursue innovation-driven development and self-reliance in science and technology during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period.

The document serves as a clarion call for all-out efforts to build the country into a scientific and technological powerhouse despite all the challenges it faces.

The task has never appeared more urgent given the near-fanatical efforts being made by the current United States administration to blunt China’s technological competitiveness in a bid to contain its rise. The harsh sanctions the US administration has imposed on telecommunications equipment giant Huawei and many other Chinese high-tech companies, and its efforts to persuade, coerce or bribe other countries to follow its lead have left China in no doubt that it has no other option but to push for its own technological advancement through innovation.

The challenges the country faces in its bid to catch up are daunting, considering how it still lags behind in many key technologies such as semiconductors — it imports most of its chips from foreign suppliers, including those in the US, thus making it vulnerable to technology extortion.

To wean China off its reliance on foreign technology, the Chinese government has taken concrete measures to boost the production in higher value sectors such as advanced materials, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence. The country is expected to produce 70 percent of the semiconductors it uses by 2025.

The efforts China has made in strengthening its overall innovation capacity over the years have been paying off. China now ranks 14th among the top-performing economies in the Global Innovation Index 2020, up from 29th five years ago, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. This can largely be attributed to the country’s increasing funding for research and development, an important driver of economic growth.

China’s R&D spending has grown by more than 17 percent each year from 2000 to 2017. Now China has become the world’s second-largest R&D spender, after the US, and looks likely to overtake the US within the next 10 years.

All this indicates that China is well on its course to transform itself from “the world’s factory” into “an innovative country” and become a global leader in science and technology. As the blueprint has been devised, it will not be too long before goods are no longer simply “Made in China” but also “Designed in China”.