China Is Rapidly Becoming a Leading Innovator in Advanced Industries, New Report Finds

[Beijingwalker]

China Is Rapidly Becoming a Leading Innovator in Advanced Industries, New Report Finds​

September 16, 2024

WASHINGTON—A 20-month investigation of Chinese innovation capabilities in 10 advanced-technology industries has found that China is at the leading edge of global innovation in two sectors and is not far behind the global leaders in four others. The evidence suggests that China has not yet taken the overall lead, but its firms are making rapid progress in developing their innovation capabilities and will likely equal or surpass the U.S. and other Western leaders within a decade or so, according to a new report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), which conducted the investigation.

ITIF investigated China’s innovative capabilities in 10 industries: robotics, chemicals, nuclear power, semiconductors, display technologies, electric vehicles and batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biopharmaceuticals, and machine tools. ITIF is holding a Capitol Hill briefing event on September 18 to present its findings.

“The prevailing view of China’s economy has long been that it is a production powerhouse, but a mere copier that lacks the scientific and technological ability to develop groundbreaking innovations,” said ITIF President Robert D. Atkinson, who led the research. “But, if China can develop new-to-the-world innovations ahead or on par with the United States and its allies in the West, its potential to displace them and gain a decisive global advantage becomes much more likely.”

Of the industries ITIF assessed, China appears ahead in nuclear power; on par in electric vehicles and batteries; near the lead in robotics, displays, artificial intelligence, and quantum; and lagging in chemicals, machine tools, semiconductors, and biotechnology. Apart from semiconductors, where progress has been somewhat frustrated by export controls on equipment, and quantum, China’s rate of progress is striking.

As outlined in the report, if China succeeds in becoming the world’s innovation leader, the center of global techno-economic power will shift. Among the potential consequences, China would be less vulnerable to Western sanctions and other trade tools, and its military capabilities and influence over developing nations would grow. Meanwhile, the U.S. technology production base would continue to erode, the dollar would devalue significantly, or the U.S. trade deficit would grow.

Figure : Chinese industries’ relative position and pace of progress on indicators of innovation​

“China’s economic, trade, and technology policies are all about winning the war for global techno-economic power, and the CCP’s overarching goal is innovation in advanced industries,” said Atkinson. “But few acknowledge that the United States is even competing for advanced industry dominance—or if they do, they think a U.S. victory is inevitable. The Chinese science and technology system has real strengths, and the United States should embrace many of its features.”

ITIF’s analysis details how China has developed a first-of-its-kind innovation system that builds up its own advantages while degrading its competitors in a vicious cycle. To respond, ITIF argues that the United States needs to adopt key elements of the China model and embrace “national power capitalism” premised on the reality of states competing for techno-economic power and investing adequately to win the techno-economic war with China.

ITIF offers the following five key proposals for U.S. policymakers:

1. Triple the research and experimentation tax credit. The Chinese R&D credit is at least three times more generous than America’s, while China’s R&D labor costs are less than half. Congress should triple the Alternative Simplified Credit to 42 percent and allow expenditures on global standard setting to qualify.
2. Institute a seven-year, 25 percent investment tax credit for all new machinery and capital equipment. America is “capital equipment lite”; China is heavy.
3. Establish five national industrial research institutes focused on key industries and technologies, modeled on entities such as Taiwan’s ITRI.
4. Establish a “Competitiveness DARPA” to co-invest with industry on research and application of key technologies needed for dual-use national security leadership in the commercial sector.
5. Establish a national industrial development bank to provide low-interest patient capital for domestic manufacturing investment.

“Too many American policymakers, experts, and pundits simply refuse to believe what is right before their eyes,” said Atkinson. “While the evidence suggests it hasn’t taken the overall lead yet, China is much more akin to where the Asian Tigers were 20 years ago. Only in this case, China is not a tiger, it’s a fire-breathing dragon on government-provided steroids. Unless the United States embraces national power capitalism, it is unlikely to be able to maintain a strong competitive position in a broad array of advanced industries. If the West loses advanced industry share, Western power will wither, and China’s will rise.”

 

[Beijingwalker]

Western study is too optimistic about themselves, Chinese high tech development is always a state's secret, the west doesn't see everything, their accessment is not totally accurate, they only see what China allows them to see.

 

[Chengmai]

Western study is too optimistic about themselves, Chinese high tech development is always a state's secret, the west doesn't see everything, their accessment is not totally accurate, they only see what China allows them to see.

But you are quoting a western source. Dp you have a Chinese source to prove your point

 

[Beijingwalker]

But you are quoting a western source. Dp you have a Chinese source to prove your point

Because this is an English language forum, do you read Chinese?

 

[Chengmai]

Because this is an English language forum, do you read Chinese?

Use Google translate

 

[Beijingwalker]

US study finds China’s tech innovation ‘much stronger’ than previously understood​

Performing best in nuclear power, EVs and batteries, mainland companies will ‘likely equal or surpass Western firms within a decade or so’​

Khushboo Razdanin Washington
Published: 3:43am, 19 Sep 2024Updated: 5:01am, 19 Sep 2024

Can China innovate and outcompete the US in their pitched battle for technological supremacy?

A 20-month investigation into the innovation performance of 44 Chinese firms across key technologies – including nuclear power, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and materials science – revealed a troubling yes for the US.

On Wednesday, analysts from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington think tank, presented their findings at a Capitol Hill event, urging US politicians and policymakers to tackle the challenges posed by Chinese innovation.

“Overall we find that while the Chinese innovation system is not perfect, it is much stronger than it was previously understood,” ITIF’s Stephen Ezell told the gathering.

Evidence to date suggested China had yet to take the lead overall, but “it has pulled ahead in certain areas and in many others Chinese firms will likely equal or surpass Western firms within a decade or so”, he added.

US study finds China’s tech innovation ‘much stronger’ than understood

Performing best in nuclear power, EVs and batteries, mainland companies will ‘likely equal or surpass Western firms within a decade or so’.

www.scmp.com

 

[Beijingwalker]

On one hand western media tells us that China's economy is crashing and Chinese tech startups are all vanishing, on the other hand US science and technology community believes that China will surpuss US in technology in a decade, which one should we believe...

 

[Beijingwalker]

China is a ‘fire-breathing dragon on government steroids’ whose tech will surpass Western firms in a decade, U.S. think tank says​

LIONEL LIM
September 20, 2024 at 5:00 PM

Adek Berry—AFP via Getty Images

It’s time to reject the view that “China can’t innovate,” says a leading U.S. think tank, as Beijing tries to foster its own advanced technologies to get a strategic edge against Washington.

A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-partisan Washington-based think-tank focused on tech, argues that China is already ahead of the U.S. in some industries, and rapidly catching up in sectors where it doesn’t have a lead.

The ITIF also reported that research and development expenditures are roughly equal between the U.S. and China in absolute terms. Yet China is ahead in top-level academic journal publications, and has a rising number of highly cited researchers.

China’s development of nuclear power, electric vehicles and AI is at a level close to, if not greater than, Western countries, the ITIF says, though it lags in semiconductors, machine tools and biopharmaceuticals.

“Chinese firms will likely equal or surpass Western firms within a decade or so,” Stephen Ezell, a contributor to the report, said at a Wednesday briefing.

Over the past decade, China has become a competent producer of technologically complex goods like telecommunications equipment, drones and solar panels. While Western products may still have an edge, Chinese firms are able to offer similar products at a lower price, helping it gain market share in developing economies

Chinese firms also benefit from a more protected domestic market and, at times, significant state subsidies. But competition is fierce inside China, forcing local companies to find ways to keep ahead. Western firms often operate in China through joint ventures that allow local manufacturers to get industrial knowhow.

“China is not the Soviet Union, and its firms have considerable degrees of freedom to act in largely free markets,” ITIF wrote in its report. Instead, the think tank described the world’s second-largest economy as more like the so-called Asian Tigers of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, or a “fire-breathing dragon on government-provided steroids.”

The U.S. response​

The U.S. and its allies are limiting exports to China of advanced technology, like AI chips and quantum computers, in a bid to preserve their technological edge. Western governments are also trying to diversify their supply chains, relying less on China and Chinese manufacturers for critical components.

That’s encouraged a drive for self-sufficiency in China. Companies like Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation are investing in domestically-produced components like semiconductors to replace those sourced from overseas.

Beijing is backing up this effort with subsidies, like the recent $47.5 billion “Big Fund” to encourage local chip production, and regulations to encourage government departments and state-owned companies to wean themselves off foreign technology.

In order for the U.S. to preserve its technological edge, ITIF proposed a tripling of the tax credit for research and development and establishing a national industrial development bank.

China is a ‘fire-breathing dragon on government steroids’ whose tech will surpass Western firms in a decade, U.S. think tank says

A report from the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation argues China is already ahead of the U.S. in some industries.

www.aol.com