In recent years, the scientific and technological innovation of the People’s Republic of China has made great progress and the country’s strength has continued to increase. However, it is worth noting that the internal and external environment of China’s scientific and technological innovation development has also undergone profound changes and timely adjustments need to be made in terms of objectivity, strategies and task structure. Among these, the strengthening of basic research and an extremely important aspect as a support for high-level technological self-sufficiency.
The reference point for the governments of various states in order to make economic decisions is the benchmark for assessing the innovation capacities of various economies – the Global Innovation Index published last September 20: an annual ranking of countries based on their capacity and success in innovation. The index is published: by Cornell University (Ithaca, New York State), Institut europeen d’administration des affaires (Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, San Francisco) and World Intellectual Property Organization (World Intellectual Property Organization: agency UN specialists), in collaboration with other organizations and institutions,
China continued the progress made last year, rising from 14th place in 2020 to 12th in the world, and remains the only middle-income economy in the top 30. Since 2013, China’s GII ranking has steadily increased. for nine consecutive years.
In addition, in the global ranking of “best technologies”, China has 19 world-leading technology groups, with Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing in second and third place respectively. The rankings of Beijing (No. 3), Shanghai (No. 8), Nanjing (No. 18), Hangzhou (No. 21) and Wuhan (No. 25) have all increased, and compared to the group of global tech cities.
The GII is based on a collection of 81 international public and private sector indicators. The GII 2021 is calculated on the basis of the average of the two sub-indices of innovation inputs and outputs, including institutions, human capital and research, infrastructures, market maturity.
There are different aspects of corporate maturity, knowledge and technological and creative production.
The report shows that with Covid-19, which has caused numerous casualties and economic losses, governments and companies in many parts of the world have increased their investments in innovation, showing that people are increasingly aware that new ideas are essential to overcome the epidemic and ensure a subsequent era of economic growth.
In 2020, scientific production, R&D spending, intellectual property applications and venture capital transactions continued to grow based on strong previous performance. It is worth noting that, compared to previous recessions, R&D spending has shown greater resilience during the epidemic-related economic downturn.
From the GII ranking data, regarding China – for the three-year period 2019-2021 it can be seen that this year the output of Chinese innovation is better than the input. This year, China’s investment in innovation ranks 25th, higher than 2020 and 2019; and in terms of innovation production, China is in 7th place.
In terms of sub-indices, from the point of view of innovation input, Chinese trade, competition, market size and researchers as a whole, are among the main categories of indicators in the position of world leader among mathematical sciences, promotion of companies. training, diversification of the national industry, average expenditure of research and development companies, average score of the top three universities, development of industrial groups, formation of total capital as a percentage of GDP, corporate financing, etc.
From the point of view of the output of innovation, China’s advantages are concentrated in intangible resources, creation and influence of knowledge. Among them, domestic patent and trademark applications and the proportion of exports of creative products in total trade and other sub-indices have achieved global leadership.
In 2021, the broad knowledge diffusion index made significant progress, in particular the segmented index of the proportion of intellectual property income in total trade, shows that China is gradually transforming from a major IP introduction country. external to a major internal property creation country.
During the annual Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021,Liu Hua, director of Wipo’s Chinese Office, said in an exclusive interview with China Business News that already according to GII 2020, a number of Asian economies – notably China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam – have made significant progress. in the innovation rankings, year after year, and the main areas of innovation have gradually moved to the East, which demonstrates the vitality of the Asian innovation ecosystem.
According to Liu Hua, China has grown rapidly in protecting intellectual property and is paying more and more attention to it. He said that the 14th Five-Year Plan 2021-2015 mentions the implementation of the strategy of strengthening the country with intellectual property rights.
For example, among the twenty main indicators of economic and social development, three are related to innovation and creation and intellectual property rights. Wipo appreciates China’s achievements in protecting intellectual property rights and is very optimistic about China’s prospects for implementing its strategy of strengthening the country with intellectual property rights. Zhang Mizhi of the Shanghai Institute of Science said China took the lead in realizing technological innovation and economic recovery during the Covin-19 period and seized the opportunity for innovation and development in the post-epidemic era. .
From the point of view of specific indicators, the overall increase in the first level indicator of knowledge and technology production increased from 55.1 in 2020 to 58.5 in 2021. Among these, the percentage of exports of high-quality products technology and jumped directly to the first place in the world.
Furthermore, as regards the market, the maturity and the rapid development of the construction of infrastructures, compared to Europe and the United States of America – which are still affected by the epidemic – China is gaining an advantage in construction and economic development.
Behind the increase in the innovation index is the construction of scientific and technological policies and innovation systems.
In the period of the XIV Five-Year Plan 2021-2025, scientific and technological innovation was placed in an extremely important position. According to the Plan, China will formulate and implement a ten-year action project for basic research, focusing on the deployment of a series of research centers. The proportion of basic research funding to R&D funding has been increased to over 8%.
Recently, the XXX Session of the Standing Committee of the XIII National People’s Congress examined the law on scientific and technological progress.
The revision of the Law on the Progress of Science and Technology highlights the strengthening of national strategic science and technology forces and promotes basic technological research. The project clarifies the establishment and strengthening of a strategic scientific and technological force with national laboratories, scientific and technological R&D institutes, high-level research universities and major enterprises as key components.
By perfecting basic key technologies under the conditions of a socialist market economy and a new type of national system, one is able to organize and implement relevant scientific and technological tasks that reflect the strategic needs of the country. Chen Qiang,Professor of Shanghai Tongji University School of Economics and Management, as well as executive director of the Shanghai Industrial Innovation Ecosystem Research Center, told China Business News that Chinese scientific and technological innovation has continued to increase in recent years. However, it is worth noting that the internal and external environment of the development of scientific and technological innovation has also undergone profound changes and that timely adjustments will be made in terms of objectives, strategies and structure and assignment of tasks. Among these, the strengthening of basic research is an extremely important aspect for high-level technological self-sufficiency, so as not to depend on seconds.
Speaking about this year’s GII, Wipo’s director general, Singaporean Daren Tang , said: “This year’s GII showed us that, despite the enormous impact of Covid-19 on human lives and means of subsistence, many sectors have shown extraordinary resilience, especially those that focus on digital, technology and innovation ”.
Under the heavy epidemic, China’s digital economy has developed rapidly and many new formats and models have emerged.
The Beijing Bureau of Statistics tells us that China’s production and investment in high-tech industry has grown rapidly. From recent January to August, the value added of high-tech manufacturing increased by an average of 13.1% in two years and related investments increased by an average of 17% in two years, both maintaining steady growth. Furthermore, the development of modern service industries, such as information, is relatively good.
At a press conference a few days ago by the State Council Information Office, Xiao Yaqing, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, answered questions about the digital economy and said that it is developing very rapidly. And it does so in terms of building new infrastructure, such as the largest 4G fiber optic network in the world. And at the end of August, there were nearly 420 million 5G terminal connections.
In terms of the development of the electronic information and communications industry, as of last year, the operating profit of the electronic information production industry has gone above forecasts, reaching 12.1 trillion. yuan. It should also be noted that the software business income reached 8.2 trillion yuan, and the telecommunication business income reached 1.4 trillion yuan, with a year-over-year ratio of 1.72, 3.27 and 1.26 times that of 2012.
Xiao Yaqing said that regarding the digital, networked and smart industry, at the end of June, the numerical control rate of key processes in manufacturing industry and the penetration rate of digital R&D design tools reached respectively the 53.7% and 73.7%, with an increase of 29.1 and 24.9 times compared to 2012.
The percentage points and the satisfaction rate of the internal market of smart production equipment exceeds 50%. At present, the development momentum of the digital economy is still very strong and new business forms and models are constantly emerging, which will surely provide strong support for the development of the manufacturing industry.
The latest report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology also shows that in 2020 the global digital economy has reached 32.6 trillion US dollars.
The digital economy of the United States of America continues to be the first in the world, with a scale of 13.6 trillion dollars, but China is in second place with 5.4 trillion dollars.
