China's Path to Innovation

Over the past three decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth and a fascinating transformation of its industry. However, much of this success is the result of industrial imitation, and China's continuing success now relies heavily on its ability to strengthen its indigenous innovation capability. In this book, Xiaolan Fu investigates how China can develop a strategy of compressed development to emerge as a leading innovative nation. The book draws on quantitative and qualitative research that includes cross-country, cross-province and cross-firm analysis. Large multi-level panel datasets, unique survey databases, and in-depth industry case studies are explored. Different theoretical approaches are also used to examine the motivations, obstacles and consequences of China's innovation with a wider discussion around what other countries can learn from China's experience. This book will appeal to scholars and policy-makers working in fields such as innovation policy, technology management, development and international economics, and China studies.

Preface; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Innovation in China since the reforms: an overview; Part I. International Knowledge Transfer and Technological Take-off: 3. Foreign direct investment, absorptive capacity and innovation in Chinese regions; 4. Processing trade, FDI and international competitiveness of the Chinese high-technology industries; 5. Indigenous and foreign innovation efforts and technological upgrading in China; Part II. Development of Indigenous Innovation Capacity and Catch-up; 6. The role of state policy in shaping innovation practices: the case of open innovation in China; 7. Open innovation as a response to constraints and resources; 8. The dual role of universities in industrial innovation: comparing China and the UK; 9. Technological learning, tacit knowledge acquisition and industrial upgrading: the Chinese optical fibre and cable industry; 10. Leapfrogging in green technology: the solar-PV industry in China and India; Part III. Towards a Global Innovation Leader: 11. Internationalisation, reverse learning and capabilities upgrading: the case of Huawei and ZTE; 12. International collaboration and radical innovation; 13. Innovation efficiency and the cross-country gaps in innovation; 14. Incentives, institutions and national innovation performances; 15. Conclusions: open national innovation system and China's path to innovation; References; Index.

Xiaolan Fu is Professor of Technology and International Development and Founding Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include innovation, technology and industrialisation; trade, foreign direct investment and economic development; emerging Asian economies; and innovation and productivity in the UK and US. She also has firsthand experience working in the business and academic sectors in China before coming to the UK.