The reform of S&T in China: policy & performance

Abstract

China’s transformation into a dynamic market economy and its integration into global economic system have been dramatic in the last quarter of the 20th century. In the transformation and rise of China, the policy towards innovation played an increasing role. The paper investigates in detail China's innovation policy in seven categories: reform in the governance model, transformation of the public S&T institutions, finance of innovation, business innovation support structure, human resource policy and legislative actions, and policy towards private ownership and foreign investment. The analysis frames the complicated innovation system such as the Chinese and reveals that several dimensions of the Chinese innovation policy that were designed and implemented very recently are still immature and incoherent. From our understanding, still critical are China’s education and human resource policy and protection of Intellectual Property Right (IPR).