The miracle growth of the Chinese economy has decreased from a compound annual growth rate of 10% to less than 7% in 2015. The two engines of growth - export on a scale never before witnessed and massive infrastructure investments - are reaching the point of diminishing returns. This poses the central question which is explored in this book - can China escape the middle-income trap? Assuming current political arrangements remain unchanged and that it does not or cannot adopt Western sociopolitical economic regimes, can China develop an indigenous growth model centered on innovation? This compilation gathers leading Chinese and other international scholars to consider the daunting challenges and complexities of building an innovation-driven Chinese growth model. Providing several comprehensive perspectives, it examines key areas such as the institutional system, technology, sociocultural forces and national policy. The analyses and their conclusions range from strong optimism to deep pessimism about China's future.

China is in the midst of transitioning from a manufacturing-based economy to one driven by innovation and knowledge. This up-to-date analysis evaluates China's state-led approach to science and technology, and its successes and failures. In recent decades, China has seen huge investments in high-tech science parks, a surge in home-grown top-ranked global companies, and a significant increase in scientific publications and patents. Helped by state policies and a flexible business culture, the country has been able to leapfrog its way to a more globally competitive position. However, the authors argue that this approach might not yield the same level of progress going forward if China does not address serious institutional, organizational, and cultural obstacles. While not impossible, this task may well prove to be more difficult for the Chinese Communist Party than the challenges that China has faced in the past.

The current Chinese development model is nearing its limits. The World Bank has cautioned that China could find itself in a “middle-income trap”. China recognizes that it must dramatically increase its capacity for innovation to avoid this trap. This chapter provides an introduction to the enormous complexities and challenges that China faces in transforming the diverse resources available to it for creating an innovation-based economy. It describes how China has over the past four decades developed from being largely isolated and irrelevant to the world economy to becoming the world's second-largest economy. The chapter lays out two diametrically opposed scenarios for the future development of the Chinese economy. The first, optimistic scenario argues that China can build ever-stronger innovation capability and become a high-income nation. The second, more pessimistic scenario makes the case that, without radical reforms, existing Chinese political and economic institutions will inexorably relegate China to the middle-income trap. The chapter also introduces 14 essays by leading international scholars that collectively discuss with frankness the opportunities and challenges China faces across the different aspects of its society. It does so this by sketching the role of institutions, history, politics, culture, and competition in shaping the attitudes and capacities of individuals, firms, and entire sectors to become more innovative.

Just a decade ago, China maintained only a handful of operating wind turbines -- all imported from Europe and the United States.

The transition from a catching-up style economy to an innovation-driven economy poses a major challenge for China. This book examines the major issues at stake, outlines developments in crucial business fields and industries, and discusses the roles of top-down politics and bottom-up entrepreneurship. It focuses in particular on the institutional foundations of innovation, arguing that successful innovation relies on the favourable interplay of business, politics, and society, and that comprehensive institutional and organizational changes will be required in China in order for innovation to succeed. Overall, the book assesses how far China will be able to depart from the Western paradigm of successful innovation regimes and create its own innovation system with Chinese characteristics.

Disrupting global competition : how did they get here so fast? -- Cost innovation : the Chinese dragons' secret weapon -- Loose bricks : re-thinking your vulnerabilities -- The weak link : limitations of the Chinese dragons -- Your response : winning in the new global game -- Conclusion : charting the future.