China: from world factory to innovation-driven nation
November 8, 2017 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China is transforming from being the world factory to an innovation-driven nation by embracing a fresh wave of innovation, according to a report by Swiss financial firm UBS. China’s total research and development investment registered an 18% compound average growth rate between 2006 and 2016. If the same momentum is maintained, China will become the world’s second largest R&D investor after the United States by 2020, with such investments accounting for 2.5% of the total GDP.
The country is also home to the second-largest number of so-called unicorn companies, next only to the U.S. Such companies have a market value over USD1 billion each and have been operating for over 10 years. About 20% of these Chinese companies have made technology breakthroughs while the remaining 80% have made innovations in business models, explained Hou Yankun, Chief China Strategist at UBS Investment Bank China. The innovations have been concentrated in five major areas: education, fintech, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and big data computing, according to the report. “China has been making significant progress in scientific research, given the number of patents applied in the country every year and the published Science Citation Index papers,” said Hou. In terms of fintech, Alipay is one of the best examples, as it outnumbered Visa and MasterCard in 2016 in total online transaction volumes. Meanwhile, China has 40% of the global market share of electric vehicles, with annual sales totaling 500,000 units in 2016. China has produced 76% more papers on the study of artificial intelligence (AI) than the U.S. in 2016 and 2017, also overtaking the latter in terms of the citation rate. China has also retained the world record in big data computing speed for three consecutive years since 2014, the China Daily reports.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world