China Issues Long Term Science Plan
February 9th, 2006China’s State Council today issued a plan for the development of science and technology in China through 2020.
In it China announces its intention to improve dramatically by 2020 its capacity for independent innovation (自主创新能力 zizhu chuangxin nengli). They declare an intention to become one of the world’s leaders of innovation—among the top 5 nations of the world in terms of scientific articles published and patents licensed—and decrease Chinese dependence on foreign technology. They plan to increase spending on R&D to 2.5% of GPD and “develop a group of technological achievements that have enormous influence.”
China certainly has the human talent to do all these things, and though there’s something a bit unnerving about China’s hyper-determined, nationalistic plan to become a S&T superpower, the planet could benefit from the unleashing of all that potential. But meeting China’s goals will require ongoing reforms.
Some of the needed reforms are in the legal sphere. For example, the US has no comprehensive national S&T plan but leads the world in innovation. Government funding for education and basic research (and tax breaks for R&D) all play a part in the US’s astounding success, but another critical factor is a supportive legal system. Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs can make enforceable contracts (rather than depending on guanxi or faith in some government actor), and they have the hope of getting rich through stock markets not controlled by government planners. Intellectual property rights are protected sufficiently (some argue too sufficiently) so that firms have incentives to invest in R&D.
PRC economist Wu Jinglian aruges, “Systems are More Important than Technology” [制度重于技术, Zhidu zhongyu jishu] To meet its science and technology goals, Chinese leaders need to heed that lesson.
PRC press reports on the plan are here and here.
The plan is titled Outline of the Long-term National Plan for the Development of Science and Technology (2006-2020) [国家中长期科学和技术发展规划纲要（２００６－２０２０年）Guojia zhong-changqi kexue he jishu fazhan guihua gangyao)]. The full Chinese text is available here.
Here Xinhua collects related speeches by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao and offers commentary on the plan’s highlights.