{"id":45379,"date":"2023-10-20T15:43:14","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/three-transformative-changes-that-made-china-a-global-innovation-leader-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:43:14","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:43:14","slug":"three-transformative-changes-that-made-china-a-global-innovation-leader-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/three-transformative-changes-that-made-china-a-global-innovation-leader-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Three transformative changes that made China a global innovation leader – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Businesses and governments around the world are watching as China grows, innovates and extends its influence. We explore how the country got to where it is and what might be in store for its future in our series Understanding China\u2019s Influence.<\/em><\/p>\n
Most of us use products made in China every day and are aware of its growing economic power as a factory to the world.<\/p>\n
But China intends to become a developed nation by mid-century and integral to this ambition is its intense focus on innovation.<\/p>\n
In a very few decades, Chinese companies had evolved from imitators to imaginative and effective innovators.<\/p>\n
As part of my research with my colleague George Yip on this issue, we identified three key phases in China\u2019s development:<\/p>\n
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From copying to fit for purpose<\/li>\n
From followers to world standard<\/li>\n
From seeking new resources to seeking new knowledge<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Chinese companies now pose a challenge to established multinationals, as they enter the markets of the developed world to become insiders.<\/p>\n
Since China\u2019s former leader, Deng Xiaoping, implemented market-oriented economic reforms to China in 1979-80, the driving forces of this transformation have been the customer and the culture.<\/p>\n
Chinese customers have an insatiable and rapidly growing demand for products, as the large, diverse population seeks better lives.<\/p>\n
This has stimulated many companies to develop affordable products for those needs.<\/p>\n
And a culture of entrepreneurship in the business sector has been facilitated by a far-sighted government with a strong drive for independence and economic development.<\/p>\n
The Chinese government has fostered an innovation ecosystem across the country, consisting of some 100 science and technology parks, universities and government research institutions, which provide support for new enterprises.<\/p>\n
The Chinese government and business invested some US$190 billion in research and development in 2013, which is around 40% of the annual R&D investment in the United States.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s research and development expenditure represents just over 2% of its GDP, which is slightly more as a share of GDP than that of Western Europe.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s priority for technological development is matched by the entrepreneurial spirit and drive of Chinese entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n