Reform in Action: China’s tech innovation in the world economy

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Science and technology are the primary productive forces that have been playing a key role in Chinese economic development. Much like the US, China needs a technological revolution to make an impact.

The government has put in place many policies and incentives to improve the nation's technological innovation industry. And Wang Jianhui, general manager of the R&D Department at Capital Securities defined technology innovation as the “soul” of all these stimulating policies.

“I think it’s a kind of soul of all these policies. Without it, none of these strategies could fully succeed. If you only provide similar products through Belt and Road [compared to our ancient one], it’s just like a ‘new bottle with old wine’. We have to make unique contribution to the world economy,” Wang stressed.

China used to be infamous for plagiarism and loose enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights. As China vows to transform its economy with technology and intelligence, the protection of IP has been put as a top priority.

Duan Jianguang is an intellectual property professional, who manages the IP department of Mindray Medical International, the largest electronic medical device producer in China and the third-largest player in the global patient monitoring device industry.

Based on Duan’s words, the company is trying to build a great wall of IP rights with nearly 2,700 granted patents in China and 400 patents in Europe and America. “Our global competitors cannot use their IP to stop Mindray from doing business right now,” Duan said.

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And innovation consciousness and innovative phenomenon also influence China’s startups. The country is creating more unicorns, overtaking the EU and shrinking the gap with the US, according to a fresh report from an investment advisory firm Scenic Advisement.

The report also showed that 12 of the world's newly founded 33 unicorns come from China this year. That’s the latest milestone in a long-term trend. And more than a quarter of world’s unicorns have been created in China since 2010.

Scenic Advisement Photo

Not only the number of innovative unicorns, but also the venture capital investment in China’s innovation industry gets a good lead among its global competitors.

Companies on the Chinese mainland attracting a total of 10.2 billion US dollars in venture capital investment in the third quarter of this year and the recipients of half of the world’s 10 largest venture-capital financings, auditing firm KPMG’s quarterly report said.

Government support for innovation has helped boost China’s venture capital deals, KPMG noted, highlighting the China 2025 modernization program for manufacturing and city-specific funds for early-stage companies.

(CGTN’s Wang Yue and Yan Yunli also contributed to the story.)

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