CTA: Winners in innovation will be those that can partner up

World
Europe

03:06

China and the United States are the world’s two largest economies. They are also in the race to be the world leader in technological innovation.

However, analysts say these two countries have different marketplaces and themes altogether – can and should they work together in the fast-rising consumer technology sector?

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), said the winners in innovation will be those that can partner up.

“China and the US both have companies that are very focused on succeeding which means they are partnering with each other more and more – with small, large companies, across cultures, barriers,” Shapiro said.

He added that China and the US have similar advantages in terms of size and one strong national language.

“That is a plus for innovation, in an age where a lot of it is software, application-based and communication in a very large marketplace. So it’s actually a large competitive strength and both China and the US have that.”

Both countries are set to begin the second round of trade talks Tuesday.

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) /VCG Photo

The CTA, which represents over 2,200 consumer technology companies in the US, reaffirmed that a trade war is not in the interest of the US and its businesses, as well as for China.

“As an organization, we are a national trade association, we’ve taken a very strong position that the WTO should be the proper forum for these discussions,” Shapiro said.

“We would like to see the concept of tariffs go away. We rely upon each other interdependently-wise for free trade – the farmers and other machinery and car makers export heavily and we’d like to see that continue.”

On the other hand, Shapiro pointed out that there is a major trade imbalance.

“It is a little bit difficult to do business in China for US companies because you must have a domestic partner. We’d like to see a little more freedom and relaxation, to allow businesses to set the rules as long as the consumers in both countries are protected and rather than government protecting businesses using laws to do that.”

That said, Shapiro commended both China and the US as being very strong in innovation – albeit with different strategies in place.

“China has done remarkably well though and I think its strength is its strong and solid plan and a will to focus on innovation as a national strategy,” he said.

“The US is more focused on the free market of ideas and the fact that the US is a system where we’ve attracted immigrants from all over the world and diversity is our focus.”