China’s Top Technology Clusters Show Strong Growth

By Lily Wang

According to the UN website， the 2022 Global Innovation Index released by the WIPO（the World Intellectual Property Organization） shows that four of the worlds five biggest science and technology clusters are located in East Asia， with one in Japan， two in China， one in the Republic of Korea， and the fifth in the U.S.

The report shows that WIPO has ranked the innovation capacity of 130 countries and economic entities through a global innovation index. Ahead of the global release of the index on September 29， 2022， the“science and technology cluster” （S&T cluster） chapter was released early to show the regions where technology activities are concentrated.

Tokyo-Yokohama accounts for the biggest cluster， followed by the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou（China）， Beijing （China）， Seoul （the Republic of Korea） and San Jose-San Francisco （the U.S.） clusters.

China has as many top S&T clusters as the United States

Since 2007， WIPO has ranked most global economies using this “global innovation index” and has released a report on the results each year.

In the global top 100 S&T cluster ranking， China has 21 S&T clusters and ranks first in the world， and is on par with the U.S. for the first time in history. Germany ranks third by hosting 10 clusters， while Japan has five. France， Canada， India and South Korea each have three clusters.

Chinas other S&T clusters on the ranking list include Shanghai-Suzhou（6th）， Nanjing （13th）， Hangzhou （14th） and Wuhan （16th）. The other S&T clusters in the U.S. include BostonCambridge （8th）， New York （9th） and San Diego （11th）.

Compared with previous year， the steepest climbs in the 2022 cluster ranking came from three Chinese clusters： Zhengzhou in Henan Province， up 15 positions from 2021 to No. 83； and Qingdao in Shandong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province， which climbed 12 spots each to Nos. 34 and 91， respectively.

“Local innovation clusters are critical to the vibrancy of national innovation ecosystems， so identifying them will help us understand where and how innovation is happening， and will promote innovative activity as a powerful catalyst for jobs， investments， and growth，” said Daren Tang， Director-General of WIPO.

S&T clusters are established through the analysis of patentfiling activities and scientific article publication， documenting the geographical areas around the world with the highest density of inventors and scientific authors， according to WIPO. Moreover， the ranking is created using statistics based on collected information about the address and name attached to scientific articles.

China has made tremendous progress in the realm of intellectual property rights over the past decade. According to the global rankings for innovation， China climbed to 12th place in 2021 from 34th in 2012， topping middle-income economies.

The number of international patent applications submitted by Chinese applicants through the Patent Cooperation Treaty stood at 69，540 in 2021， ranking first in the world for the third consecutive year. Daren Tang also emphasized that China is becoming a leader in global patentfiling and innovation development.

Promote science and technology development through planning

Felix Demoya Anegon， former CSIC researcher， said that the number of Chinas scientific papers and articles has been growing fast in recent years and has already surpassed that of the U.S.： “The gap between China and the U.S. is shrinking in terms of the average scientific influence.”

Carlos Luis Echavarría Cabrera， expert from the Cuba International Economic Research Center， said that China is a good example to study in terms of how to promote science and technology development through planning. Chinas national power has constituted the basis for creating policy guidance and taking measures to promote scientific progress in manufacturing processes. “To a large extent， the flexibility of Chinas design and implementation of its technology development strategy is the key to its success. Having a clear picture of the actual situation across the country according to the different stages of its development allows for the adoption of feasible policies accordingly in each period. Sticking to such practices allows China to embody its vision of being a strong innovation country.”

In August 2021， the General Office of the State Council of China issued the Guiding Opinions on Improving the Evaluation Mechanism of Scientif ic and Technological Achievements and the Several Opinions on Reforming and Improving the Management of Scientific Research Funds of the Central Government， providing new policy guidance for Chinas high-level scientific research development.

According to Nikkei， the current state of Chinas scientific and technological development is following the national strategic plan. In 2006， China started to implement the Outline of the National Medium and Long Term Plan for Science and Technology Development （2006-2020）， in the hopes of having world-class scientific and technological capabilities by 2020. As such， China has been increasing its R&D investment and reducing its dependence on foreign technologies.

Chinas R&D investment rose steadily from 2006 to 2020. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics， national R&D expenditure reached nearly RMB 2.44 trillion in 2020， up by 10.2% year on year. According to official data， in 2020， the R&D expenditure of enterprises accounted for 76.6% of all R&D expenditure in China. The Spanish media noted that the “14th Five-year Plan” issued by China in 2021 sets a route for completing economic and social development by 2025. In order to seek self-reliance in the fields of science and technology， China had decided to increase all-society R&D investment by more than 7% annually over these five years.

The foreign media has noted Chinas emphasis on self-reliance in science and technology. A report by the EFE News Agency stressed that China should adhere to the core position of innovation in its modernization process， and should regard self-reliance in science and technology as a strategic support for national development. According to the Singaporean website Zaobao， when facing the constraints imposed by western countries on Chinas core technologies， China has substantially increased its investment in scientific research， and has effectively reduced the unreasonable burden on scientific researchers. The American magazine Fortune reported： “At the time of the promulgation of the 14th Five-Year Plan， China is committed to reducing its dependence on the U.S. and other countries in key technology fields and will strive to become a technological superpower.”

Moreover， the Singaporean Straits Times reported that Chinas education quality has improved significantly in the past decade， especially at the PhD level. According to a report released by CSET （the Center for Security and Emerging Technologies） of Georgetown University in August 2021， at present， for every two STEM（science， technology， engineering and mathematics） PhD doctoral graduates trained by American universities， Chinese universities can produce about three. The report predicts that by 2025， five Chinese universities will produce more than 77，000 STEM PhD graduates per year compared to approximately 40，000 in the U.S. According to a report written by the SCET researcher Remco Zwetsloot for the Research Center of Strategy and International Affairs in October 2021， China had surpassed the U.S. in terms of both bachelors and masters degrees. In 2019， China conferred about 1.886 million STEM bachelors degrees and 326，000 STEM masters degrees， while the numbers of same in the U.S. were 445，000 and 171，000 respectively.

In addition， Chinas attractiveness to overseas talents is also growing. According to the French website of Le Monde， the Ministry of Education， Culture， Sports， Science and Technology of Japan pointed out that 18，460 Japanese university researchers had stayed in China for at least one month in the fiscal year ending March 2019， which was an increase of 25% compared with four years ago. China has surpassed South Korea as a priority destination for Japanese researchers. The Spanish media also pointed out that since the turn of the 21st century when the focus of economic globalization has “turned eastward”， many professionals in important scientific research industries are migrating to the East. In 2020， the National Natural Science Foundation of China supported approximately 45，700 projects and granted 3.6 million patents. The biggest draws for foreign researchers are the stable position and research teams provided by China.