China has made great strides toward innovation and technology-driven economy in recent years. There are many firms that are emerging as global players in the technology arena, especially in the ICT sector, such as Lenovo, Huawei, ZTE, Tencent and Xiaomi (which has shaken the legendary smart phone makers – Apple and Samsung – through its disruptive innovation). There are even some world-class competitors in the automotive sector, such as BYD and Geely. China has also become one of the few global players in such technologies as high-speed trains and passenger aircraft: China recently won several international bids for high-speed train projects, and on November 2 in Shanghai it demonstrated its first home-grown large passenger jet, the C919.

China’s R&D spending had risen to more than 2 percent of GDP by 2013 (see Table 1) and 2.1 percent in 2014 by estimation, which is above the average of the European Union countries, and China’s target is 2.5 percent by 2020. Its patent applications (both for residents and for non-residents) exceeded 825,000 in 2013 and ranked No.1 globally. China’s number of published scientific and technical journal articles exceeds that of Germany, Japan and the UK, and China now publishes about two-thirds as many as the United States. As a latecomer, China has made some remarkable achievements.

To strengthen its innovation efforts still further, China has launched the “Made in China 2025” initiative. In its recently published 13^th Five-Year Plan, China has positioned “innovation” as one of its key objectives.