Is China Leading in Innovation?

Is China really leading in innovation? This is a debatable subject in which some may argue some may agree. Lets look at the number of patents granted as an indicator in the past decade. If you look closely at the map below you will notice that Asia has the biggets bubble for patents gratent in 2018.

In fact, patents granted in Asia have grown from less than three hundred thousand in 2005 to over eight hundred thousand in 2018. Actually, the market share of patents granted in Asia have risen from about 46% to over 57% by 2018 as shown below. That means over half and nearly three fifths of patents granted internationally are from Asia alone.

So who is driving innovation in Asia?

?Short answer: China.

?While America traditionally accounted for most of the patents granted in the world, in 2016 China took over (see the the chart below).

So, what has been driving innovation in China? ?

China has a clear vision. It aims to become a world leader by 2049. Largely, the realization that innovation is a key driver for economic growth has led to massive investment in research and development by the government and the private sector.

?The chart below shows the trend in R&D spending by China compared to some developed economies, since the year 2000.

If patents granted can be used as a measure of innovation, China has truly won the race. In that case it seems China is also very efficient, achieving more patents with little R&D cost than the United States.

?What does the future hold?

Innovation is the key to technological and economic growth in any nation. As it stands China is on its way to become a world leader by 2049 as it envisions. The video below explains the above insights.

??Data Sources:

UNESCO, WIPO, www.statista.com

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