Editorial note

Citation

Yu, J. (2012), "Editorial note", Journal of Science and Technology Policy in China, Vol. 3 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jstpc.2012.43803baa.001

Editorial note

Article Type: Editorial note From: Journal of Science and Technology Policy in China, Volume 3, Issue 2

As an emerging economic power, China enjoys the edge by virtue of her unrivaled population. This population implies a great market as well as a vast pool for scientific and engineering manpower, whose creative potential is being unlocked. To some extent, the traditional image of China as a producer of low-end and mass-manufactured products still prevails, but its increasing advancement in some hi-tech sectors is beginning to break this stereotype image in the eye of its more developed counterparts in the west. On the other hand, the need to maintain economic growth through science and technology advancement, plus the need to boost its international pride fuels this nation to boost domestic innovations.

Globalization has caused heated debates on its effect on the re-structuring of the world’s economy, particularly the development possibility of the developing world. As to China, the country’s size allows it to pursue many scientific fields simultaneously and complete effectively across many industries and sectors. Consequently, China might become competitive in a number of strategic areas soon if China can adopt appropriate innovation strategies. Recently, China has demonstrated her firm resolution to pursue an innovative society, and we also see more foreign hi-tech companies investing in R&D within China accompanied by their manufacturing facilities. Indeed, the related policies and strategies in China are seeing favorable effects home and abroad.

What internationalization strategy should China’s catching-up firms take? How is China changing the recent knowledge landscapes of the world? Should China take a technology leadership strategy? How should it conduct innovation against the backdrop of globalization? Is the high-tech industrial clustering strategy taken by China effective in competence building? There have recently been serious and continuous debates on China’s innovation strategy. We hope this issue can continue the academic dialogue on these topics.

In this issue, Geert Duysters, Ying Zhang and Sergey Filippov examine a specific use of strategic alliances and acquisitions for Chinese firms to catch-up technologically and to enhance their internationalization competence. This paper finds that strategic alliances may give Chinese firms opportunities to learn from forerunners in terms of developing technological capabilities, and they also offer advantages in exploring developing and advanced markets.

Conlé and Taube examine whether and why different types of firms agglomerate in various locations. The paper aims to analyze the dynamics of China’s health biotech clusters from an interregional perspective. They find that local governments as major providers of financial support are instrumental in the manufacturing capacity building and given technologies exploiting of firms.

As to the global changing knowledge landscapes with which China is involved, Jizhen Li and his colleagues provide a comprehensive description of intra-regional scientific collaboration in East Asia including China from 1985 to 2008. This paper also discusses the factors influencing international scientific collaboration and focuses on explaining the impact of regional integration. The data shows that heterogeneity in the publication output across East Asian countries is decreasing.

Siddivò and De Chiara demonstrate that synergy between firms and local institutions may lead to success even in an economic environment that cannot offer competitive advantages to high tech industrial clustering. They find the outcome of the convergence between firms’ will gain agglomeration advantages and the policymakers’ plan to redress interregional economic disparities is definitely not an efficiency-driven process.

We are proud of the strong support from the Chinese Association for Science of Science and S&T Policy Research (CASSSTP). CASSSTP is the leading national academic body devoted to the research of China’s science of science and S&T policy in a global context. Many scholars, as members of the CASSSTP, have given their firm, precious support to the development of JSTPC journal.

The journal’s uniqueness lies in integrating fundamental and empirical research with policy explorations based on the theories and practice of China’s S&T activities. The journal will act as one of the most important platforms provided for ongoing dialogue between scholars and practitioners on China’s S&T policy and development strategy. Considering that China’s R&D activities take place in a global context, JSTPC insists on the principle of international diversity. The journal owns an internationalized editorial committee, internationalized review experts and internationalized authors to gain a global perspective. We will continue to publish high quality papers in our journal.

We would like to express our earnest thanks for the support from other editors. We would also like to thank all the authors contributing to JSTPC. Last but not least, thanks for the excellent support and help from the Emerald team.

Jiang Yu