The clash of ideologies: Does government-led innovation work?

Chinese premier Li Keqiang speaks widely of his government’s plans to usher in reforms that will promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation.

To date, government incentives to increase innovation have led to an explosion in patent applications and enormous spending on science and technology. But critics argue that while China may have made significant leaps in economic growth in recent decades, unnecessary barriers to innovation continue to stifle its miracle economy. Innovators would benefit from more transparency in institutions, corporate governance and intellectual-property protections. China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have risk-averse management styles that hold back progress and creativity. And China’s “Great Firewall” censors access to global websites, hampering innovation and efficiency.

 

Government-directed innovation laid the groundwork for Silicon Valley in the 1970s, yet in the West current tastes favour open, collaborative and more democratic ways of innovating. Can a top-down, centrally planned approach to innovation still be useful today?

 

•How can central planners intervene to spur innovation-led growth without negative consequences?

•Some wicked problems - social, environmental and blue sky - lack the market incentives to fund their solutions. Will there always be a role for government in innovation?

•As the tech sector grows in strategic importance for China, is it at risk of increased government intervention?

•Have China’s online giants flourished in spite of the “China intranet”, or because of it?

 

Speakers:

- Xiang Bing, founding dean and professor of China business and globalisation, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business @BingXiangCKGSB

 

- Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher, MIT Technology Review and chairman, MIT Enterprise Forum Global @jason_pontin

 

- Helen Wang, author, The Chinese Dream @TheHelenWang

 

#EconInnov

 

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