China overtakes Japan on R&D

ft ^ | December 3 2006 | Geoff Dyer in Shanghai

[Flavius]

China has overtaken Japan to become the second biggest spender on research and development behind the US, a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revealed.

The country is expected to invest $136bn in research and development this year after growing by more than 20 per cent in the past year, ahead of the the $130bn from Japan but still well behind the $330bn the US will invest, the OECD said.

The report is the latest indication of the dramatic rise in research spending in China, which is beginning to cause concerns among western governme

[Flavius]

ho hum

[Flavius]

some cool research projects

[kinoxi]

How much of that is earmarked for espionage?

[Nachoman]

Do they factor in theft of intellectual property as R&D expenditures?

[SteveMcKing]

There is budget, and there is brains.


The former is greatly wasted when ever the latter is taken for granted.


Examples: local, state, and federal government

[bobby.223]

if the 'beast gets in I'm sure bill will make sure she throws a few of our military secrets china's way, for a small fee of course.

[HannagansBride]

Yeah? So what!

We're still #1 in number of lawyers.

Go USA!

[roadcat]

China overtakes Japan on R&D

R&D in China's case means RIP-OFFS & DUPLICATION.

[indthkr]

"Yeah? So what!

We're still #1 in number of lawyers."

That's right! Once China's technology ultimately blows past us, we'll just sue them in World Court for anti-trust violations for monopolizing high-tech!!! They'll quiver in there boots I'm sure of it /LOL sarc off

[sinoguy]

well done!
we will bash japs,german,russian and yankees one by one!

[Zhang Fei]

Article: China overtakes Japan on R&D

Wake me up when China overtakes Ireland in R&D results, never mind Japan. The Chinese approach to everything involves masses of asses and big-time corner-cutting. Until this changes - along with China's indifference to intellectual property protection - China will remain a Third World screwdriver factory. (This means a place where imported components and technology are bolted together).

Did you also know that China has huge numbers of people in the transportation business, many more than Japan? Some of them ferry people using man-powered carts, trishaws, bicycles and motorcycles. Note that this is in the *booming* coastal cities (the ones where they're not banned for reminding Chinese officials that China remains a Third World country). And yet I would far prefer to be transported around using Japan's well-organized and efficient mass transit system.

China's economy is growing rapidly. But that's because it is so backward in the first place. Before China catches up to the West, it needs to catch up to Thailand. And it's no good saying that China has a bigger total GDP than Thailand. From a citizen's perspective, it's the per capita number that matters - it determines the amount of life's little luxuries that he can afford.

[ponder life]

Nothing wrong with increasing spending on R&D. All those scientist and engineers that they are training over there need employment.

Thomas Edison once said, ingenuity is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I say, put them Chinese to work and let them now start contributing to the betterment of mankind.

It takes years of research to come up with a new drug. Bring the Chinese on board and let them participate in the global effort of finding new treatments or cures for human ailment.

[Flavius]

oh yeah with 1 billion of them betterment of human ailment is right up there on priority list

[RightWhale]

As China moves into modernity, they will have less and less opportunity to rip off and duplicate since they will be out in front more and more. The 50s have come and gone.

[indthkr]

"As China moves into modernity......they will be out in front more and more. The 50s have come and gone."

The good news for the average American is that we will be able to buy the majority of our advanced weapons systems from the Chinese, and can therefore drastically reduce the Defense Budget, reduce the size of the government, and the necessary taxation.

(BTW, sorry to take the words out of your mouth if that was going to be your next comment).

[RightWhale]

sorry to take the words out of your mouth

No, I wasn't going to continue. We can see that will eventually be the case provided we haven't collapsed utterly and they can somehow keep their 'capitalism miracle' going.

[indthkr]

"....their 'capitalism miracle' going"

I certainly agree with your placement of capitalism in quotes as it refers to the Chinese.

"....provided we haven't collapsed utterly"

Hopefully, we won't get anywhere near that situation. One thing to be sure of: organizational decline will not occur gradually, over a long period of time. It's a highly non-linear process, further exacerbated by today's highly connected world.

[RightWhale]

That is probably the case. It might be that the organization is robust so that it is not easily disrupted, or there could be a weakness we are not aware of that would let go of everything if broken. Buckminster Fuller developed his stick and wire Tensegrity Structures that were strong and looked like nothing was holding them up even while you could jump on one of them and it would just bounce a little, but if a thread snapped it would collapse utterly.

The Ds even now are bouncing with renewed vigor on our Corporate system. Let's hope they don't find a critical tension member.

[Gengis Khan]

So how many Patents did China win vis-à-vis Japan?

[ponder life]

oh yeah with 1 billion of them betterment of human ailment is right up there on priority list

Well, the world isn't perfect. Even US Pharmaceuticals are driven by the bottom line. Bring China into the system by encouraging pharmaceuticals to open facilities there, and their R&D labor can be used with the purpose of finding cure to human ailments.

Much of the world's research is done through trial and error. In medicine, trying out substances one at a time on lab rats.

Thomas Edison found that tungsten worked in a lightbulb because he tried thousands of other material. One of his quotes, before discovering the right material, is that he now "knows what doesn't work". Research is mostly mundane and unexciting, hence the "perspiration". Why not let the Chinese add their numbers to the global work force of researchers and expetite research.