Course Description

This course analyzes the development of science and technology policy in China since the onset of
the reform and open policy launched under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. It places special emphasis
on the post-2000 period when China announced its goal of re-orienting the PRC economy away from
emphasis on assembly-type manufacturing (which is labor-intensive and resource consuming--
sometimes called “the factory to the world model”) and towards becoming an innovation driven
economy. The course charts the changing emphasis of Chinese policies and reforms, including the
continued emphasis on “indigenous innovation” since 2005, the cultivation and utilization of high-level
talent since 2003, and the big push in semiconductors and artificial intelligence —with an eye towards
understanding China’s increasingly important role in shaping the structure and operation of the global
innovation system in the 21st century.