Follow China’s lead in high-tech fields

Public opinion toward China is generally hostile in this country. The wars of the 1960s all but extinguished the unparalleled friendship and common vision for peaceful coexistence codified in the 1954 Panchsheel Agreement between India and China. Jawaharlal’s set of principles announced by Prime Minister Nehru and Premier Chou Enlai was very moving. It was incorporated into the Bandung Conference’s Declaration for a New Era of Peace and Development by 29 Afro-Asian countries a year later. Rajiv Gandhi’s landmark visit to Beijing in 1988 managed to break down the wall of hostility between the two countries, but relations have further deteriorated in recent years.

When it comes to the economy and China’s technological prowess, the Indian government and its media handmaidens, in particular, tend to downplay and belittle it, fueled by unconcealed resentment and envy. The result is a contradiction. In recent years, there was an outpouring of nationalists on WhatsApp when the Narendra Modi government banned around 250 Chinese apps for “undermining the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defense of India, national security and public order.” I was enthusiastic. It encouraged patriotic Indians to boycott the app. The irony is that most of the messages were being sent on Chinese-made phones that they didn’t want to give up.

While the world is in awe of China’s cutting-edge scientific and technological advances, Indians tend to act like ostriches, albeit with some misgivings. Nothing reported. Nothing is recognized. Instead, commentators write, India should be careful to avoid China’s patent follies, where quantity, not quality, was clearly the criterion. One of the most ridiculous and creepy allegations I came across in the business press was that China’s policies had created a frenzy of patent applications of little value, or “junk patents with little innovation.” Did the author take his cues from the official position on China? Perhaps because officials at the top economic advisory body had also warned India against following China’s model based on utility patents.

Let’s understand why patents are granted in the first place. Generally, these are awarded for innovative ideas that have practical value. In recent years, China has emerged as the world’s top patent applicant, and its trends have attracted global attention. While there may be dregs in a gold mine, and stupid patents are easy to find anywhere, China’s patents are spectacular in some areas, including communications technology. In early February, China Mobile, the world’s largest telecommunications operator, launched the world’s first satellite to test 6G architecture. According to an official statement, it was successfully placed into low orbit to “offer low latency and high data transfer rates.” The autonomous 6G architecture using domestically produced software and hardware was jointly developed by China Mobile and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Microsatellite Innovation Academy (IAMC). This is another example of industry and leading scientific institutions working toward clearly defined goals. As we’ve written, academia is also closely involved in this effort (see “Patents Grow, But Where’s the Innovation?”) sensiblefrom December 16 to 31, 2023).

If you are looking for the path to Chinese excellence, it can be found in the IAMC system. This is in direct contrast to the situation in India, where moribund scientific institutions cannot shake off the legacy of hierarchical bureaucratic work systems that produce little output. of merit. The industry is suffering on its own.

A little research revealed some interesting details about iamc. It is just one of the country’s leading microsatellite innovation research institutes that focuses on microsatellite development and related innovations. IAMC has launched 95 satellites into space and has emerged as a leader in the commercial satellite industry. A further interesting fact is that IAMC has approximately 700 staff engaged in scientific research and administrative work, the majority of whom are graduate students and PhD candidates. Now, hold your breath. The average age of the staff is only 34 years old. Are some of the patents obtained by these institutions called junk?

China’s incredible technological progress has several unique aspects. The world intellectual property organization (wipo) points out that the focus is first and foremost on forward engineering. In this system, new or initial scientific and technical knowledge is acquired in university laboratories and then applied in a top-down manner to the development of commercial products. This is in sharp contrast to the reverse engineering approach taken by South Korea and Taiwan, which became technology superpowers much earlier than China. Second, China’s policy has been to acquire technology and brands through international mergers and acquisitions, and finally, it has used parallel learning from foreign direct investment enterprises to promote domestic enterprises. Wipo calls this the “Beijing model” of innovation. Companies like Huawei and ZTE were founded within universities and became the world’s leading manufacturers of OBM and original brands. Similarly, China is home to three major platform companies, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, and Wipo says it is ushering China into what it calls the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, there is a difference. Many Chinese universities operate their own businesses, but this is different from the usual spin-offs. Since the university established the company and also provided the funds and human resources, the university retains management control. A more striking revolution, and an environmental one, is electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing by the Chinese company BYD (short for Build Your Dreams), which has overtaken Tesla in EV production and dominates both the domestic and export markets. are doing. But that’s a topic for another time.

Returning to India’s delicate relationship with its neighbors, there is a new source of friction over mobile phones, and this time it’s even more serious. India recently arrested Chinese and Indian executives working for Chinese smartphone company Vivo on suspicion of being involved in money laundering activities. While pledging full support to “protecting the legitimate rights and interests” of the arrested Vivo employees, a Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesperson also urged India to recognize the reciprocity of business cooperation between the two countries and ” “We will provide fair, just, and transparent transactions.” A non-discriminatory business environment.”

Until then, China will no longer send its own citizens to oversee operations here. As a result, India’s smartphone exports have been hit hard. Does it ring any bells?