Innovation (PDF)

Innovation maybe the ultimate driving force of a nation's economic growth and prosperity. According to Porter's theory of national competitive advantage, a nation's economic development typically goes through the following several stages: resource driven, investment driven and innovation driven (Porter, 1998). Since China embarked on the road of economic reform and opening up to the world in late 1970s, several decades of economic development have achieved astonishing accomplishments, known as the China Miracle. The major engine for economic growth has been the huge investment infused into the economy, both from FDI and from the country's own savings. This period fits with Porter's definition of an investment- driven stage of economic development. As a result, China has gained the reputation of being the world's manufacturing center. However, there has been ample evidence showing that this mode of economic development is coming to the end (China Daily, 2015). How China can move on to the next stage and become an innovation economy is a major challenge facing policy makers and the corporate world. Within China, there is a consensus that that the mode of economic development has to be changed. Therefore, the government has set a goal of transforming China into an innovative society by 2020. With all these scenarios in the background, we hope the research findings in this issue on China's innovation can help readers gain a snapshot of the current status of innovation in China.