In the next 100 years, is China likely to become the world leader in scientific research?
It seems as though Chinese culture is *extremely* conducive to academic achievement and scientific advance. In contrast, the United States is all too eager to slash funding for research and education, and from what I've seen, the culture here in America is growing towards one which doesn't value education and promotes little ambition or competitiveness. However, the United States has excellent universities where academia thrives, as well as an established foothold in just about every single area of scientific research,
Kai-Fu Lee, Chairman & CEO, Innovation Works
The Chinese culture and education system is not an innovative but an industrious one:
As a result, the types of Chinese innovation that have proven successful recently include:
Taking an western product and localizing it, gradually adding elements of innovation. After many iterations, the product becomes innovative (example: Tencent QQ learning from ICQ).
• Integrating multiple good ideas and creating something new out of it (example: Taobao combining the eBay auction and Google AdWords).
• Business innovation: Finding ways to maximize profit (example: freemium model in gaming was first popularized by Giant Interactive). This is a natural result during China's stage of development -- entrepreneurs and businessmen are largely driven by monetary goals.
• Need-driven innovation: Yuan Longping's hybrid rice is a good example -- the government funded research in areas of the greatest need -- in this case hunger from the Cultural Revolution days.
Other areas where Chinese may extend innovation include:
Heavy government subsidy -- areas where the Chinese government heavily subsidizes. Alternative energy may be the most likely such area.
• Innovation that can be derived by exhaustive experimentation -- possibly pharmaceutical area.
• Innovation which requires solid foundation and extreme hard work, as opposed to risk-taking and thinking out-of-the-box.
• Western-trained researchers leading Chinese teams.
Over time, Chinese innovation will undoubtedly rise, because this is a need that the whole country is aware of. It may indeed take the 100 years asked in the question. The American education/research system has a large lead over not just China but the world.
在接下来的一百年里,在科学研究领域中国可能成为世界的领导者吗?
中国文化好像极其有助于学术成就和科学提高。相反的,美国更倾向于消减研究和教育基金,就我观察而言,美国文化朝着不珍视教育和激发激情与竞争力的方向发展。然而目前,美国有优秀的学术繁荣的大学,也在各个学术研究领域有立足点。
李开复,创新工场CEO
中国文化和教育系统不是创新型的,而是勤勉型的:
而,中国创新的这种形式,近些年,已经在这些方面被证明是成功的。
• 模仿一个西方的产品,本地化,一步步增加创新元素。很多次添加修改之后,产品变得有创新力。(例子:腾讯QQ模仿自ICQ)
• 综合多个好的想法,创造出不同于原来的。(例子:淘宝来自于ebay拍卖与google广告想法的结合)
• 商业创新:找出最大化利润的方法。(例子:巨人网络推广的免费增值模式)这是中国发展阶段的自然结果—企业家和商人被国家财政目标强烈驱动。
• 需求驱动创新:袁隆平的杂交水稻是个好的例子—政府资助在巨大需求的领域—在这里是革命时期的饥饿问题。
其他中国可能拓展的创新领域:
• 政府巨大补助的领域—政府有很大补助的领域。替代能源可能是最相似的领域。
• 创新由详尽实验来衍生的—可能是药物领域。
• 要求坚实基础和艰苦工作的创新的,作为于采取冒险和不一样的思考的不同
• 让经过西方培训的研究者来领导中国团队的
随着时间的前进,中国的创新力将毫无疑问的增长,因为这是整个国家认识到的需要。
这个问题可能确实需要被问上100年,因为美国的教育与研究系统远远先进于中国和世界。