Emerging Technologies, Trajectories and Implications of Next Generation Innovation Systems Development in China and Russia

The advance of "Rising Powers" - including Brazil, China, Russia, and India - promises to be one of the major forces in global economic, political and social development in the 21st Century. Shifts in the distribution of technological and innovative capabilities underpin these changes. During the 20th Century, the United States along with Western Europe, Japan, and other established economies, led in the application of science and technology in fostering economic growth. In the present century, the Rising Powers are seeking to move beyond low-wage or resource-based strategies for development by expanding their science and technology capabilities. Critically, progress on this front requires not only building up R&D capacities and commercial applications, but also developing appropriate governance systems and institutional and corporate structures, building financial, human capital, management and related complementary assets, facilitating technological entrepreneurship, fostering demand and accessing international markets, and ensuring environmental, societal and political sustainability. If these countries are successful, it is likely that there will be major implications for the established developed countries. These include new opportunities through expanded markets, growth of talent pools and inventiveness, and prospects for scientific collaboration in addressing global environmental and societal challenges. The implications also include potential threats in terms of loss of technological leadership, increased international trade competition, shifts in the balance of military capabilities, and competition for scarce resources. Yet, if the Rising Powers (or at least some of them) fail in their efforts to develop and broadly apply advanced scientific and technological capabilities to further their economic and social development, growth expectations will be unmet or will proceed wastefully and societal tensions might rise, contributing to internal and international political instabilities.

This project aims to address scholarly, management and policy issues related to the causes, sustainability and competitiveness of advanced technological development in driving the growth of Rising Powers, and in so doing also explore associated issues of governance and equity. Our technological focus will be on the emerging domain of nanotechnology. Our Rising Power country focus will be on China and Russia, with significant consideration of not only internal developments but also the interactions and implications of the growth of nanotechnology in these two countries for the UK and other developed and developing economies. The project will be undertaken by an interdisciplinary team, involving units of the University of Manchester in partnership with colleagues from China and Russia, with attention to capacity development, building a new research network, fostering training, and engaging users.

The beneficiaries of this research will include business, government, universities and research sponsors, business intermediaries, local innovation organisations, researchers, and other stakeholders interested in the development of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies in rapidly growing economies and implications for the UK and other countries.

Management insights will be developed and disseminated of value to enterprise managers, including those in advanced technology-oriented start-up and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to business support programmes, and to those who undertake investment, financial, and procurement activities with innovative SMEs. Policy insights will be developed and disseminated to UK national (e.g. BIS, TSB, NESTA) agencies and local organisations (e.g. Local Enterprise Partnerships). Our work, especially on governance issues associated with the advancement of Rising Powers technological capabilities, will be of interest to organisations engaged in responsible innovation in the UK and elsewhere. We anticipate that interest in our findings will extend beyond the UK, including to the European Commission, the OECD, the US, China, Russia, and other countries. Methodological techniques (for developing business and policy intelligence about emerging technology development in Rising Powers such as China and Russia) will be of benefit to users in the academic and non-academic worlds, including other researchers, students, management analysts, and consultancies.

The user groups will benefit from the research if the findings from the project stimulate changes in management strategy and policy awareness and actions that result in (a) improved competitive strategies for UK-based advanced technology enterprises, especially as related to Rising Powers such as China and Russia; and (b) improved understanding of research priorities, institutions, policies, barriers, opportunities, and innovation system dynamics in China and Russia leading to additional research and innovation linkages between UK organisations and companies with these two countries. Major changes in management strategy and policy take time and effort; the contributions of this project to such changes will be through new knowledge generation, the international comparative elements (learning is often facilitated through comparison), the development of clear and actionable recommendations, the new information sources and methodologies developed, training activities and the development of a new cadre of young researchers (in the UK linked with Chinese and Russian peers) with research capabilities on international emerging technology and governance issues, and the active dissemination of results to the user groups directly (workshops and events) and indirectly (papers, media, blogs, web presence, and linkages with other organizations). The project will result in a significant deepening of collaboration between three leading innovation research institutes (in Manchester, Beijing and Moscow) providing a base and network for further research, training, and policy analysis.