A recent analysis of global research output by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) concluded that China leads in 37 of 44 technology areas. China has “built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains,” the ASPI wrote.
Fortunately, the think tank is measuring competitiveness by the number of research papers published–a deeply flawed measure because, even in peer-reviewed international journals, some published Chinese research, motivated only by government incentives, has been found to be fraudulent or irrelevant. Even so, China is a serious contender in science and innovation.
