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[MUSIC PLAYING]
My name's Kirsten Bound.
I'm Head of International Innovation at Nesta, and we're
delighted today to be launching
China's Absorptive State--
Research, innovation, and prospects for UK-China
collaboration.
It's the culmination of 12 months' really hard work
trying to understand the state of the art of the Chinese
innovation system.
But more importantly, knowing how the UK can engage and
benefit from the rapid changes underway.
The account we offer is that of an absorptive state, but in
the process of absorption there was also a lot of
creativity and value being added by China in the mix.
Part of what makes this important right now is that
there is also a very lively, vibrant debate within the
Chinese system about how all of the investment that has
been made, and continues to be made in the research system,
can generate greater return.
There is a sense of disappointment I think, in
some respects that progress has been still quite uneven.
The Western media has this narrative that Chinese
companies could only copy, they don't add any value.
But in our report, what we found was that, actually,
Chinese companies have developed a specialism in
absorbing technologies, and then quickly adapting and
market testing them.
And through this process, adding value.
Our national interest is very much connected to China's
delivery of what Xi Jinping earlier in the year called the
China Dream.
I think the reality of global economics today means that we,
too, here in these islands, have a big stake
in the China dream.
If Xi Jinping is to deliver the China dream, then China is
going to have to move up the value chain fast, and claim a
much bigger share of high-tech products in the future.
And that is why the challenge of innovation is so core to
the politics and economics of China over the
next 10 to 15 years.
We talk a lot about cooperation basic science.
That can be important, but my view is the biggest *** for
the buck, if you like, in terms of cooperation, is
taking UK strengths in basic science and technology, and
combining that with this fantastic engine that China
has built to accelerate the process of getting from patent
to fully-produced, scaled-out product in the market.
There has to be a join up between the movement of ideas
and the movement of people.
And if the UK is seen as hostile to the recruitment of
the best academics across the world, or the best students
across the world, there will be consequences.
Big percentage of the students from China are not able to
find a place.
Whether it's a [INAUDIBLE] place or a place
in industry in UK.
Quite a big percent of them go back immediately after the
graduation.
If the UK government can adopt a much open attitudes towards
these international students, that may bring benefits to the
future of UK and China.
The Lunar Society, I think, is a very good model for how we
should think about China and Britain's
relationship in the future.
The Lunar society brought together some of the greatest
minds of the time, in an open dialogue, in a process that
stretched on for decades, that had trial and error at its
very heart.
This is the kind of model that we have to think about
evolving today between Britain and China.
And so I think the challenge for us is to think through how
do we create a great Lunar Society for the 21st century
economy with British scientists and Chinese
scientists at its very heart.
So today we saw--
we really saw the fascinating pace of change in science
innovation in China.
And we also saw the scale of the ambition of the UK to be a
partner in the future developments in China.
But we also really start to understand, as a result of
this event, that while we have the same ambition, we really
need to figure out how we engage with the Chinese
system, how we spot opportunities, and how we
develop the structures that will really enable our
universities and businesses to get the most out of what's
happening in China.