Reporter Xin Yuan
The Reference News Think Tank on July 14 cited a study released by the Belgian think tank Bruegel at the beginning of this month. After comparing the current status of key technology applications and innovations in the United States, China, and Europe, it was found that although the United States has a clear advantage in frontier areas such as quantum technology, China is showing a noticeable momentum of catching up. Moreover, the rise of Chinese technology highlights the importance of "scale" and "application".
The article points out that an analysis of the strengths of China and the United States shows that the United States still holds a dominant position in most cutting-edge fields, especially in quantum technology. China follows closely in the average level, but dominates in major subfields of semiconductors, such as component manufacturing. In the field of artificial intelligence, China is improving the basic research of video and image processing, which is crucial for autonomous driving.
Zheng Shajie, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on July 9 regarding the first session of the series of themes on "high-quality completion of the '14th Five-Year Plan", that since the start of the "14th Five-Year Plan", China's annual value added of manufacturing has exceeded 30 trillion yuan, maintaining its position as the world's largest manufacturer for 15 consecutive years. The output of more than 200 major industrial products ranks first globally, and the number of things China cannot produce is decreasing while the range of things it can produce is becoming better and better.
Further more, in terms of high-end manufacturing, China is also accelerating. Statistical data show that the value added of high-tech manufacturing in China in 2024 increased by 42% compared to the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan".
Former Mayor of Chongqing Huang Qifan also mentioned at a recent public event that the scale of China's manufacturing has reached over 30% of the global total. It is in a leading position in five areas: high-speed rail, automobile manufacturing, new energy equipment, power equipment, and shipbuilding. In fields such as biomedicine, information and intelligent technology, chip production, high-end equipment, new materials, and aerospace, it has moved from "following" to "running side by side".
In contrast, the Bruegel Institute believes that Europe's strongest competitiveness lies in emerging quantum technology, especially in niche areas such as photonics, but lags significantly in artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology.
Additionally, the study shows that Europe has made slow progress in replicating and applying breakthrough results of other countries' key technologies, far behind China and the United States. This gap mainly stems from Europe's fragmented market, weak connections between industry, academia, and research, regulatory and language barriers, and insufficient innovation due to smaller company sizes.
The Bruegel Institute states that the rise of China in key technology areas highlights two key facts.
First, the study points out that scale is essential to achieve breakthroughs in frontier technology. China has this scale advantage. Although the overall economic size of the EU is large, its fragmented single market not only poses problems for companies hoping to expand their scale, but also hinders innovation.
"Although the EU countries have diverse market ecosystems, which theoretically benefits innovation diversity, in today's global competition landscape dominated by economies of scale, the dispersed model is difficult to form sufficient competitiveness," the study said.
The "China Development Report 2024" compiled by the State Council Development Research Center lists the advantages of China's development in the artificial intelligence industry, particularly mentioning that China has developed digital infrastructure and a large, multi-layered consumer market, which is an important foundation for model innovation and business prosperity. Moreover, consumers have a high acceptance of innovative products and services.
Second, the Bruegel Institute found that China's practice proves that innovation without transformation and application is unsustainable. For basic research innovation to obtain necessary financial support, enterprises must find ways to commercialize it. This requires closer cooperation between the industry and universities to promote enterprises to increase R&D investment in key technology areas.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7527503459101229620/
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