U.S. Media: A study by NBER analyzing nearly 14 million Chinese patents found that Chinese universities contributed over a quarter (25%) of the invention patents in the 14 key technological fields identified by the Pentagon—eight times the 3.3% share of U.S. universities—while state-owned enterprises and government entities accounted for only 4%; fewer than one in ten inventors of China’s key technology patents have work experience in the United States.
The study used four text-based metrics to assess patent quality, revealing that China’s patent quality has caught up with, and in some areas even surpassed, that of the United States. The share of patents containing "disruptive" technical language rose from less than 2% in the early 1990s to 16% in 2022, approaching the U.S. level of around 20%.
In 2024, China’s R&D expenditure reached $1.03 trillion, surpassing that of the United States for the first time, with an annual growth rate exceeding 14%. Meanwhile, the U.S. significantly cut federal research funding, with NIH and NSF facing budget cuts or freezes totaling over $3 billion. In the June 2026 Nature Index rankings, Zhejiang University ranked first globally for the first time, overtaking Harvard; among the top ten academic institutions worldwide, nine are now Chinese—compared to eight U.S. institutions five years ago.
However, analysts point out that China’s university patent commercialization rates remain low, overseas patent filings are limited, and many patents are driven by administrative directives, indicating that the overall technological leadership gap still persists.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1873147566705676/
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