Chasing a $3 Trillion Industry: China S Bid to Become a Major Nano Player

NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantees Conference, Dec 3-5, 2008

Grant #: 0531184

NANO HIGHLIGHT

Chasing a $3 Trillion Industry: China’s Bid to Become a Major Nano Player

NSF NSEC Grant 0531184

PIs: Barbara Herr Harthorn, Rich Appelbaum1,2, Bruce Bimber,

W. Patrick McCray, Christopher Newfield

University of California, Santa Barbara

Researchers at UCSB’s Center for Nanotechnology in Society, Duke University’s Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness and SUNY’s Levin Institute have examined China’s efforts to become first movers in the projected $3 trillion global nanotechnology industry. Analysis of Chinese nanotechnology publication data, Chinese government documents, and over sixty interviews with Chinese Academicians, scientists, engineers, and policy-makers finds that while the combination of international collaboration and public funding of nanotechnology R&D and commercialization holds promise, China remains – in the words of the head of its National Center for Nano-Science and Technology – “in the rear of the first echelon or the front of the second echelon, ranking fifth or sixth in the world.”

Like many countries involved in catch-up development[1], China is convinced that manufacturing prowess alone is insufficient to becoming a leading economic power in the 21st century. National Long and Medium Term Scientific and Technological Development Plan (2006-2020): nanotechnology is one of 4 “science Megaprojects.” One area where this effort has clearly manifested itself is in nanotechnology publication output[2]. Based on a linear projection of the current publication data, Chinese nanotechnology publications are predicted to surpass the US in number by 2012.

China and US Nanoscience and Nanotech Publication Output

[1]

References

[] Richard P. Appelbaum, Rachel A. Parker, Cong Cao, and Gary Gereffi “China’s (Not So Hidden) Developmental State: Becoming a Leading Nanotechnology Innovator in the 21st Century” Half Empty and Half Full: Perspectives on U.S. Innovation Policy 1969-2009 Fred Block and Matthew R. Keller, eds. Forthcoming, 2009

[2][ ]Richard P. Appelbaum and Rachel A. Parker, “China’s Bid To Become a Global Nanotech Leader: Advancing Technology Through State-Led Programs and International Collaborations," Science and Public Policy June 08