The driving force behind these still-modest efforts is the increasing competition facing Chinese companies. Some, like Wuxi Little Swan, are already devising new products or better ways of making things. I'm seeing more and more of these opportunities. China will certainly need more such companies in the future. Instead, it is technology and talent.
Some people think it's time to start innovating.
Nonetheless, barriers to innovation still abound. Research has long been the purview of the country's many state institutes and university labs, with the government channeling findings to state companies. These institutes often don't know what the enterprises they serve are doing and lack incentives to do government-funded jobs well. The question on his mind is how to find them. Another potential source of know-how comes from the thousands of Chinese students who have gone overseas to study.