The leadership had become dissatisfied with technology that had helped China but did little to improve its ability to develop new technology within China itself. Now within view was the potential for China to become an engine of technology itself and gain technological self-sufficiency. As the start of a new millennium, China is poised to become a formidable producer of new technology. World Trade Organisation agreements eliminate China s ability to require foreign-invested projects to include technology transfers. This is summed up by some of the largest foreign investors in China, who say they have moved beyond the concept of technology transfer to technology exchange.
Some investors now have cooperative interests in over a dozen laboratories and research institutes.
Many of these are grafted on China s top universities and technology institutes, including places like Qinghua University in Beijing and Jiaotong University in Shanghai. It isn t just the economics of doing research and development in China that appeal to global companies. China is poised to make unique contributions in areas like material science, crystallography, genetics, energy sciences, and ceramics. Its human resource pool in IT-related programming and application design is gaining depth quickly. But problems remain, and some are related to stubborn organisational and institutional legacies.