China Tops Europe In R&D Intensity 134
ananyo writes "By pouring cash into science and technology faster than its economy has expanded, China has for the first time overtaken Europe on a key measure of innovation: the share of its economy devoted to research and development. In 2012, China invested 1.98% of its gross domestic product (GDP) into R&D — just edging out the 28 member states of the European Union, which together managed 1.96%, according to the latest estimates of research intensity, to be released this month by the OECD. The figures show that China's research intensity has tripled since 1998, whereas Europe's has barely increased (see graph). The numbers are dominated by business spending, reflecting China's push in the manufacturing and information- and communication-technology industries."
Re:Meaningless values are meaningless. (Score:5, Interesting)
agreed. The method in which this is calculated really isn't described either. Even though I'm in a development role, we're pressured to demonstrate "research" when we're really just assembling code.
US/Europe need to actually produce real stuff. Anything else is just proprietary fodder for others to take.
Re:Its worse than that (Score:5, Interesting)
Really? Why?
Because Japan's economic growth after WWII did depend heavily on inexpensive knock-off copies. That only changed several decades after WWII, when their economy had reached a higher level.
There are also important difference between Japan and China though. Japan heavily emphasized quality. The Deming prize for improved quality is awarded in Japan, and it's quite prestigious. Ironically it's named for W. Edwards Deming - an American. He had some excellent ideas for quality improvement that the Japanese took very seriously. Unfortunately many American manufacturers didn't (especially car companies).
Another difference is that Japan always discouraged foreign direct investment.
Re:Its worse than that (Score:2, Interesting)
The ironic thing is that a lot of "cheap Chinese" goods is specced like that from the company importing things.
If I wanted something done right, with proper tolerances, materials, and labor, a Chinese factory can do the job. It will cost more than just doing the absolute cheapest possible work, but the end product will be better.
However, that is where China loses its edge. If I want a good product, I can have it made in the US, Germany, UK, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, Israel, Russia, Japan, or almost anywhere. If I wanted to make it dirt cheap and cut every corner imaginable, then China is good at this.
So, when people blame China for shoddy items, in reality, the blame is usually on the importer who specced the crap to be made in the first place.
This is something I learned the hard way. I am working on some manufacturing, and if I want to have it done in China, I either hand over everything to a company there, or partner there with the Chinese firm having 51% ownership of the endeavor.
Instead, I'm probably going to bite the bullet and get what I needed produced domestically, or buy the plastic injection machinery and do it in-house. An added benefit for that is that I don't have to care about my stuff being stacked up on a highly polluting ship (the tar used in those big cargo ship engines is extremely toxic stuff), so I can state better environmental responsibility.