China leading US in technology: Think tank

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Beijing is establishing a monopoly in some areas, pushing the United States and other western countries further down the race with China to develop advanced technologies, according to a recent report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 

In a year-long period project by the Institute, it found that China is leading in 37 of 44 technology fields that include electric batteries, hypersonics and advanced radio-frequency communications such as 5G and 6G.

The report suggested that the US was leading in only seven technologies, such as vaccines, quantum computing and space launch systems. 

The findings were influenced by a "high impact" research in critical and emerging technology fields, which focus on papers published in top-tier journals and highly cited by subsequent research. 

“Our research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains,” the report said.

The #Chinese-#US war extends to more than politics, as the #West collectively tries to catch up with #China's overwhelming dominance over the battery manufacturing industry. pic.twitter.com/Dxa0S5Cynv

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) February 1, 2023

The report further adds that the critical technology tracker shows that all the top 10 leading research institutions are based in China and are collectively generating nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked, the United States. 

The Chinese Academy of Sciences ranked first or second in most of the 44 technologies included in the tracker, the report added.

“We also see China’s efforts being bolstered through talent and knowledge import: one-fifth of its high-impact papers are being authored by researchers with postgraduate training in a Five-Eyes country,” it said in reference to the intelligence-sharing grouping of the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

“China’s lead is the product of deliberate design and long-term policy planning, as repeatedly outlined by Xi Jinping and his predecessors.”

During the State of the Union address last month, Biden said that the US was "investing in US innovation, in industries that will define the future and that China's government is intent on dominating." However, the institute said that China was highly prone to establishing a monopoly in eight technologies, including nonscale materials and manufacturing, hydrogen and ammonia for power and synthetic biology. 

Despite the #West's desperate attempts to increase their battery production, #Asia still dominates the industry with 6 out of the top 10 companies being #Chinese. pic.twitter.com/U8uRYla9ww

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 9, 2022

The report adds that China generated 48.9% of the world's high-impact research papers into advanced aircraft engines, including hypersonics and it hosts seven of the world's top 10 research institutions in this topic area. That said, the institute found that there was a huge gap between China and the US, as the two leading countries. 

“The data then indicates a small, second-tier group of countries led by India and the UK: other countries that regularly appear in this group-in many technological fields— include South Korea, Germany, Australia, Italy, and less often, Japan,” it said.

On the other hand, the institute called for Western states to establish large sovereign wealth funds for research, development and innovation in critical technology. It suggests allocating 0.5% to 0.7% of gross national income, with co-investment from industry.

In addition, it suggests that while sovereign wealth funds should support the most promising programs, governments should also allocate some funds to high-risk, high-reward “moonshot” initiatives.

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