Increasing Science and Technology Expertise in China

For thousands of years, the systematic study of nature has helped to improve agriculture and health. Science is a search for knowledge and basic science is needed to understand and improve modern technology. Technology is the basis for improving living conditions with new products, improved production, more efficient forms of production, better quality, lower costs and better services. Technology can help reduce poverty by providing more food. However, technology can also be created for destructive purposes, for example, the atom bomb. Countries need food, housing, clothing for the population. They need science and technology (S&T) to improve production for exports, for high-tech products and for defense purposes.

In 1991, there was a war between Iraq and the UN-backed international forces. The Iraqi forces had little chance against the “electronic warfare” of the UN forces that jammed Iraq's air defense systems and used remote control bombs. They could fly and strike anywhere with minimal human involvement. Witnessing this, China’s leaders realized that they had to develop advanced civilian electronics and software to improve its military forces.

Much of a country’s economic growth is derived from technical progress. Rapid economic growth based on imports of advanced technology has proven to be a model for success in Japan in the 20th century and also in the industrialized economies of Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore starting in 1960's. China's recent economic growth, based on technology imports, has also had much success.

Importing technology is one of the ways for achieving economic growth and promoting S&T but creating your own indigenous technologies is a better way. How should scientists and engineers be trained to use technology, maintain it, and to be able to create it in the future? Is it possible to keep up with the rapid technological development abroad?

How did modern S&T develop in Europe, and why did it develop in there?

 It's a complicated question, involving not only economic, scientific and technological change but also social change with the rise of competing city states. The roots of modern science can be traced back to Greece where there was an environment for logical debate and for the promotion of mathematics. It can also be traced back to the Muslim countries where algebra and chemistry was developed. There was intellectual change in terms of a search for the laws of nature created by God. This is one of the reasons why modern science emerged in Europe, because of the search for the laws of nature created by God, fueled by religion. Quantification, experimentation, and control have all been very important in the rise of modern S&T right back from the time of Galileo. Galileo said is “Nature is expressed in mathematics”. Bacon coined the idea that knowledge is power. All of these ideas culminated or influenced the development of S&T in Europe.

We can differentiate 3 periods of modern science and scientific development in Europe. The 1^st is the 17th century, with institutionalization. Science became much more recognized in everyday society. The 2^nd period is professionalization where scientists became specialists. The 3^rd period is industrialization where scientists became knowledge workers.

In the 17th century, we saw the rise of academies, such as the Royal Society, created to perfect knowledge of natural things and of all useful arts. Universities started to emphasize this teaching of science academically, institutionally. There was an official recognition and higher status given to S&T expertise at this time. Scientists tried to resist political interference at this time but they were still servants of the state.

In the 19th century, being a scientist became an occupation. Teaching and creating new knowledge was integrated into universities, the academies and into research institutions. There was also an internal system of recognition, the peer review system. Furthermore, S&T expertise was communicated in scholarly journals and books.

In mid 20th century, there were big science programs, highly dependent on sophisticated technological equipment and capital intensive research. There were large research teams with scientific management techniques. Science wasn’t done by the tinkerer, by the individual in isolation. It was an activity that was done as a collective activity, in a group in research labs and in R&D branches of large corporations. Some private firms financed research, not just the government. Entrepreneurs emerged from universities in spinoff pursuits.

Growth in China has depended mainly on structural changes, particularly the movement of the rural population to urban areas, from agriculture to manufacturing. Manufacturing industrialization is an important part of China's economic growth. 

Until 2005, China has relied predominately on technology imported from abroad. There was very little indigenous development. There was heavy reliance on the Soviet Union at first and from other countries from 1979 onwards. China has been one of the largest recipients of foreign direct investment. From 1970's to 2000, China's development of S&T capability lagged behind its economic growth. From 2000 onwards, there has been significant progress. During this time, fortunately, China's leaders had the foresight to acknowledge and appreciate and then put in to place policies which try to raise the level of S&T expertise within China.
from Coursera course, Science and Technology and Society in China. Week 2. by Naubahar Sharif, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology