Innovation relations between EU member states and China
More generally, innovation has become an important component of bilateral relations with China for several EU member states, which is reflected in the organic growth of innovation networks between universities and other research bodies. For example, innovation was a feature of President Xi Jinping’s 2015 state visit to the UK: Xi visited the national graphene institute in Manchester, as well as Huawei; and an agreement between Oxford University and China Construction Bank International on regenerative medicine and tissue engineering research, a memorandum of understanding on a ‘garden of ideas’, an agreement between the UK’s then Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission to cooperate in strategic emerging industries, as well as a range of technology-linked investment projects – such as the investment in Hinkley Point C nuclear facility by China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) – were all signed during the visit.30 Behind these initiatives lies a growing non-official science and innovation relationship: the UK is China’s second-largest science partner by co-publications, over £200 million of joint funding has been committed since 2014 under the UK–China Research and Innovation Partnership Fund (part of the Newton Fund), and outside the Newton Fund there have been £146 million of co-funded programmes since 2007. These are underpinned by a government-to-government Joint Commission for Science and Technology, and effective liaison work in China by the Research Council’s UK office in Beijing, and the embassy and consulates.31
Collaboration in science, technology and innovation has also been a long-standing part of Sino–German relations, involving public research bodies, industry and support from both governments. Bilateral agreements and a joint committee for science and technology demonstrate this government support and institutionalize the relationships. Collaboration is indicated by a growth in the number of co-publications (rising from 700 in 2000 to over 3,500 in 2012), mainly in areas of ‘relative strength of intensive research activity in China’. However, in relative terms, Germany has declined in China’s portfolio of international collaborations, while China has grown in relative importance from a German perspective. Throughout most of this collaboration to date there has been a strong degree of complementarity between German and Chinese strengths, reflected in patent filings and high-tech exports.32
It is worth noting that Germany’s expenditure on R&D is among the highest in the EU, at close to 3 per cent of GDP. However, this figure is exceeded in north Europe, with Denmark, Finland and Sweden all spending over 3 per cent of GDP, which has made them attractive research partners for China, particularly in areas relating to sustainable development. For example, energy-saving technologies and ideas from many north European countries will find a big market in China, where energy efficiency in building designs or electrical equipment is generally low. In terms of co-publications, Sweden ranked fourth among European countries between 2005 and 2010, and the Swedish government has been active in strengthening research and innovation cooperation with China. Swedish firms have a relatively strong presence in R&D activities in China.33
The complexity of these competing dynamics and debates in innovation relations is reflected in the European Commission’s Elements for a New EU Strategy on China. This asserts that a ‘top EU priority is to promote reform and innovation in support of transforming China’s growth model into a more sustainable one, based on greater domestic consumption, an expanded service sector, and openness to foreign investment, products and services’.34 The document identifies particular opportunities for cooperation on the digital economy (reflected in the Made in China 2025 and Internet Plus initiatives), while noting – in line with business concerns – that ‘Chinese policy and regulation have increasingly been marked by protectionism’. It calls for further protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), and a ‘political agreement … on combatting cyber-enabled theft of IPR and trade secrets’.35 In addition it calls for enhanced cooperation in research and innovation through ‘tapping into China’s talent pool, promoting the EU as an attractive location for research and innovation, and finding solutions to shared social and environmental challenges’. Key to all this is a ‘level playing field for research and innovation’, and reciprocal access to programmes and resources.
30 UK Trade and Investment (2016), ‘Chinese state visit: up to £40 billion deals agreed’, 23 October 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chinese-state-visit-up-to-40-billion-deals-agreed (accessed 23 Apr. 2018).
31 Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2016), ‘UK Science and Innovation Network country snapshot: China’, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/550314/China_Snapshot_2016.pdf (accessed 23 Apr. 2018).
32 See Frietsch and Tagscherer (2014), ‘German-Sino collaboration’, p. 13.
33 Serger (2014), ‘Sino-Swedish Science and Technology Relations’.
34 European Commission, ‘Elements for a new EU strategy on China’, p. 6.
35 Ibid., p. 9.