China has been signalling very clearly over the last few years its plans to become an innovation-based economy. That’s not really a surprise – every economy that initially grows by acting as a cheap manufacturing base must make this transition. Hong Kong has lost most of its low-cost manufacture to mainland China. Mainland China is already seeing some of its manufacturing move to countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam. So far, so typical. What’s atypical is the systematic way that China is gearing up for its transition. The government recognises that innovation doesn’t just happen. It requires the right environment and the right people. This is one of the reasons why China is investing in training professionals who will specialise in knowledge exchange, commercialisation and all aspects of technology transfer. And it’s investing not just within China but also with its current and future training partners in the ASEAN region.
That’s where the two UK professionals came in. Nessa Carey (me) and Michael Murray (of Carey International Impact Trainingand Murray International Partners respectively) spent three days in the southern Chinese city of Nanning delivering a training course called Making Money From Intellectual Property. The training was delivered on behalf of PraxisUnicoAuril (UK) via its relationship with Jusirui (Beijing). PraxisUnicoAuril/Jusirui are scheduled to deliver a number of training courses in China over the next twelve months. Most of these are twelve day multi-block courses to Chinese professionals but the Nanning course was different. The delegates on this training were predominantly from ASEAN countries, and were in China as part of a study tour conducted under the auspices of the “One Belt, One Road” programme.
The delegates were from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Pakistan as well as a small number from China. The training was designed to be highly interactive and this enabled a great deal of experience sharing between the delegates. Legal systems for IP and business are at different stages of maturity in the various countries, which is not unusual at this stage in economic growth cycles. Perhaps the most striking contrast with the UK was in the degree to which national governments or their agencies try to control university-based innovation. The UK has reached a stage where most people in the public research sector recognise that creating an environment where innovation can flourish results in the greatest overall improvements to local, regional and national prosperity. Sometimes an opportunity gets away, and there’s a missed chance for direct financial benefit for an institution, but that’s a risk we are generally willing to accept. Most of the ASEAN delegates are working in environments where the emphasis is on controlling all outputs to ensure nothing “escapes”. This difference in approach prompted substantial discussion.
The training was very successful, and the main criticism was that it simply wasn’t long enough. The delegates really appreciated the whole environment approach to technology transfer with one commenting “I found the way in my job. Now I know I need more skills and more relationships to succeed in my job – I never heard that before in my country.”
It’s easy to be intimidated by the types of resources that China can devote to building international alliances but it’s also worth remembering that this creates opportunities too. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has supported training in technology transfer in China and the ASEAN countries, particularly through the Prosperity Fund. That investment is clearly paying dividends, when Chinese organisations hire UK organisations and professionals to deliver training, and to share the experiences gained by being one of the most successfully innovative nations in the world.One Belt, One Road, Two UK Professionals