Trends

During China’s economic boom of the 1990s, although the field of nanotechnology was enjoying a lot of attention and growth in the United States and Western Europe, China had little to no interest in it. The situation changed in early 2000 when the central Beijing government added nanotechnology (or “nami jihsu” as the Chinese call it) at the top of priority list of desirable technological advances. The National 863 High Tech Research and Development Plan allocated a significant amount of state and regional funding to the development and growth of nanotechnology in China.

Comparative advantage

In China, the field of technology has been growing under a low-cost manufacturing platform. Businesses who produce computer parts, chips, electronics and so on have all been expanding in China because of the cheap manufacturing costs.

In terms of basic nanotechnology investments, China has managed to come in second after the US in terms of R&D budgets dedicated to nanotechnology. One of the various comparative advantages China has in terms of nanotechnology is the major governmental push and financial incentive for the sector to grow, coupled with an existing variety of technical universities that have the necessary research ability to compete with top US scientists.

Analysts studying how the nanotechnology market is evolving in China (especially Chinese biotechnology at a nano level) claim that China’s number one comparative advantage in terms if nanotechnology research is its ability to focus on low-cost techniques for manufacturing nano-particles and nanomaterials.

Future potential

Major projects have been developed in regions like Beijing, Shanghai and other major economic centers that have joined vast resources from the academic world with various industry investors. Experts say that for China, technology investments can be the next big phase in its attempt to sustain its current growth rate, while also becoming more competitive in relation to Western European powers and the US.