Head in the clouds and feet on the ground: Research priority setting in China

Few countries have increased their expenditure on R&D as rapidly as has China in recent years. However, so far, little academic attention has been paid to how decisions are taken and priorities set in Chinese research policy. This paper analyzes priority-setting in China's recent research policy. We find that China's research policy is driven by a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, objectives, leading to a multitude of often overlapping initiatives. Secondly, mission- and excellence-driven research dominates over institution- and capacity-building and diffusion objectives. Thirdly, the process of setting research priorities is characterized by a combination of central goal articulation-top-down decision-making-and decentralization, deliberation and stakeholder consultation-bottom-up mechanisms. Aside from contributing to the understanding of China's research and innovation policy and system, this paper provides insights into policy change in China more generally and also into the processes which shape priority-setting in transition economies.