The innovation systems of Taiwan and China: a comparative analysis

This paper presents an analytical framework to compare two distinguishing innovation systems. For recognizing the structural characteristics of innovation systems, six major functions of generic types of institutions involved in the systems are examined: policy formulation, performing R&D, financing R&D, promotion of human resource development, technology bridging, and promotion of technological entrepreneurship. Not only does it describe the role and performance of particular institutions, but this framework also explores four major interactions among these institutions for illustrating the dynamics and efficiency of innovation systems, that is, R&D collaboration, informal interaction, technology diffusion, and personnel mobility. The framework is applied to compare the innovation systems of Taiwan and China, revealing that they both have unique characteristics, while also sharing numerous complementary features. In addition, the two economies have the linguistic, cultural, racial and historical similarities, plus their geographical proximity. Consequently, these phenomena suggest the possibility of future cooperation between the two innovation systems, and then this paper proposes possible approaches to achieving cooperation for the two sides. (C) 2002 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.