Research and development in China

In recent years, the People's Republic of China has increased its expenditure on research and development from 0.90% (2000) to 1.54% (2008) and its Gross Domestic Product by approximately 1.75% (2010). Public sector R&D funding accounts for approximately one third of this expenditure; two thirds are provided by industry. China's Strategy for Innovation (2006 to 2020), its eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006 to 2010) as well as its twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) clearly show that China's political leadership regards research and development as a basis for the growth of the country's economy as well as for the development of the Chinese society and intends to make use of science and technology as resources for industry and services. Numerous reforms in science and technology funding indicate the seriousness of China’s intention to modernize.

Research and development in China are being increasingly reformed on the basis of economic criteria. However, institutions which conduct basic research are largely exempted from these types of reforms. The focus is thereby on the industrialization and commercialization of technologies. This is indicated, inter alia, by the fact that 83% of R&D funding in China are spent on experimental development, whereas only 5% are spent on basic research and 12% on applied research (2008). Whereas the first reforms (from 1978 onwards) concentrated on rebuilding the research landscape following the Cultural Revolution, the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) marked the introduction of the networking of R&D institutions with commercial companies. The aim is to integrate research institutions in the "socialist market economy" and to make them competitive so that they can meet the challenges of the market.

China's Innovation Strategy, which was announced in February 2006 [Outline of the Medium- and Long-Term Plan for National Science and Technology Development (2006-2020)] aims to promote the development of science and technology, primarily by increasing China's innovativeness, and to make China a country strong in innovation. At the same time, it also targets at a significant reduction of China's dependence on foreign technology. These objectives are to be achieved inter alia through the "use of foreign technology". Particular emphasis is now being placed on sustainability and the significance of basic research. China is steadily furthering the expansion of its research potential (especially in the public sector), particularly through substantial increases in R&D expenditure coupled with the training of R&D personnel. R&D expenditure of the Gross Domestic Product is to rise to 2.2% by 2015 and to 2.5% by 2020. China's economic success and the resulting improvements in its financial opportunities will help it to achieve these goals. Chinese scientists and research institutions have already achieved the standards of western industrial countries in many fields, or will do so in the near future. Chinese researchers are among the world's best in some areas. R&D capacities are increasingly being transferred to China (China already holds third place in the league for foreign R&D investments). The capacities of the Chinese higher education system are also being expanded significantly. This development is coupled with a distinct hierarchization of the universities (development of elite universities). Improving the training’s quality is intended to be a priority, in the future. In China, public expenditure on education reached 3.1% of the GDP in 2010 and is expected to rise to 4% by 2012. China's increasing integration in the international community is also reflected in greater international cooperation and involvement of Chinese scientists, the rising acceptance of western quality criteria in research and teaching, and increasing awareness on the Chinese side of the importance of protecting intellectual property. The autonomy of Chinese stakeholders is increasing rapidly. Institutions of higher education and research institutions as well as commercial companies have gained considerable freedoms in recent years, connected with direct responsibility, with regard to management, administration and project implementation. Chinese researchers are being called upon to make an effort to translate their results into practical applications and thus to make a contribution to the solution of economic, societal and ecological problems. Various incentives for institutions and scientists, particularly economic ones, have been introduced in support of this policy.

Cooperation in education and research

German-Chinese cooperation in education and research has become considerably more intensive over recent years. China has become Germany's most important partner in Asia, both with regard to the number of projects and the volume of funding.

Scientific and technological cooperation (STC) between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People's Republic of China is based on the Inter-governmental Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of 9 October 1978. Initial cooperation at the end of the nineteen-seventies and the beginning of the nineteen-eighties concentrated on contacts between and visits by individual scientists. This was followed by a second phase of project-based cooperation. Project cooperation still represents an important part of STC with China, but a new trend towards institutional cooperation, including the founding of joint institutes, has been emerging since the turn of the millennium. For example, joint German-Chinese research institutes have been established in the field of information and communication technology in Beijing and Berlin with the support of the BMBF and under the umbrella of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Another important example is the CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai, being established with the help of BMBF funding, as well. Increasing importance has been attached to involving industrial partners in cooperation projects in recent years.

German-Chinese cooperation in education and research is being coordinated by joint government commissions meeting at intervals of one to two years. The Joint STC Commission and the Joint Steering Committees are active in the following fields of scientific and technological cooperation:

• Biotechnology
• Geosciences
• Information Technology, Microsystems
• Protection of Cultural Heritage
• Laser and Optical Technologies
• Materials Science, Nanotechnology
• Marine Sciences and Technology
• Environmental Technology and Ecology
• Production Research

In addition, funding is also being provided to measures in other fields of the natural sciences (e.g. Health Research, Biodiversity Research, Engineering Sciences, as well as Physical and Chemical Technologies) and in the humanities, cultural studies, law, economics and social sciences.

The structure of German-Chinese cooperation on educational policy differs from that of research policy cooperation in many areas. For example, cooperation is not based on an agreement similar to the STC agreement. In addition, the large number of stakeholders in the field of education and the distribution of competences only allow the BMBF comparatively limited scope for involvement. In the 1980s and 1990s, educational cooperation was mainly the task of subordinate organizations (particularly DAAD) and other scientific and research organizations (particularly AvH, DFG, MPG etc.). In addition, a large number of German universities have been conducting exchanges with Chinese partner universities since the 1970s without receiving any financial or organizational support from the BMBF. In the meantime, there are more than 750 German-Chinese university partnerships (2011).

Beginning in 2004, cooperation in the fields of vocational training and universities between the BMBF and the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) is now defined in annual Higher Education Policy Strategy Talks. Apart from discussions on current projects and proposals for projects, these talks also offer an opportunity for more intensive specialist discussions which play a decisive role in cooperation planning. The strategic goal of cooperation between the BMBF and the MoE is the development of joint study courses right up to the development of joint educational standards. The projects which are agreed between the BMBF and the MoE and provided with start-up funding are pilot projects. Their findings are intended to serve the further development of cooperation between institutions of higher education and vocational training cooperations.

Cooperation with China is supported in China itself by the Science Counsellor at the German Embassy in Beijing as well as the Scientific Coordination Department in the Consulate General in Shanghai. The DFG and its partner, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), opened a Chinese-German Centre for Science Promotion in Beijing in October 2000. The FhG has a representative and the HGF a liaison office in Beijing; the DAAD has been running a Beijing branch since 1994 and has information centres in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The main aims of the IB’s funding activities are initiating R&D projects and education collaborations and financing the mobility of scientists. Funding is provided for the exchange of experts and highly qualified young scientists, workshops and smaller projects. With the help of mobility support, existing collaborations are to be extended, new contacts established, and new collaborations initiated. The aim is to start intensive and long-term partnerships.  Funded activities are to serve the arrangement of larger projects, particularly the establishment and expansion of institutionalised forms of long-term cooperation. Moreover, they are to serve the preparation of extensive proposals within the scope of German and Chinese funding programmes or those of the EU. Sometimes, the IB’s start-up funding leads to projects that are exclusively financed by the private sector.

The development of a German-Chinese Master’s degree programme in the field of marine science is being funded as a special project. The partners on the German side are the Universities of Bremen and Kiel, the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) in Bremen and the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) in Kiel; the Chinese partner is the Ocean University of China (OUC) in Qingdao. The programme coordinators are ZMT in Bremen, IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel and the International Office of the OUC in Qingdao. Since 2004, this project has been funded by the BMBF on the German side and the Ministry of Education (MoE) on the Chinese side. Activities to date have included a bilateral, English-language Master’s degree programme leading to a double degree, annual summer schools for graduates from both countries, joint PhD programmes and visiting researcher exchanges. The ‘Center for Sino-German Cooperation in Marine Sciences’ was officially established in February 2011 at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao. In future, the activities mentioned above are to be carried out under the umbrella of this institution and are to be supplemented by a closer cooperation between researchers.

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First German-Chinese intergovernmental consultations

With the first intergovernmental consultations between China and Germany taking place on 27 and 28 June 2011, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao open a new chapter in their relations.
The BMBF has signed with the Chinese Ministry of Education (MoE) as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) a total of five Joint Declarations on Education and Research.

Joint Statement on the funding of extensive co-operations and the establishment of a strategic partnership in higher education

• Expanding student and scientist exchange programmes: both sides aim to increase the number of students and scientists taking part in the exchange programmes by a total of 20 000 each, over the next four years.
• Promoting German-Chinese model partnerships between universities.
• Establishing a German-Chinese science college.
• Promoting the training of German and Chinese young scientists.

 

 

 

Joint Statement on the establishment of a German-Chinese alliance for vocational education and training (VET)

• The German-Chinese Alliance is supposed to take over the task of coordination making an efficient use of existing resources in the VET cooperation possible, and to motivate potential stakeholders to participate in order to further increase the level and performance of cooperation.
• It is meant to be a cross-sectoral and intersectoral, open platform for co-operations in VET.
• The Alliance was established on the joint initiative of both sides; it may include other governmental institutions, Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Chambers of Foreign Trade, other education providers, research institutions, economic organisations as well as representatives of civil society.

 

 

 

Joint Statement on the German-Chinese Life Sciences Innovation Platform

• With the platform “Life Sciences“ it is intended to establish an all-embracing, stable and sustainable coordination tool for promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of Life Sciences.
• The platform comprehends important German and Chinese stakeholders working in the field of life sciences.
• The platform is supposed to create a basis for Life Science Stakeholders in Germany and China making a unified and concerted action possible.
• The platform is supposed to take up and further develop new, innovative topics in Life Sciences in respect of theoretical and scientific-technological innovations as well as in view of product innovations.

 

 

 

Joint Statement on the Establishment of a German-Chinese Innovation Platform

• Leading scientists, institutions and companies of both countries dealing with the respective innovation systems will participate in the innovation platform.
• Central topics of this innovation cooperation will be:
  • Innovation research, including innovation indicator, innovation consulting, foresight.
  • Innovation policy, including successful measures taken by the state to promote innovation.
  • Framework conditions for industrial research and for the general strengthening of innovation capacity.
• An annual German-Chinese innovation conference, which is supposed to take place alternately in China and Germany, serves as a central location for exchange.

Joint Statement on the German-Chinese Research and Innovation Programme “Clean Water“

• The BMBF and the Ministry for Science and Technology (MoST) intend to develop scientific-technological innovations for a sustainable water management in China, together with other partners.
• Definition of innovative projects taking into account common research activities on an integrated approach in the water management including the key components water supply, waste water treatment and management.
• Enabling scientific excellence and promoting necessary educational and training offerings in scientific innovation projects by establishing long-term partnerships.
• Designing and building joint networks for future cooperation in science and research.

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"German-Chinese Year of Science and Education 2009 / 2010"

China and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) organised together the most successful Year of Science held to date, the ‘German-Chinese Year of Science and Education 2009/2010’.

The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China had equal rights and were equally important partners in the project. The slogan selected for the year was: ‘Together on the Path of Knowledge’.

 Between March 2009 and June 2010, representatives from research and education, politics and the wider society in Germany and China conducted over 150 meetings, workshops and delegation visits. Examples include the attendance of young Chinese researchers at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting and the participation of the BMBF in the Sino-German Promenades in Shenyang and Wuhan, which each attracted more than 300,000 visitors.

During the 2010 summer semester, over 45 institutions of higher education in Germany held ‘China weeks’. In total, the BMBF provided almost two million euros in funding during the year for projects relating to China conducted by German researchers. The Sino-German cooperation in science and education also attracted great interest from a much wider public, with the Internet portal counting over 2.3 million visits during the course of the year.