China

In recent years, the People's Republic of China has increased its expenditure on research and development from 0.7% to 1.4% (2006) of its Gross Domestic Product. 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) and its Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006 to 2011) clearly show that China's political leadership regards research and development as a basis for the growth of the country's economy and intends to make use of science and technology as resources for industry and services. Numerous reforms in science and technology funding, for example the introduction of a system of tenders for state research programmes, indicate that China is serious about modernization.

Increasingly research and development in China are being reformed on the basis of economic criteria. However, institutions which conduct basic research are largely exempted from these type of reforms. The focus continues to be on the industrialization and commercialization of technologies. Whereas the first reforms (from 1978 onwards) concentrated on rebuilding the research landscape following the Cultural Revolution, the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1985-1991) 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 up to 2020, which was announced in 2006, 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 is to rise to 2.0% of Gross Domestic Product by 2010 and 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). 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 in recent years have gained considerable freedoms, 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 to thus contribute towards solving economic, societal and ecological problems. Various incentives for institutions and scientists, particularly economic ones, have been introduced in support of this policy.

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 seventies and the beginning of the 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 in recent years. 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. 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
• Environmental Technology and Ecology 
• Geosciences
• Information Technology, Microsystems
• Laser and Optical Technologies
• Marine Sciences 
• Materials Science, Nanotechnology
• Production Research
• Protection of Cultural Heritage

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 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 400 German-Chinese university partnerships.

Beginning in 2004, cooperation 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.

Cooperation with China is supported in China itself by the Science Counsellor at the German Embassy in Beijing. 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.