SYDNEY (Reuters) - China has a "stunning lead" in 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies as Western democracies lose a global competition for research output, a security think tank said on Thursday after tracking defence, space, energy and biotechnology.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said its study showed that, in some fields, all of the world's top 10 research institutions are based in China.

The study, funded by the United States State Department, found the United States was often second-ranked, although it led global research in high-performance computing, quantum computing, small satellites and vaccines. [1]

Figure 1. China leads US in global competition for key emerging technology

China leads US in global competition for key emerging technology is shown in figure 1. The study, funded by the United States State Department, found the US was often second-ranked, although it led global research in high-performance computing, quantum computing, small satellites and vaccines.

"Western nations are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs," the report said, urging greater research investment by governments.[2]

The study has urged the democratic nations to collaborate more often to create secure supply chains and "rapidly pursue a strategic critical technology step-up" as it highlighted that China had established a "stunning lead in high-impact research" under government programmes.

The report mentioned that over the past five years, "China generated 48.49% of the world's high-impact research papers into advanced aircraft engines, including hypersonics, and it hosts seven of the world's top 10 research institutions". [3]

hina was likely to emerge with a monopoly in 10 fields including synthetic biology, where it produces one-third of all research, as well as electric batteries, 5G, and nano manufacturing.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences, a government research body, ranked first or second in most of the 44 technologies tracked, which spanned defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and quantum technology.

China was bolstering its research with knowledge gained overseas, and the data showed one-fifth of the top Chinese researchers were trained in a Five Eyes country, it said. [4]

References:

1. https://www.investing.com/news/economy/china-leads-us-in-global-competition-for-key-emerging-technology-study-says
2. https://www.chinadailyhk.com/article/318455
3. https://www.wionews.com/world/china-leads-us-in-global-competition-for-key-emerging-technology-567862
4. https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-03-02/china-leads-us-in-global-competition-for-key-emerging-technology-study-says

Cite this article:

Gokula Nandhini K (2023), China leads US in global competition for key emerging technology, study says, Anatechmaz, pp.164