Abstract:

Lack of core technologies has long been the weakness and bottleneck for China′s industrial innovation and international competition. Mainstream innovation and technology catch-up theory is very lacking in the literature dedicated to studying the evolution mechanism of industry core technology. Previous domestic studies of China′s industry core technology still lack systematic summary and high-quality research. China′s high-speed rail industry developed from nothing is what latter countries can learn to catch up with the developed countries. Unlike the big but not powerful automobile industry and other manufacturing industries, China′s high-speed rail industry has not only absolutely become ahead of the world in mileage, but also achieved breakthrough or catch-up in many core technology areas. So far, however, the evolution, breakthrough path and mechanism of China′s high-speed rail industry core technology have still not been systematically studied.
Based on the longitudinal multi-case empirical analysis of the three core technology breakthrough processes of three enterprises in China′s high-speed rail industry, this paper finds that China′s high-speed rail industry core technology has experienced the evolutionary path from functional core technology to performance core technology then to reliability core technology; in the process of core technology breakthrough, reverse learning and forward learning both play an important role, while different core technology breakthrough stages match different learning models. This study reveals the path and mechanism of China′s high-speed rail industry core technology evolution, enriches the research on the micro-mechanism of technology evolution, deepens the technology catch-up theory in the Chinese context, and enriches the theoretical research on technology innovation in the developing countries.
At the same time, this study is of great practical significance for Chinese enterprises and governments to understand the laws of industry core technology evolution, optimize core technology countermeasures and mechanisms, and break through the core technology blockade from the United States and other western countries.

Key words: China′s high-speed rail, core technology, breakthrough path, breakthrough mechanism, case study