Science Research Management

Science Research Management ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 64-76.

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A tentative study on the objectivity of innovation system

Xiao Xinjun, Zhang Zhihe, Yi Lan   

  1. School of International Business, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi′an 710119, Shaanxi, China
  • Received:2020-11-12 Revised:2020-12-14 Online:2021-02-20 Published:2021-02-23

Abstract:

The theory of innovation system is put forward by western scholars aiming at the mature market economy system in developed countries. Did the innovation system also exist under the planned economy system?Although the systematic research of innovation system in China began in the middle and late 1990s, the practical exploration of China′s innovation system was initiated as early as the early 1950s. Under the planned economy system, China marshalled the full resources of the country to tackle the key problems in science and technology after the completion of the three major transformations, taking the opportunity of the implementation of the medium and long-term science and technology development plan as well as the five-year plan. As a result, the "two bombs and one satellite" project was successfully developed which brought a hard-earned peaceful environment for China′s economic growth. In 1971, China′s GDP ranked among the top 16 in the world. Before the reform and opening up, China basically achieved the goal of "establishing an independent and relatively sound industrial system and national economic system". Historical facts have proved that innovation system did exist in China under the traditional planned economy system.
   After China′s reform and opening up in 1978, the Chinese economy started to compete and cooperate with the world economy in an all-round and multi-level way. In 1995, China explicitly proposed “two transformations”: First, the transformation of its economic system from a traditional planned economy to a socialist market economy; Second, the transformation of the mode of economic growth from extensive to intensive. Since then, China′s economic development has entered the fast lane of rapid growth. China′s GDP surpassed Japan′s in 2010 to become the world′s second largest, and reached US $90 trillion in 2018. The ranking of China′s international competitiveness rose from 44th in 2000 to 28th in 2019, and its global innovation index jumped from 29th in 2011 to 14th in 2019. Furthermore, in 2019, the total number of "World Top 500" enterprises in China reached 129, surpassing the United States for the first time and becoming the country with the largest number of large enterprises in the world. All these facts fully prove that under the socialist market system, the innovation system in this period greatly boosted the rapid growth of China′s economy. All in all, the existence of China′s innovation system in different periods and the innovation and development of China under the corresponding innovation system have made great achievements.In this paper, the theory and practice of innovation system under the planned economy system and the market economy system in China since 1949 has been systematically sorted out and studied.
    Based on an in-depth understanding of the core of innovation system theory. The main results show that the innovation system exists objectively and does not depend on the will of the innovation entity in either the planned economy system or the market economy system. The key reason leading a country to achieve extraordinary economic development is not decided by the type of innovation entity dominating the innovation system, but that no matter what kind of economic system, the country should establish an innovation system that matches, adapts to and coordinates with its own development stage, innovation elements and institutional environment. No matter how the innovation system evolves，the country plays an irreplaceable role in it.

Key words: innovation, innovation system, objectivity