ABSTRACT

One way to gain perspective on U.S. government innovation policy is through comparing it with the efforts of other nations. While some nations were strongly influenced by Washington's antigovernment ideology and abandoned any active pursuit of industrial policy, China has done the opposite. Its theoreticians studied U.S. innovation policies carefully and have sought to imitate them. One of the clearest instances of this occurs in the field of nanotechnology. The U.S. government launched a major research and development (R&D) initiative in this area in 1999. China created its own national steering committee on nanotechnology in 2001, and by 2006 nanotechnology was one of the major priorities in basic science in the Medium- to Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology (MLP)—the guiding document for China's strategy of leapfrog development.