ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the role of the state in the evolution of China’s national system of innovation (NSI), and considers the history that started with the 1978 reform and opening-up policy as the focus of this analysis. It describes the evolution of the current form of state. The chapter analyses the institutions and policies of the state concerned with innovation. It discusses the specificities of the system of innovation in the country and its relationship with the state. The chapter reviews China’s explicit and implicit state policy towards science, technology and innovation. It analyses the outcomes of state policy and state institutions on the NSI. China’s industrialisation path was basically traditional relying mainly on natural resource endowments, and was developed on the basis of long-term intensive exploration and exploitation of natural resources and ecological environment. The regional imbalance of innovation capability has experienced a historical evolution.
