China surpasses US in research into future technology: report

China is leading research into future technology, laying the foundation to become the world’s scientific superpower ahead of the United States, according to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released Thursday.

In its study, the ASPI indicates that China surpasses the United States and the rest of the countries in 37 of 44 key technologies for innovation and growth in areas such as defense, space exploration, robotics, biotechnology, quantum technology and artificial intelligence.

“In the long term, China’s leading position in research means that it has positioned itself not only to excel in developing current technology in almost every industry, but also in future technologies that do not yet exist.”, indicates the report titled “ASPI Key Technology Tracker: The Global Race for the Power of the Future”.

The authors of the study advocate that the “democratic countries” strengthen collaboration and increase incentives for research to prevent Beijing from having the hegemony in the supply networks of key technologies.

In this sense, they state that “the Chinese Communist Party uses coercive techniques outside the global normative order to punish governments and companies, including blocking the supply of key technology”.

For the report, ASPI has analyzed 2.2 million academic articles, ranked among the 10% of the most cited research papers in 44 types of technologies.

The United States leads research in 7 of the 44 technologies that China does not lead in fields such as the design and development of semiconductors, quantum computers and vaccines, while the rest of the countries are further behind in all areas.

The UK and India are the next research powerhouses, ranking in the top five countries in 29 of the 44 technologies studied, while South Korea and Germany rank in the top five in 20 and 17 areas, respectively.

Regarding the European Union (EU), the report highlights its competitive advantage due to the ease of movement of researchers in the Schengen area, the presence of leading institutions such as the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and its strength in quantum technology.

The ASPI indicates that countries like Spain and Turkey “often in the top 10 countries, but not in the top five”.

Spanish research appears in sub-areas such as integrated circuits, advanced radio frequency, biological manufacturing, photonic navigation sensors and biofuels.

While in Latin America, Brazil and Mexico appear mentioned in subfields such as biofuel, biological manufacturing, key minerals and advanced analytics, while Chile only in advanced explosives and energy materials.

China is also attracting more talent to its universities and has seven of the top 10 institutions for advanced aircraft engine research, including hypersonics.

However, the authors acknowledge that cutting-edge research does not always translate into development and manufacturing, as has been the case with problems experienced with some Beijing-made aero engines.

The United States also stands out in the development of technologies such as ChatGPT in artificial intelligence and its companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Hewlett Packard Entreprise stand out.

Source: EFE

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