Text/Wang Xiaohong, Deputy Director of Information Department of China International Economic Exchange Center; Xie Lanlan, Strategy Department of China International Economic Exchange Center; Guo Xia, postdoctoral fellow, Information Department, China International Economic Exchange Center.
Technology trade can effectively combine and utilize global advanced technologies to improve innovation efficiency and reduce the cost and risk of independent research and development. It is an important way for developing countries to realize technological innovation and industrial leapfrog development, and it also runs through the whole process of China’s opening up, independent innovation and industrial development. In the early days of the founding of New China, China established a complete industrialization system with the technology import strategy as the core. Since the reform and opening up, China has actively integrated into the global industrial chain, supply chain and innovation chain, especially through large-scale technology introduction, digestion and absorption, the innovation ability has greatly jumped, and key core technologies in some fields have been obtained, which has significantly improved the industrial competitiveness and trade competitiveness, and achieved a historic leap from a technologically backward country to a world innovation power. Technology trade has played an important role in promoting the upgrading of industrial structure, expanding enterprise technology accumulation, enhancing independent innovation ability and cultivating new economic kinetic energy, and has become a propeller and accelerator for building an innovative country. However, compared with developed countries, there is still a big gap in China’s technical level, especially in the core key technical fields, and the ability of independent innovation is relatively weak, so it is still very important to implement the technology trade strategy. At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial revolution are changing with each passing day, and open innovation cooperation has become an inevitable trend of global technological innovation and development. Therefore, it is of great significance to continue to play the role of technology trade in promoting independent innovation, continuously improve the quality of technology introduction and expand the scale of technology export, so as to enhance technological innovation capability, promote industrial upgrading and service trade development, and thus promote high-quality economic development.
I. Characteristics and Problems of China’s Technology Trade Development since the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan
Since the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan", China has deeply implemented the innovation-driven strategy, the technology trade has developed steadily, the structure has been continuously optimized, the scale of technology trade has continued to expand, trading partners have spread all over the world, the trade methods have become more diversified, and the market dominant position of private enterprises has been rising. However, China’s technology trade market, especially the import of core technologies, is highly dependent on developed countries, and the "shortcomings" such as small-scale export of intellectual property rights and unbalanced regional technology introduction are still outstanding.
(A) the main characteristics of China’s technology trade development since the 13th Five-Year Plan
1. Strong growth in technology exports and steady growth in imports. From 2016 to 2019, China’s technology trade volume increased from 54.228 billion US dollars to 67.338 billion US dollars, with an average annual growth rate of 7.48%, including export growth rate of 11% and import growth rate of 4.63%. In 2019, the scale of trade, export and import were 1.88 times, 12.58 times and 1.05 times that of 2011, respectively. Due to the rapid growth of export scale, the technology trade deficit decreased from $7.228 billion in 2016 to $3.064 billion.
2. Technology import is "softened", and intellectual property import becomes the main way. China’s technology import mode has changed from "hard" to "soft", which indicates that the "gold content" of technology import has been continuously improved. From 2017 to 2019, the proportion of China’s technology fees to technology imports was 97.44%, 97.23% and 89.30% respectively; Among them, the import of intellectual property rights (patented technology, proprietary technology and trademark license) dominated the technology import, accounting for 65.63%, 68.46% and 60.32% respectively; Followed by technical consultation and technical services, accounting for 21.05%, 16.19% and 29.07% respectively; The third is computer software, accounting for 7.24%, 10.98% and 2.27% respectively. From a practical point of view, M&A is an important route for Chinese enterprises to acquire key core technologies in recent years. In the case of long-term technology research and development, high risk, high investment and difficulties in introducing core technologies, overseas mergers and acquisitions can effectively avoid foreign technical barriers, enable enterprises to master core technologies in a short time, and form strong technical strength and innovation ability. According to the statistics of Morning Post M&A, in recent years, obtaining technical targets is the most important goal of overseas M&A of Chinese enterprises. In 2018, the overseas advanced technology mergers and acquisitions of Chinese enterprises in manufacturing, TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) and medical and health industries accounted for 15.85%, 15.65% and 10.98% respectively.
3. Technology export is mainly based on technical consultation and technical services, which is the main source of surplus in technology trade. From 2017 to 2019, the proportion of technical consulting and technical services in technology export was 68.20%, 62.85% and 69.33% respectively, followed by computer software export, accounting for 16.23%, 8.82% and 7.42% respectively. Technical consultation and technical services are the largest surplus items in technology trade, with the surplus of 8.251 billion US dollars, 12.428 billion US dollars and 12.047 billion US dollars in 2017-2019 respectively. Secondly, the export of computer software, with a surplus of $1.411 billion in 2019, shows that China’s export competitiveness is rising by undertaking international software and information technology outsourcing, especially the development of new generation information technology such as artificial intelligence, big data, mobile internet and cloud computing, which is promoting the transformation and upgrading of information technology service outsourcing enterprises, and its scale strength is constantly increasing.
4. The technology trade market is still dominated by foreign-funded enterprises, and domestic-funded enterprises are on the rise. Foreign-funded enterprises have always occupied an absolute dominant position in China’s technology trade. From 2017 to 2019, foreign-funded enterprises accounted for 69.10%, 72.02% and 53.10% of technology imports, and 70.29%, 60.53% and 58.75% of technology exports, respectively. It shows that foreign-funded enterprises are still the main support of China’s technology trade and the important driving force of technology innovation, and their technology spillover effect still has an important impact on China’s technology innovation ability. It also shows that China’s increasingly optimized business environment is attractive to foreign-funded high-tech enterprises. At the same time, the share of domestic-funded enterprises in technology trade has gradually increased, indicating that the endogenous power of China’s technology trade has been continuously enhanced. In 2019, the proportion of state-owned enterprises, collective enterprises and private enterprises in technology imports totaled 38.25%, an increase of 13.54 percentage points compared with 24.71% in 2017; The proportion in technology exports totaled 37.19%, up 12.38 percentage points from 24.81% in 2017. And in 2018, the R&D intensity of domestic-funded enterprises was 1.3%, which was 0.3 percentage points higher than that of foreign capital, indicating that the continuous improvement of innovation ability of domestic-funded enterprises led to the growth of technology exports.
It is noteworthy that private enterprises have become an important market subject of China’s technology trade after foreign-funded enterprises. From the perspective of technology import, in recent years, private enterprises have continuously increased their efforts in technology import through transnational mergers and acquisitions, purchasing patented technology, strengthening technical cooperation with foreign enterprises and institutions, etc. From 2017 to 2019, the proportion of technology import of private enterprises was 16.72%, 15.92% and 17.67% respectively, reflecting that private enterprises have achieved remarkable results in technology upgrading through technology introduction. From the perspective of technology export, private enterprises have surpassed state-owned enterprises. From 2017 to 2019, the proportion of private enterprises in technology export was 15.50%, 16.78% and 15.35% respectively. The introduction of technology has promoted private enterprises to increase R&D investment. In 2018, the full-time equivalent of R&D personnel and the internal expenditure of R&D funds in private enterprises accounted for one-third of all types of industrial enterprises in China, showing an increasingly strong ability to digest and absorb innovation and gradually narrowing the technological gap with multinational companies and state-owned enterprises.
The technology trade market is mainly concentrated in developed countries and regions, and the United States is still the largest trading partner. At present, China has established technical and trade ties with more than 130 countries around the world, but it is highly concentrated in the developed economies of the United States, Europe and Japan and remains basically stable. In 2019, the top ten sources of technology imports in China were the United States, Japan, Germany, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, Switzerland, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, China and Italy, accounting for 87.28% of China’s technology imports, accounting for 87.28% of China’s technology imports, of which the total technology imports from the United States, Japan and Germany accounted for 56.15%. In 2019, the top ten technology export destinations were the United States, Hong Kong, China, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Bangladesh, Singapore, South Korea and British Virgin Islands, which accounted for 71.30% of China’s technology export. The United States has always been China’s largest technology import country and export destination country. From 2017 to 2019, China’s technology imports to the United States accounted for 33.57%, 34.74% and 24.03% respectively, and its technology exports to the United States accounted for 22.22%, 30.83% and 17.62% respectively. In 2019, both bilateral technology imports and exports fell sharply due to trade friction. It is noteworthy that the "Belt and Road" has gradually become an important emerging market for China’s technology export. Among the top ten destinations of China’s technology export in 2019, the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and Singapore all belong to countries along the route.
It should be emphasized that the three major economies of the United States, Europe and Japan have a high degree of overlap in China’s technology import and export market. On the one hand, it shows that the technology gap between China and developed economies is narrowing, and the technology division of labor is gradually developing from vertical division of labor to horizontal division of labor. For example, the phenomenon of patent cross-licensing between China’s information technology enterprises and multinational companies in developed countries is more and more confirmed. At the same time, we should also see that the technology trade between China and developed countries is still based on comparative advantages. China mainly imports core technologies and intellectual property rights from developed countries, while exports mainly non-core technologies such as technical consulting and services, such as professional technology, software and computer services, etc., and there are obvious gaps in technological advancement and added value. For example, China is the fourth largest importer of intellectual property rights in the world. In 2018, China’s intellectual property royalties paid to the United States accounted for 1/4 of the foreign intellectual property royalties in that year, accounting for 1/6 of the US intellectual property royalties in that year. From 2011 to 2018, the royalties paid by China to the United States increased from $3.46 billion to $8.64 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 13.97%.
6. Technology import is mainly based on manufacturing industry, and technology export is mainly based on service industry. From the perspective of technology import, transportation equipment, communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment, chemical raw materials and products, general equipment, special equipment, electrical machinery and equipment, medicine and other manufacturing industries are the main industries of China’s technology import. From 2017 to 2019, the manufacturing industry accounted for 8 seats in the top ten technology import industries, and the total import value of manufacturing technology accounted for 78.28%, 76.97% and 63.85% respectively, indicating that foreign technology is still an important source for China’s manufacturing industry to acquire advanced technology and realize technology upgrading. From the perspective of technology export, the service industry is dominant. From 2017 to 2019, the top ten technology export industries include professional technology, software, research and development, computer services and other service fields, and the total proportion of technology exports in these four fields is 51.72%, 53.68% and 53.25% respectively, indicating that service exports mainly based on international service outsourcing are the main sources of technology exports. In addition, technology exports mainly involve manufacturing fields such as communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment, medicine, chemical raw materials and chemicals, special equipment and transportation equipment. From 2017 to 2019, the total proportion of manufacturing technology exports was 33.61%, 17.80% and 23.78%, respectively, indicating that these fields improved their innovation ability through technology import and promoted the development of technology exports.
7. Technology-based foreign investment and utilization of foreign capital develop in both directions, and the ability to comprehensively apply domestic and foreign technology markets and resources is enhanced. In terms of foreign investment, the establishment of overseas R&D institutions and science parks is an important channel for Chinese enterprises to integrate into the global innovation chain and combine global talents, technology and information through open innovation. More and more enterprises seek technical resources for transnational mergers and acquisitions or set up overseas R&D institutions to quickly master core key technologies. According to statistics, by 2017, only high-tech zone enterprises had set up 994 overseas R&D institutions. For example, setting up R&D centers and production R&D bases overseas has become an important part of the globalization strategy of Chinese automobile enterprises. In terms of utilizing foreign capital, the relaxation of China’s foreign capital market access policy and the continuous improvement of the domestic business environment have promoted the rapid growth of high-tech foreign capital. In 2019, the absorption of foreign capital in China’s high-tech service industry increased by 44.3%, of which the absorption of foreign capital in information transmission, software and information technology services, scientific research and technology services increased by 29.4% and 68.4% respectively. The R&D investment of multinational corporations in China is increasing. At present, there are more than 2,000 regional headquarters and R&D centers invested by multinational corporations in China, including more than 1,800 foreign R&D centers recognized by the state.
(B) the main problems in the development of China’s technology trade
1. The core technology is highly dependent on developed countries, which leads to frequent economic and trade frictions.
In the past two years, the United States and other developed countries have been blocking China’s technology on the grounds of intellectual property protection and safeguarding national security, and have been launching intellectual property trade frictions, especially increasing the difficulty and cost of introducing core key technologies and cutting-edge technologies into China. In the Sino-US economic and trade friction, the scope of China’s high-tech enterprises and institutions listed by the United States on the list of export control entities is constantly expanding, and at the same time, restrictive measures such as imposing tariffs on the import of high-tech products in China are strengthened. For example, a new generation of information technology, new energy vehicles, aviation products, high-speed rail equipment, high-performance medical equipment, biomedicine, new materials, agricultural machinery and equipment and industrial robots. In addition, there are more and more obstacles for Chinese enterprises to acquire high-tech enterprises in the United States. In February 2020, the United States officially came into effect two laws and regulations to reform the national security review system for foreign investment and strictly control the loss of intellectual property rights of key technologies. Japan is also considering the scope of high-tech export control, focusing on the next generation technology used in artificial intelligence and robots.
2. The export scale of intellectual property rights does not match China’s status as an innovative power.
China has become one of the largest intellectual property countries in the world. By 2019, the number of domestic invention patents was 1.862 million, and the number of invention patents per 10,000 population was 13.3. According to the statistics of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 2019, China has ranked first in the number of patent applications in the world for nine consecutive years, and the number of international patent applications has surpassed that of the United States for the first time, ranking first in the world. However, the situation of more peripheral patents and fewer core patents has led to the small-scale export of intellectual property rights in China, but it has to pay a high amount of intellectual property royalties. From 2017 to 2019, China’s intellectual property exports accounted for 11.56%, 15.60% and 11.35% of technology exports, while intellectual property imports accounted for 65.63%, 68.46% and 60.32% of technology imports in the same period, with trade deficits as high as $18.246 billion, $18.271 billion and $17.584 billion respectively. On the one hand, it shows that developed economies still occupy the dominant position in global technological innovation, on the other hand, it also reflects that China has not paid enough attention to the export strategy of intellectual property rights.
3. The regional distribution of technology introduction is seriously unbalanced.
There is a positive relationship between the difference of regional technology trade level and the level of economic development in China. Due to the high level of economic development in the eastern region, the advantages of high-tech industries are obvious, and technology trade also has an absolute advantage. In 2018, the proportion of technology imports in the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions was 64.53%, 8.79%, 19.40% and 7.28% respectively. The unbalanced spatial distribution of technology introduction means the gap between the eastern region and the central and western regions in terms of new technology acquisition, digestion, absorption and industrial application, which is bound to further widen the gap in technological innovation between regions, thus affecting the ability of central and western regions to undertake industrial transfer and independent innovation.
4. There is still much room for improvement in technology introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation of domestic enterprises.
The technology introduction of domestic enterprises has always been lower than that of foreign-funded enterprises. From 2017 to 2019, the proportion of domestic-funded enterprises ③ technology import was 30.9%, 27.98% and 46.9% respectively. This situation may bring some negative effects. For example, some foreign-funded enterprises control technology for the sake of maintaining and consolidating the competitive position in the market, and only transfer it within the company, thus reducing the technology spillover effect. At the same time, the digestion, absorption and re-innovation ability of domestic-funded enterprises is about 1 times lower than that of foreign-funded enterprises. In 2018, the average R&D investment expenditure of industrial enterprises was 3,106,100 yuan for domestic enterprises and 6,231,300 yuan for foreign-funded enterprises; The average full-time equivalent of R&D personnel is 7.04 person/year for domestic-funded enterprises and 13.42 person/year for foreign-funded enterprises. Therefore, domestic-funded enterprises should increase the intensity of technology introduction, and at the same time accelerate technology transformation and enhance innovation ability by increasing R&D investment and improving R&D efficiency.
Second, technology trade promotes China’s technological innovation capability and industrial competitiveness.
Through the practice of Chinese enterprises, the mutual promotion relationship between technology trade, technology innovation and industrial competitiveness can be confirmed. Enterprises have the basis of imitation and innovation by introducing technology. In order to achieve digestion, absorption and innovation in a short period of time, they usually increase investment in R&D, accumulate technology stock in R&D, and enhance their technological innovation ability. At the same time, new technologies have also intensified competition in the domestic market, stimulated enterprises that have not introduced technology to increase investment in research and development, and promoted the overall technological capability of the industry, thus promoting industrial upgrading and competitiveness.
(A) technology trade to promote China’s technological innovation ability.
In July 2019, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index Report for 2019, which showed that China ranked 14th among 129 economies, and was the only country among middle-income economies to enter the top 30, showing its outstanding innovation strength in patents, industrial designs, the number of trademarks, the export of high-tech and creative products. In 2019, the number of international patent applications in China increased by 11% to 58,990, surpassing the United States for the first time, and the level of innovation investment in China is far lower than that of high-income economies such as the United States, Germany, Britain, Finland and Israel, which is closely related to the way of introducing digestion, absorption and innovation. This paper analyzes the top ten industries of China’s technology import from 2017 to 2019, including eight types of manufacturing. It can be seen that both traditional manufacturing and emerging industries have a consistent dynamic innovation path, that is, technology introduction → increased R&D investment → improved technical level → improved innovation ability.
1. Enterprise technology import has obvious positive effect on the growth of R&D investment.
From the R&D expenditure from 2012 to 2018, it can be found that these eight types of manufacturing industries have maintained steady growth year by year. After 2014, the R&D expenditures of eight types of manufacturing industries all exceeded 10 billion yuan. In 2018, except for the food manufacturing industry, the R&D expenditures of the other seven manufacturing industries all exceeded 40 billion yuan, followed by the communications equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industries, with R&D expenditures reaching 227.99 billion yuan and 132.01 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 18.2% and 10.6% of the R&D expenditures of all manufacturing industries in that year. From 2012 to 2018, the investment intensity of R&D funds in eight types of manufacturing industries generally increased, indicating that the introduction of technology directly or indirectly stimulated enterprises to carry out technological innovation. Among the eight types of manufacturing industries, the top two enterprises’ R&D expenditure intensities in 2018 were transportation equipment and special equipment manufacturing, which reached 3.38% and 2.43% respectively, increasing by 1.2 percentage points and 0.95 percentage points respectively compared with 2012. In 2018, except for the food manufacturing industry, the investment level of R&D funds in the other seven types of manufacturing industries exceeded the average level of industrial enterprises and all manufacturing industries in that year.
2. Enterprise technology introduction has obvious positive effect on promoting the growth of invention patents.
Invention patent is the core index to measure technological innovation ability. From 2012 to 2018, the number of effective invention patents in eight manufacturing industries showed a significant increase. Among them, communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing industries had the largest number of effective invention patents, followed by electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industries. During the period from 2012 to 2018, the total number of invention patents accounted for about 40% of the regulated industrial enterprises. In 2018, the number of valid invention patents in eight manufacturing industries increased significantly, including 300,369 in communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing, 136,014 in electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, and 97,839 in special equipment manufacturing, which were 3.6 times, 4.3 times and 4.5 times respectively in 2012. There are 78,731 general equipment manufacturing industries, 61,451 chemical raw materials and products manufacturing industries and 45,766 pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, which are 3.4 times, 3.7 times and 3 times that of 2012 respectively; There are 33,164 transportation equipment manufacturing industries and 10,906 food manufacturing industries, which are 5 times and 4.6 times that of 2012 respectively.
From the three traditional manufacturing fields of transportation equipment, medicine and food. Since 2001, the number of patent applications and authorizations for three types of manufacturing industries has increased rapidly. Among them, the number of invention patent applications increased from 917, 4,060 and 984 in 2001 to 69,516, 69,785 and 39,215 in 2019 respectively; In 2001, the number of invention patents granted to the three types of manufacturing industries was zero, and it increased to 20,427, 21,072 and 5,716 respectively in 2019. The average growth rates from 2002 to 2019 were 65.2%, 41.6% and 33% respectively. In 2019, the number of invention patents granted in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry was equivalent to 4.7 times in 2010 and 5,106.8 times in 2002; The number of invention patents granted in pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is equivalent to 2.1 times in 2010 and 369.7 times in 2002; The number of invention patents granted in food manufacturing industry is equivalent to 2.3 times in 2010 and 127 times in 2002. It can be seen that the three types of traditional manufacturing industries have successfully achieved digestion and absorption through technology introduction, and their independent innovation ability has been greatly improved.
From the telecom, radio and television satellite transmission services and computer software two information technology services. From 2001 to 2019, the number of invention patent applications in telecommunications, radio and television satellite transmission services increased from 1,176 to 23,620, with an average annual growth rate of 18.1%; The number of invention patents granted has increased from 0 to 11,521, with an average growth rate of 73.3% from 2002 to 2019. The number of invention patents granted in 2019 is equivalent to 1.7 times that in 2010 and 11,521 times that in 2002. From 2001 to 2019, the number of computer software copyright registrations in China increased rapidly, with only 6,948 in 2001, 81,900 in 2010 and 1,484,400 in 2019, with an average growth rate of 34.7% from 2001 to 2019. The number of registrations in 2019 was equivalent to 18.1 times that in 2010 and 213.7 times that in 2001.
3. Enterprise technology introduction has obvious positive effect on promoting overseas patent growth.
From the perspective of food chemistry, medicine and computer technology industries, the number of overseas patents granted in the three industries increased significantly from 2003 to 2018, from 4, 37 and 27 in 2003 to 87, 764 and 3553 in 2018, with the average annual growth rates of 22.8%, 22.4% and 38.4% respectively. Among them, the number of overseas patents granted for computer technology in 2018 was equivalent to 7 times in 2010 and 131.6 times in 2003; The number of overseas patents granted for food chemical technology is equivalent to 8.7 times in 2010 and 21.8 times in 2003; The number of overseas patents granted for medical technology is equivalent to 4.6 times in 2010 and 20.6 times in 2003.
From the perspective of digital communication industry, the number of overseas patents granted in China’s digital communication industry increased from 1 to 475 from 2000 to 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 85.2%, but the absolute number was lower than that of the United States (4,368), Japan (2,747), South Korea (1,437), France (853), Germany (921) and Sweden. Since 2011, the scale of patent authorization in China’s digital communication industry has increased significantly. From 2011 to 2018, the average annual growth rate of China’s overseas patent grants was 33.8%, while the average annual growth rates of France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the United States were 5.4%, 5%, 4.8%, 15.8%, 15.8% and 8.2% respectively. In 2018, the number of overseas patents granted in China’s digital communication industry was 5,148, equivalent to 10.8 times that in 2010, and it has surpassed France (1,400), Germany (1,225), Japan (4,517), South Korea (4,867) and Sweden (2,843), second only to the United States (8,943).
(B) technology trade to promote industrial export competitiveness.
1. Technology introduction has promoted the growth of product export scale.
From the perspective of eight manufacturing industries in the top ten industries of technology introduction, according to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2003 to 2019, the total proportion of eight manufacturing industries in export delivery value increased from 51% to 70% in export delivery value. From 2003 to 2019, the average annual growth rate of export delivery value, a listed industrial enterprise in China, was 9.82%, while among the eight manufacturing industries, except transportation equipment manufacturing (4.88%), chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing (9.81%), the average annual growth rate of export delivery value in the other six manufacturing industries was higher than the average. Special equipment manufacturing (15.65%), communication equipment, computers and other electronic equipment manufacturing (12.71%), general equipment manufacturing (12.52%), electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing (11.69%), pharmaceutical manufacturing (10.18%) and food manufacturing (9.92%) in turn. From the perspective of export delivery value, in 2019, communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry (5605.38 billion yuan), electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry (1143.9 billion yuan) and general equipment manufacturing industry (547.7 billion yuan) ranked in the top three, equivalent to 1.5 times, 1.2 times and 1.4 times that of 2011 respectively, equivalent to 6.8 times and 5 times that of 2003. Special equipment manufacturing industry (346.09 billion yuan), chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing industry (380.2 billion yuan), equivalent to 1.5 times and 1.1 times respectively in 2011.10.2 times and 4.5 times that of 2003; The transportation equipment manufacturing industry (200.48 billion yuan), pharmaceutical manufacturing industry (141.63 billion yuan) and food manufacturing industry (109.8 billion yuan) are equivalent to 0.3 times, 1.4 times and 1.3 times in 2011 and 2.1 times, 4.7 times and 4.5 times in 2003 respectively.
2. Technology introduction promotes the export growth of high-tech products.
From the perspective of China’s high-tech products trade, the scale of import and export of high-tech products has generally maintained a synchronous growth trend from 2001 to 2019. Since 2004, the export volume of high-tech products has exceeded the import volume. In 2019, the export volume of high-tech products reached 730.75 billion US dollars, equivalent to 1.5 times that of 2010 and 15.7 times that of 2001. There is a "same frequency resonance" effect between the export and import of high-tech products. That is, the higher the export/import ratio of high-tech products, the greater the driving effect of imports on exports. Since 2005, the export/import ratio of high-tech products in China has been above 1.10, reaching 1.20 in 2008, 2009 and 2014, and 1.15 in 2019. Among them, the export/import ratio of high-tech products in the field of computer and communication technology is the highest, increasing from 2.94 in 2005 to 4.02 in 2019.
From the main business income and new product export of electronic and communication equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. Technology introduction has promoted the industrial scale and export competitiveness. From 2000 to 2018, China’s technology import fees for electronic and communication equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry totaled 121.79 billion yuan and 9.52 billion yuan respectively. From 2000 to 2018, the main business income of China’s electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry increased from 587.12 billion yuan and 162.75 billion yuan to 9,863.4 billion yuan and 2,391.8 billion yuan respectively, with an average annual growth rate of 17% and 16.1% respectively; The export sales revenue of new products increased from 39.9 billion yuan and 1.52 billion yuan to 1,523 billion yuan and 48.72 billion yuan respectively, with an average annual growth rate of 22.4% and 21.2% respectively. In 2018, the main business income of electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry was equivalent to 2.7 times that of 2010 and 16.8 times that of 2000 respectively; The income from the main business of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is equivalent to 1.7 times in 2010 and 14.7 times in 2000. In 2018, the export sales revenue of new products of electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry was equivalent to 3.6 times that of 2010 and 38.2 times that of 2000 respectively; The export sales revenue of new products in pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is equivalent to 2.7 times in 2010 and 32.1 times in 2000 respectively. At present, China has become the global manufacturing center of consumer electronic products, in which mobile phones and computers account for more than 90% of the global total output.In 2018, the revenue of communication system equipment manufacturing industry increased by 14.6% year-on-year, 15.7 percentage points higher than the global growth rate, and the sales of integrated circuits increased by 20.7% year-on-year, 4.8 percentage points higher than the global growth rate.
Third, the development prospect of China’s technology trade
With China’s continuous opening to the outside world, the ability of independent innovation has been continuously enhanced, and the development prospect of technology trade has become broader and broader.
(A) technological innovation and industrial upgrading requirements will promote the quality of technology trade.
From the perspective of innovation investment, China’s R&D investment intensity has increased from 0.6% in 1996 to 2.2% in 2019. Although it is still lower than the technology and trade powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany, it is higher than the average level of developed countries such as Britain and Italy and the European Union. From the perspective of innovation output, China ranks second in the world in terms of the total number of international scientific and technological papers and the number of citations, and ranks first in the world in terms of the number of invention patent applications and authorizations. Many new technologies, new materials, core components and major equipment have come from scratch, and a series of major breakthroughs have been achieved in strategic emerging industries and cutting-edge technologies, such as high-speed rail equipment, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other technologies. In recent years, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, represented by a new generation of information technology, new energy, new materials and life sciences, has flourished around the world. Among them, digital technologies such as cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, mobile Internet, artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual reality, quantum computing, and 5G have become the most active areas of technological innovation and industrial transformation. The maturity and large-scale industrial application of these new technologies will continue to spawn new products, new models and new formats, and promote manufacturing and industry. In particular, the accelerated growth of new economic kinetic energy will promote the continuous expansion of technology import and export scale, the continuous improvement of the quality and level of technology import, and accelerate the development of technology export.
(B) "market for technology" and "technology for technology" two-wheel drive will expand the space for technology import.
On the one hand, the space of "market for technology" is getting wider and wider. China has the advantage of super-large-scale market in the world, which will provide industrialized and large-scale space for advanced technologies of all countries in the world, and has the ability to incubate and cultivate new global technologies, providing the basic conditions for "market for technology". The impact of the global COVID-19 epidemic has led to a sharp decline in the international market, accelerating the localization and regionalization of the global industrial chain and supply chain layout. To this end, according to the major changes in China’s development stage and international environment, the CPC Central Committee has put forward a new development pattern in which the domestic big cycle is the mainstay and the domestic and international double cycles promote each other. Under the new development pattern of "double circulation", the continuous release of domestic demand and the upgrading of the level will amplify the advantages of the domestic market and become an important support for the growth of technology imports. In 2019, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China was 41.2 trillion yuan, the per capita disposable income of residents was 30,733 yuan, the consumption tendency was as high as 70%, and the middle class was about 300 million. In 2019, the contribution rate of China’s consumption to economic growth was 57.8%, far below the level of more than 80% in developed countries, which means that consumption still has growth potential. On the other hand, the potential of "technology for technology" is growing. In the past, due to China’s backward technology, it mainly used the advanced technology of developed countries, and formed an obvious vertical division of labor with developed countries in the level of technical division of labor. As China has become a big country in technological innovation, its technological scale and strength have been significantly enhanced, and it has a number of international advanced technologies and a number of high-tech enterprises, and has formed international leading technologies in some fields.The pattern of technology division of labor with developed countries is constantly developing in the direction of horizontal division of labor, thus laying the foundation for new technology import modes such as patent cross-licensing.
(C) open cooperation, innovation and accelerated development will promote the diversification of technology import methods.
With the rapid development of the new scientific and technological revolution, the technical complexity is getting higher and higher, global innovation has entered the era of high-intensity research and development, and the networking of technological innovation has become increasingly obvious, and open cooperation and innovation have become the development trend. With the acceleration of China’s industrial upgrading process, the demand for high-tech will be further improved, and the global allocation of technical elements will be more diversified. In recent years, more and more scientific and technological enterprises in China have acquired key core technologies and jointly developed world-leading technologies through cross-border mergers and acquisitions, cross-border strategic alliances, overseas R&D centers, joint ventures and cross-shareholdings. However, with the strict review system of foreign technology mergers and acquisitions in developed economies such as the United States and the European Union, it will be more difficult for Chinese enterprises to acquire advanced technology through international mergers and acquisitions, and they may be more dependent on other open, cooperative and innovative models. In addition, the flow of leading talents in scientific research has become an important carrier of the flow of technological elements and will become an important mode of technology introduction in China in the future. With the increasingly optimized technological innovation environment in China, the transnational mobility of scientific and technological personnel has been significantly improved, playing an increasingly important role in the introduction of advanced technologies.
(D) changes in the pattern of technological globalization will promote the diversification of China’s technology market sources.
On the one hand, the pattern of scientific and technological globalization is undergoing profound changes. Although the multinational companies in developed countries continue to maintain their technological leading edge, as emerging economies and developing countries continue to open wider to the outside world, accelerate technological accumulation, and promote global technological innovation, the globalization of technological innovation presents a new feature of the parallel development of developed and developing countries, and the comparison of global technological forces has quietly changed, and a new map of innovation activities has gradually taken shape. In 2019, there were 11 emerging economies and developing countries in the top 50 countries of global innovation. In the next 20 years, with the rise of emerging economies and developing countries, the technological innovation ability will be continuously enhanced, which will provide more channels for China’s technology import sources. On the other hand, the technical blockade and containment of China by the United States has become the core content of strategic competition, which has also prompted China to carry out innovative cooperation with technologically advanced economies such as the European Union, Japan and Israel. Hierarchically, in 2019, the European Union replaced the United States as the largest source of technology imports, accounting for more than 30%, and Japan accounted for nearly 19%. Together, they accounted for half of technology imports and may continue to expand in the future. Secondly, Israel has world-leading technologies in life sciences, mobile communication and Internet, technology and finance, artificial intelligence and robotics, automation, industrial applications, clean energy, etc., and there is great room for technical cooperation with China. Thirdly, there is great potential to strengthen technical cooperation with Russia and other BRICS countries and introduce advanced and applicable technologies. For example,Russia has maintained the international advanced level in military industry, nuclear power, aerospace, artificial intelligence and basic research, and bilateral friendly relations have provided a favorable environment for technological innovation cooperation. In 2019, the contract value of China’s technology import from Russia increased by nearly 18 times, from the 19th place in 2018 to the fourth largest source of technology import.
(V) Countries along the Belt and Road will become emerging markets for technology export.
Most of the countries along the "Belt and Road" are developing countries, providing China with a broad technology export market. With the continuous strengthening of China’s interconnection with countries along the route, the technology trade volume between China and countries along the route will also increase. In 2019, my technology export contracts with countries along the route reached US$ 7.71 billion, up 41.8% year-on-year, exceeding the overall growth rate of technology exports by 27.2 percentage points. In 2019, China’s technology export contracts with UAE reached US$ 2.44 billion, up 33 times year-on-year, making it the third largest destination for technology exports, and its technology exports with Bangladesh reached US$ 1.45 billion, up 2.1 times year-on-year. It is foreseeable that countries along the Belt and Road will become important emerging markets for China’s technology export. At present, the main fields of China’s technology export to countries along the route are concentrated in traditional industries such as agriculture, textiles, ships and automobiles. In the future, the fields of technology export will be further expanded, especially the advantageous fields such as information and communication technology, electronic equipment and service outsourcing will become important fields of technology export.
Four, to promote the high-quality development of China’s technology trade policy recommendations
At present, digital technology is leading the in-depth development of scientific and technological globalization, the barriers to the cross-border flow of technological elements are lowered, a large number of new technological achievements are emerging, and the global technology trade space is broader. The technology trade strategy of open cooperation is still an inevitable choice for China to enhance its technological innovation ability and promote the upgrading of industrial structure, and it is also an important way to break through the bottleneck of core key technologies. It is necessary to adhere to the combination of independent research and development of the advantages of the new national system and the active and promising technology introduction strategy, and "promote advantages, make up shortcomings, and build spare tires" to promote China’s independent innovation capability to a new level.
(1) Layout innovation chain based on industrial chain, supply chain and value chain, and build a mutually beneficial and win-win open innovation cooperation system.
Under the background of open economy with closely related global industries and highly complex technologies, it is difficult for any country to realize closed innovation. The interdependence between global industrial chain and supply chain is an important foundation and prerequisite for open cooperative innovation. For example, in May 2020, the US Department of Commerce allowed American companies to cooperate with Huawei to formulate 5G network standards, which objectively formed a win-win situation. Due to Huawei’s position and influence in the 5G industrial chain, American companies can’t bypass Huawei to participate in the formulation of 5G standards. The U.S. government’s crackdown on Huawei actually restricts domestic companies’ participation in the formulation of 5G standards, so they have to relax the cooperation between domestic companies and Huawei in the formulation of standards. For Huawei, the participation of the United States in the formulation of 5G standards can bring greater value to international standards. If it does not cooperate, it will cause harm to 5G standards and it will also be unfavorable to Huawei. With the accumulation of technology and the enhancement of independent research and development capability in China, technology introduction will focus more on cutting-edge technologies. With the intensification of technology competition and blockade in the big country game, the difficulty coefficient of direct purchase is increasing. Therefore, relying on the industrial chain and supply chain, we should explore new mechanisms of technical cooperation with developed economies such as the European Union, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, and change from the one-way traditional mode of introduction-imitation-learning to the two-way interactive innovation mode of co-creation, sharing and win-win. In addition, we should actively expand technical and trade cooperation with other countries. For example, the content of technology trade should be added in FTA negotiations, a bilateral technical cooperation framework should be signed, and in-depth cooperation should be carried out in technology research and development, technology transfer or licensing, technical consultation and services.
(2) Give full play to the advantages of being a big intellectual property country and improve the level of intellectual property trade.
Strengthening the export of intellectual property rights can not only expand the scale of service export, but also effectively promote product export. It is estimated that every $100 million of patented technology transferred from developed countries can drive the sales of complete sets of equipment and ancillary products of about $5 billion. To this end, we must vigorously implement the export strategy of intellectual property rights. We should pay attention to the cultivation of full value chain services from the creation, application and transformation of intellectual property rights, operational services to intellectual property protection. With the "softening" trend of technology trade, the technical competition among countries is increasingly reflected in the strategic competition of intellectual property rights. China should pay attention to using patent strategy to expand the export market of intellectual property rights and promote the upgrading of technology export structure. Encourage technology export enterprises to attach importance to the cultivation of intellectual property competitiveness, scientifically evaluate the value of intellectual property rights, realize the interactive development of innovation, industrial upgrading and intellectual property management, vigorously cultivate brand enterprises with independent intellectual property rights, and expand the export scale of intellectual property rights such as patents and proprietary technologies. Encourage enterprises to implement the patent network strategy to speed up the layout of overseas intellectual property rights, improve overseas intellectual property protection institutions, provide convenience for enterprises to obtain overseas patents and safeguard their rights, and help enterprises cope with overseas intellectual property risks. Second, we should strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights and optimize the technology transfer environment. China has established relatively perfect laws and regulations on intellectual property protection, and should constantly improve the early warning, supervision and law enforcement system, respond to the concerns of technical cooperation countries and multinational companies in China in a timely manner, severely crack down on infringement and illegal acts according to law, and earnestly safeguard the intellectual property rights interests of foreign-funded enterprises.Improve the intellectual property cooperation mechanism with major trading partners such as the United States, the European Union and Japan, and strengthen cooperation in intellectual property arbitration and dispute settlement. Third, we should advocate qualified enterprises and multinational companies to use patent cross-licensing. By signing patent cross-licensing with competitors, it is conducive to integrating technological advantages, eliminating intellectual property obstacles in opening up the international market, avoiding infringement litigation disputes and reducing transaction costs.
(3) Vigorously attract overseas leading talents and promote the global advanced technology transfer.
Overseas leading talents are the key elements of technology transfer. Local governments should be encouraged to increase efforts to attract overseas students to return home and overseas senior talents to work in China, and make specific arrangements on how to support studying abroad, encourage returning home and come and go freely. We will attract overseas high-tech talents through various ways, such as scientific research funding subsidies, wages and salaries, tax concessions, and stock option incentives, and increase policy support in housing placement, children’s schooling, household registration, and entry and exit convenience, so as to create good conditions for them to live and work in peace and contentment. Combine talent introduction with career development organically, so that talents can not only be attracted, but also retained, so that they can have space for innovation, platform for entrepreneurship and development, and create a group of overseas leading talents standing at the forefront of world science and technology.
(D) to further improve the technology trade platform, strengthen the construction of policy support system.
Relying on major international exhibitions such as Service Trade Fair, China International Import Expo(CIIE) and Hi-Tech Fair, we will provide enterprises with more opportunities for technical trade and international technical cooperation and exchange. Explore the establishment of technology trade markets in pilot free trade zones such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xi ‘an and Nanning. Increase subsidies and tax incentives for R&D investment of enterprises, and provide more convenient qualification certification and application process. Increase support for technology export enterprises, reduce financing costs and guarantee requirements, reward software projects that help domestic enterprises to provide mature software solutions and technical support overseas, and support their product development and localization applications. Allocate special funds to support the development of technology trade in the service trade innovation and development guidance fund, and encourage local governments to set up matching funds for technology trade.
(5) Comply with the changing trend of global technical trade rules and actively participate in the construction of international technical trade rules and standards.
First, we should actively study the latest progress and trends of multilateral and bilateral trade systems and regional technical trade agreements. Advocate the theme of "development" in the WTO and oppose all forms of protectionism. At the same time, we should avoid western countries from forming a rule-making circle in digital technology to exclude China. For example, China’s digital governance models are different from those of the United States and the European Union, and there is a strong geostrategic and mode confrontation among the three models, which is difficult to unify and be compatible, so it is necessary to establish a dialogue mechanism. Second, we should advocate the principle of neutrality in the formulation of international standards related to technology trade, which is not affected by political factors in various countries, so that international standards can be widely and unanimously supported and maintain their strong vitality. Third, it is necessary to establish a mechanism with enterprises as the main body and relevant organizations participating in coordination, so as to promote China’s technical standards with advantages and characteristics to become international standards. Deepen standardization cooperation with the focus on countries along the "Belt and Road", promote mutual recognition of standards between China and countries along the route, and improve the right to speak on technical trade rules. Fourth, we should attach importance to the training of technical trade negotiators, especially professionals who are proficient in international rules of technical trade and foreign-related technical trade litigation and negotiation, and encourage them to participate in the formulation of international rules and standards in relevant international organizations.
(6) Deepen the reform of the technology trade management system and consolidate the technology innovation system combining Industry-University-Research and China.
Accelerate the transformation of government management functions, pay more attention to the role of market mechanism in the institutional supply of technological innovation, pay attention to the market-oriented allocation of innovative elements, and give play to the main role of various enterprises. Smooth the collaborative innovation mechanism between enterprises, universities, scientific research institutions and users, promote the coordinated development of large, medium, small and micro enterprises in innovation chain, improve various technical exchange and cooperation platforms, and strengthen the construction of various industrial innovation alliances.
