Innovators? Or, not?

[Greg.D.]

2 good articles re whether or not China is capable of spawning innovation. We know there is small scale innovation everywhere, but they don't seem to spawn the "disruptive" kind of innovation.

This article paints a rosey picture of China's ability to innovate:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-woetzel/china-strength-innovation_b_8359026.html

This one is more practical:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-doctoroff/innovation-in-china-promi_b_8319538.html

".... WeChat's micro-lending and customer relationship management (CRM) services are testaments to corporate experimentation and economic dynamism.

But a commercial landscape still dominated by sclerotic state-owned enterprises locked in cozy relationships with opaque government entities suggests otherwise.

The Chinese have always been masters of "incremental" innovation."

To their credit, I think they run with what they can do and are lending on road and dam building projects everywhere. I am not sure the culture can produce the revolutionary innovators and inventors, however. Thinking outside the big box is not a value there.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Greg.D. (see edit history)

[Thomas Promise]

The Four Great Chinese Inventions are:

Compass
Gunpowder
Papermaking
Printing

It has been over a 1,000 years since China has had an Earth shaking invention. British scholars in the 1850s found that nothing in China progressed from the time of Marco Polo explorations in the 1200s. Nearly 600 years of being dormant. Asians seem to be afraid to step out into the dark and try something new. They much have a solid base to innovate from.

[Randy W]

To call them NOT innovators, however, is to write off their potential. They may yet have a few surprises up their sleeves. However, I do agree that this limitation leaves them far behind the west in a number of ways. To catch up, they will need to learn how to overcome their limitations