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Unlike many Western countries, the Chinese state has a much more active role in innovation that includes direct involvement with actors in innovation processes and the use of state capacity, money, and power to attain certain goals. With the rise of China, innovation processes that critically depend on state action, often labeled state‐led innovation, have thus received growing scholarly attention. However, only few contributions study the specific sector of new energy vehicles (NEV) and policy measures applied at the city level. This paper examines policy and planning tools used in Shenzhen, China, to assert innovation in the NEV industry, using an evaluation of documents and interviews. The paper finds that a city can play a decisive role in the implementation of innovation policy, and Chinese cities in particular make use of a broad set of innovation support measures ranging from binding quotas, public procurement, and incentives to bans and orders. The findings underline the importance of strong regulatory instruments that do not conform to the Western notion of market‐compliant policy, but nevertheless work effectively in the Chinese context. Moreover, the results highlight how successful policy support for innovation in the NEV can be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an extended three-step CDM model, this paper addresses the impacts of research and development (R&D) and information and communication technology (ICT) on firm productivity for the World Bank innovation survey data of China. The study includes ICT investment and R&D as the two main inputs into innovation and productivity. We find that R&D and ICT investments positively affect product innovation and process innovation, with R&D being more important for innovation and productivity, and ICT being more important for innovation and no direct effect on productivity. We conclude that R&D and ICT investments increase the probability of product innovation and process innovation, which increase firm's productivity, suggesting that R&D and ICT investments indirectly affect productivity through innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy has become important in the world's major economies. Improving energy efficiency is the key to achieving stable and sustainable economic growth and carbon emissions reduction. However, the impact of the digital economy on energy efficiency remains unclear. Accordingly, this study examines the relationship between the digital economy and energy efficiency from the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) perspective. In doing so, this study confirms that the digital economy follows the EKC in energy utilization efficiency, and there is a U-shaped relationship between the digital economy and energy efficiency, although this relationship differs from one region to another. This study also discusses the moderating effects of environmental regulation and innovation capability in this U-shaped relationship, confirming that they have a moderating effect on this relationship, reducing the inflection point of the U-shaped relationship, and reducing the negative influence of the digital economy on the energy efficiency and enhancing the positive impact. This study can serve as a reference for policymakers and professionals in emerging economies, helping them achieve a win-win situation for economic development and reducing carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chief executive officers (C.E.O.s) play a dominant role in firm decision-makings and operations, and their characteristics will affect firm sustainable growth. This study investigates whether C.E.O. academic experience affects firm sustainable growth. Using a sample from China, we find that C.E.O. academic experience is positively related to firm sustainable growth, and the effect is pronounced for high-tech firms. Further analyses demonstrate that the results are robust to alternative measures and controlling for endogeneity problems. Finally, the channel analysis shows that the effect is partially driven by firm innovation and internal control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stem cell science is an emerging global industry in which nation states compete fiercely for economic advantage. Currently, the USA dominates this international competition but critics have argued that it lacks an innovation strategy to maintain its position. Strong international competition and internal policy problems may pose significant challenges to the future of US stem cell science. At the same time, the governments of the UK, China, India, Australia and Singapore are developing strategies to enhance their competitive edge within the global stem cell economy. How should the US government respond to these developments? Is a federal strategy necessary to protect the advantages of the US stem cell industries or can it be assumed that the present innovation infrastructure is sufficiently flexible and dynamic to cope with the global challenge? In this paper we address these questions through an examination of the US stem cell innovation system from the perspectives of science, society and the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many other education systems in the world, Chinese education has undergone various reforms in order to adapt to the challenges that are perceived to emanate from the knowledge economy. Central to this transformation is the concept of 'innovation', which is to guide the country on its path from a production economy to a knowledge economy. Chinese policymakers have been targeting the higher education sector both as a motor for innovation and as a realm to be innovated, and have invested heavily in the sector's internationalization, above all in the form of international collaboration and student mobility, affecting higher education and academia worldwide. However, a number of structural and political constraints delimit the directions that innovation can take, both within Chinese education in general and within Chinese higher education. The article takes stock of these constraints and assesses the potential for innovation in Chinese higher education in terms of the underlying school system, exam and recruitment policies, the (re-)organization of universities, as well as the universities' and science system's performance according to indicators of innovation. The article then identifies four 'Chinese innovation dilemmas', that is, educational policies and developments that are to spur innovation but run counter to existing structures and practices of educational, social, and political governance: ideological control versus creativity; state planning versus grassroots innovation; old-boy networks versus anti-corruption; and exam-based student recruitment versus flexible recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]