Chinese technology development policy

One of my favorite research clusters at SAIS focused around the political economy of the development of information and communication technologies in Korea. As compared to the development of ICTs in Japan, for example, the Korean policy adherence to a more formal technology development plan is, in my opinion, one of the keys to their telecoms success.

I remember presenting a paper at an AAAS Science and Technology in Society Conference and the question I remember most distinctly fielding was why industrial planning had been such a success in Korea while it had so frequently been discredited elsewhere.

Although I was able to respond with common arguments such as on the relative uniqueness of historical state-labor relations in Korea and on the country's geographic concentration, it seems that nevertheless some questions remain pressing on how the size of a country, the stage of its industrial development, and the resources committed to industrial planning by the government can all impact the eventual success or failure of ICT planning policies.

What made me reflect on such a topic today is an article I was reading in this months China Business Review (Signs of More Protectionist Times? - Sorry, Subscribers Only) that led me to research and to eventually uncover China's:

National Guidelines on Medium- and Long-Term Program for Science and Technology Development (2006-2020)

This document, published this year in February promises to be a wealth of knowledge and I will be soon printing it out and studying it on my commutes. Until then and since I am happy to have found such a resource today, I just wanted to make sure and provide the link to my readers. If any of you have interesting literature on the ongoing efforts of large countries such as the US, India, China, etc. to use planning as an active element of indistrial policy, I will be genuinely thankful for the chance to read them.

Till next time then, Enjoy. More to come.