Stable Institutions & Novel Technologies: a Comparison between Chinese and Indian Biotechnology Systems

Comparing and contrasting the two giant economies, China and India, is gaining increasing attention in the literature, and rightly so because of their gargantuan economic share in the global space. However, because of the lack of empirical support, these literatures tend to overemphasis one’s prospects over the other. As a result, there are more questions than answers in these literatures. One of the questions is the focus of this study: how the national innovation systems (NIS) China and India contribute to their biotechnology capabilities. The evidences based on patent granted, patent citations, level of R&D and investment indicate that Chinese annual growth in biotechnological capability is 18% (patents) and 28% citations versus Indian growth about -.4% (patents) and 1.5% citations over 12 years (19942005). These findings are contrary to the views asserted in the emerging literature that China as a system potentially lags India, so China should learn from India. Conversely, the evidences show that, provided high technology innovations are resources for economic growth and competitive advantage, China has a clear and substantial lead over India in both current resource endowments and potential capabilities in biotechnology systems.