China’s ambitions of self-sufficiency, most notably embodied by its industrial policy Made in China 2025, are still hampered by a reliance on some key technologies dominated by a few companies based in the US and likeminded countries. To alleviate this dependency China wants to use the innovation chain concept and strengthen the connection between basic research and business application.

Michael Laha, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation German Chancellor Fellow at MERICS and former Senior Program Officer at the Asia Society Center on US-China Relations joins the podcast to talk about the innovation chain, its implementation in China and implications for Europe. In his view, what makes the application of the innovation chain special in China is how broadly it is implemented and its close relationship to China’s ambitions of self-sufficiency.

Together with Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau, Head of Program Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at MERICS, Michael is working on an upcoming paper on the innovation chain in China. The interview was conducted by Johannes Heller-John.