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• In early 2006, China announced a 15 year plan to boost science, technology, and innovation with the long-term goal of becoming a preeminent global economic and technological power.
• Though every detail of the plan has not been made public, we know it calls for China to raise R&D investment from the current 1.4 percent of its economic output to 2.0 percent by 2010 and 2.5 percent by 2020.
• China is pouring investment into its universities to create world class education and research centers. Since 1998, state financing for higher education has more than doubled, reaching $10.4 billion in 2003.
• China had 926,000 researchers in 2004, second only to the United States - 77 percent more than it had in 1995.
• China’s 15 year plan intends to move the country beyond its current reliance on foreign technology to spawn “indigenous innovation.”
• China faces numerous challenges in enacting its 15 year plan: protecting intellectual property; reforming capital markets; encouraging risk taking; and embracing the free flow of ideas required for innovation.

We are delighted to bring you the 14th regular installment of the AeA Competitiveness Series.  The AeA research team produces these reports on the most timely and relevant issues to the high-tech industry and to U.S. competitiveness in a global economy.  We combine rigorous data with careful analysis to provide industry leaders and policymakers the information they need to assess the issue.