Building the 21st Century U.S.-China Cooperation on Science, Technology, and Innovation (2011) / Chapter Skim
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OPENING REMARKS--Alan Wm. Wolff
OPENING REMARKS--Alan Wm. Wolff
Pages 37-46
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From page 37... ...
The United States and China have cooperated in science for at least 70 years, noted Ambassador Wolff, a prominent trade attorney who chairs the STEP Board's Committee on Comparative National Innovation Policies. Prior to World War II, he noted, the United States allocated precious air cargo space to ferrying scientific instruments, materials, and current treatises over the Himalayas from India to Chongqing so that Chinese scientists in exile could continue their work during Japan's occupation of China.
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From page 38... ...
Ambassador Wolff, who served as U.S. deputy special representative for trade negotiations at the time, noted that the first high-level science delegation to China that year was led by a colleague of his, Frank Press, then President Jimmy Carter's science advisor and later president of the National Academies.2 That trip, he said, "provided the foundation for the formal bilateral understandings to foster science and technology cooperation that followed." Soon afterward, China's Ministry of Science and Technology and America's National Science Foundation resumed formal cooperation.
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From page 39... ...
"Today is another step in that process of mutual exchange and -- I trust -- mutual benefit." Ambassador Wolff then explained America's innovation system. A 2006 National Academies publication defined the National Innovation System, a term popularized by President Richard Nixon, as "a network of institutions in the public and private sectors, whose activities and interactions initiate, develop, modify, and commercialize new technologies." This National Innovation System, the publication explained, involves flows of knowledge among complex, inter-linked, and overlapping "innovation eco-systems" at universities, government research laboratories, large and small businesses, and other organizations.4 3 Council of Economic Advisors, Economic Report to the President, 1995.
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From page 40... ...
Ambassador Wolff then presented an extensive sampling of other, less-heralded Chinese inventions: Magnetic Compass 200 BC Movable Type 1050 AD Wrought Iron 5th Century BC Blast Furnace 250 BC Paper Money 700 AD Paddle Wheel Boats 650 AD Metal Bells 200 BC Fork (preceded chopsticks) 2400 BC Lacquer Ware 5000 BC Stone Plowshares 3500 BC Toxic Gas for War 400 BC Use of Chromium (for weapon tips; first used in 210 BC West around 1797)
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From page 41... ...
Seismometer 132 AD Steel 2nd Century BC Iodine Treatment for Goiter (1860 in France) 7th Century AD Chain Suspension Bridge 15th Century Toilet Paper 589 AD Tune Bells 8th Century BC Underwater Salvage 1065 AD Only in more modern times has the technology flow begun to reverse from West to East, Ambassador Wolff noted.
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From page 42... ...
The report said the government should design science and technology policy to: "…ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world to innovate; invest in downstream activities such as manufacturing and marketing; and create high paying jobs based on innovation by such actions as modernizing the patent system, realigning tax policies to encourage innovation, and ensuring affordable broadband access." There are many similarities between the innovation goals and policies of the United States and China, Ambassador Wolff said. "Each wishes to enhance the prospects for successfully initiating, developing, modifying, and commercializing new technologies." Both countries also "want a substantial part of all stages of the innovation system to be located within their own national boundaries." This does not necessarily mean each product must be developed locally, "but at least a healthy share of the spectrum for products in general" so that a large number of high-quality jobs are created to bring economic benefits.
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From page 43... ...
"There will be global commercial benefits for China from the creation of its high-speed rail industry and photo-voltaic cells, among other industrial policy programs," he said. The United States also is watching China's policies with respect to intellectual property and whether it is adopting national rather than international industrial standards.
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From page 44... ...
Before the rise of fast and easy international communication, local innovation was more common. Ambassador Wolff noted that in his books on science and innovation in China, the eminent historian Joseph Needham8 credited China with invention of the stirrup, which allowed warriors to stay in the saddle at a full gallop.
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From page 45... ...
When we discover it and share it, we enrich the world." He said the United States and China have much to learn from each other and added that he hopes the two nations will follow up on this conference with another conference in China so that the dialogue can continue.
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