When will China overtake the USA as a high tech global competitor?

A report on international high tech competitiveness published in Technology Analysis & Strategic Management says, ‘the image of China as just a low-cost producer of manufactured goods is plain wrong.’ It highlights factors such as an increasing skilled workforce as key factors in its success saying, ‘[China is] drawing more talented students to careers as scientists and engineers.’ It predicts that China’s competitive development will lead to it overtaking the USA in the level and sustainability of technological production. The report also recognises the growth in technological competitiveness in other Asian countries with South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and India all showing a significant increase and potential for that increase to continue. Technology development is an important factor in determining the position of a country’s economy in relation to others and the report recognises that ‘technology is a prime driver of advanced economies.’ The report assesses the world’s leading countries in terms of technological capabilities and capacity to sustain production, thus allowing competitive potential and economic growth trends to be analysed and future development to be anticipated. The article, ‘International high tech competitiveness: does China rank number 1?’ (2009), is available to read for free online until 31st May 2009 at www.informaworld.com