China overtakes US in future technology research, Australian institute report says

China conducts research in technology of the futurelaying the groundwork to become the world’s scientific superpower ahead of the US, according to a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released Thursday.

In their study, ASPI points out that China exceeds USA and to other countries in 37 out of 44 technologies keys to innovation and growth in areas such as defense, space exploration, robotics, biotechnology, quantum technology and artificial intelligence.

“In the long run, leadership China in research means that it positions itself not only in today’s technology development in almost all industries, but also in future technologies that do not yet exist, ”says the report entitled “ASPI Key Technology Tracker: The Global Race for Technology Power.” future”.

The authors of the study advocate that “democracies” strengthen cooperation and increase incentives for research in order to prevent Beijing’s hegemony in key technology supply chains.

In this sense, they declare that “the Communist Party China uses coercive methods that go beyond the global regulatory order to punish governments and companies, including blocking the supply of key technologies.”

For the report, ASPI analyzed 2.2 million academic articles, which were in the top 10 percent of the most cited scientific articles across 44 technology types.

The United States leads research on 7 of the 44 technologies it doesn’t China in areas such as the design and development of semiconductors, quantum computers and vaccines, while the rest of the world lags further behind in all areas.

Other technology leaders

The next centers of research are the UK and India, which are in the top five countries in 29 of the 44 technologies studied, while South Korea and Germany are in the top five in 20 and 17 areas, respectively.

With regard to the European Union (EU), the report highlights its competitive advantage due to the ease of movement of researchers in the Schengen area, the presence of leading institutions such as the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and its strength in technologies quantum.

ASPI points out that countries such as Spain and Turkey are “often in the top ten but not in the top five”.

Spanish research is emerging in areas such as integrated circuits, advanced radio frequencies, biological manufacturing, photonic navigation sensors and biofuels.

While in Latin America, Brazil and Mexico are mentioned in sub-fields such as biofuels, biological manufacturing, basic minerals and advanced analytics, and Chile only in advanced explosives and energy materials.

China it is also attracting more talent to its universities and has seven of the top ten institutes for advanced aircraft engine research, including hypersonics.

However, the authors acknowledge that cutting-edge research does not always lead to development and production, as was the case with problems encountered with some Beijing-made aircraft engines.

USA also develops technologies companies such as ChatGPT in the field of artificial intelligence stand out, and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Hwelett Packard Entreprise. (EFE)