CHINA’S SCIENCE AND THE WEST

KEEPING UP WITH CHINA IN SCIENCE IS KEY TO WEST'S ECONOMIC FUTURE

Michel Maziade

The Montreal Gazette, November 19, 2011

The U.S. economy is declining. China's economy is ascending. What to do?

The answer lies not to the right, not to the left, but upward: Science must be brought into the equation.

The new Knowledge Economy will soon see an incredible acceleration in the commerce of ideas, and science will be the master driving force of this economy. According to Jacques Attali, an international "Peaceful War" to control the worldwide economy is now well under way. China already controls much of the world's manufacturing and has the world's secondlargest economy, after the United States. Will the West lose its supremacy in science and innovation to China within the next decade?

Over the past 40 years, Canada has built a resilient scientific base. Though we are not necessarily at a standstill, we should be asking ourselves whether the speed of our progress will be sufficient to meet the coming challenges. Aggressive science policies have helped China to grow exponentially. The signposts are everywhere. For example, the Chinese are dedicating $87 billion per year to science (1.7 per cent of GDP) and are increasing their budget by 20 per cent annually, leaving Canada in the dust with its mere $25 billion per year (less than 2 per cent of GDP).

France has reacted to the Juppé-Rocard report by voting 35 billion euros to accelerate its innovation programs, to stimulate higher learning and to consolidate its scientific strengths. In contrast, China repatriates 70,000 of its young PhDs per year and can now offer the same training on its own. With 1.4 million scientists, China has caught up with both North America and Europe. In comparison, Canada produces fewer than 6,000 PhD graduates per year. Also, China has gone from publishing fewer than two per cent of all scientific publications worldwide 10 years ago to today's 10 per cent, and is now in second place, after the United States, as a "producer of science."

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