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Beijing’s Trajectory in Science and Technology Shows India Is Far Behind in the Game
Given the profoundly anti-science attitude of our government leaders, things are not likely to change in a hurry.
China now has a serious programme to attract its own researchers back to the country. Credit: Reuters
In Aurangabad, Satyapal Singh, the minister of state for human resource development which oversees the country’s higher education system, has questioned Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, arguing that no one has actually seen an ape turning into a man.
In Jaipur, thousands of women brandishing swords took out a ‘Chetavani Rally’ and threatened to commit jauhar or ritual collective suicide by jumping into a fire.
If you get the depressing impression that the country is rapidly regressing to the medieval ages of ignorance and superstition, you would not be wrong.
Also read: With Ram Madhav and Satyapal Singh in Charge, Even Lord Ram Can’t Help Indian Science
In contrast, US’s National Science Foundation and National Science Board have recently released their biennial science and engineering indicators which provide detailed figures on research and development (R&D), innovation and engineers. But its true message is in a different direction, “China has become,” concludes Robert J. Samuelson in a column, “or is in the verge of becoming – a scientific and technical superpower. This is not entirely unexpected given the size of the Chinese economy and its massive investments in R&D, even so, he says, “the actual numbers are breathtaking”.
- China is the 2nd largest spender in R&D after the US, accounting for 21% of the world total which is $2 trillion. It has been going up 18% a year, as compared to 4% in the US. An OECD report says that China could overtake the US in R&D spending by 2020.
- China has overtaken the US in terms of total number of science publications. Technical papers have increased dramatically, even if their impact, as judged by citation indices, may not be that high.
- China has increased its technical workforce five times since 2000 to 1.65 million. It also has more B.Sc. degrees in science than any other country and the numbers are growing.
- The US continues to produce more PhDs and attract more foreign students. But new international enrollment at US colleges was down for the first time in the decade in 2017. The Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric and actions are scaring away students.
- China has begun shifting from being an assembler of high-tech components, to a maker of super computers and aircraft and given the pattern of its investments in R&D and technology development, it is focusing on becoming the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum communications, quantum computing, biotechnology and electrical vehicles.
- As of now, the US still continues to lead in terms of the number of patents and the revenue they generate.
China has also become a more attractive destination for foreign students and is now occupying the third slot after the US and the UK. This year, it is likely to gain the second spot.
China now has a serious programme to attract its own researchers back to the country. The thousand talents plan targets scientists below the age of 40 who have PhDs from prestigious foreign universities. The government offers 500,000 RMB ($80,000) lumpsum to everyone enrolled in the programme and promises research grants ranging from one to three million RMB ($150,000-$300,000). The funding for the programme is growing and in 2011, China awarded 143 scientists out of the 1,100 who applied, and in 2016, 590 from 3,048 applicants.
Individual Chinese universities are offering several times that sum. One specialist in advanced batteries from an MIT post-doctoral programme was offered a salary of $65,000, $900,000 as research grant and $250,000 to buy a house.
The report also flagged the serious deficiencies in US higher secondary education where in 2015, average maths scores for the 4th, 8th and 12th graders dropped for the first time. In the field of R&D and patents and revenue accruing from them, the US remains ahead, but the recent anti-immigration trends pose a serious long-term risk to the American supremacy because in essence, the US has been the best in harvesting talent from across the world.
Of course, the quantity of money or the number of research papers by itself does not automatically translate into leadership. The US remains the world leader in investment in basic research (17%) versus 5% in China. It remains the leader in top quality research, attracting the best and the brightest of international students and in its ability to translate basic research into revenue-generating intellectual property.
But the Chinese have been putting serious money into key areas which they aim to become world leaders in the next decade or so. One of these is AI where the government and Chinese corporates are moving in a big way. Just recently, Chinese tech major Baidu announced its decision of setting up two more AI labs in the US, one focusing on business intelligence and the other on robotics and autonomous driving.
There is little point in flagellating ourselves by putting the Indian figures alongside those of the US and China. Given the profoundly anti-science attitude of our government leaders, things are not likely to change in a hurry. But it is worth looking at the latter’s trajectory because some in India still see themselves as competing with China. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting Davos to attract investment, presumably in high-tech areas, it is worth reminding ourselves that science and technology is the core of the economic foundations of an advanced country, which China says it intends to become by 2050.
Manoj Joshi is a Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation.
印媒感嘆印度科技水平遠落後於中國 領導人還很迷信
- 全球華人資訊聯盟
- 2018-01-26
中國科技進步的速度令美國媒體十分感慨。印度媒體也為中國進步的速度感到著急，同時狠批本國領導人依然迷信。
中國正迅速成長為科技超級大國（圖源：VCG） 據印度「TheWire」新聞網2018年1月23日刊文稱中國已是超級科技大國，同時怒斥印度政府的「不作為」令印度在科技領域水平已遠遠落後於中國。報道先說，由於印度的領導人從骨子裡都反對科學，這一態勢當前不大可能會迅速改變。印度正在倒退至中世紀的無知與迷信。
不久前，印度人力資源部國務部長辛格（SatyapalSingh）就對達爾文的進化論提出質疑，稱「沒有任何人曾看到一隻猿變成了一個人」；在拉賈斯坦邦首府齋蒲爾內，成千上萬的女性則揮舞著手中的刀劍參加「Chetavani」集會，還威脅跳入火中集體自焚。
報道又指出，與此相反，美國國家科學基金會（NSF）和國家科學委員會（NSB）剛剛發布的兩年一度的《科學與工程指標》調查報告顯示：中國即將或者已經成為科學技術強國。報道還介紹說，中國正在為核心領域投入大量資金，旨在於下一個十年期間成為這些核心領域的世界引領者，其中一個就是人工智慧，中國政府和企業在該領域已然前進一大步。
最近，中國科技巨頭百度宣布將在美國建立兩座人工智慧實驗室，一個重點放在商業智能領域，另一個重點放在機器人和自動駕駛領域。
報道最後總結道，將印度的數據與中美數據擺在一起用以鞭笞自己的做法毫無意義，印度的發展軌跡仍值得注意，因為部分印度人仍認為自己在與中國競爭。隨著印度總理莫迪（NarendraModi）訪問達沃斯，並藉此吸引高科技領域的投資，這一舉措仍在提醒印度人——科技是一個發達國家經濟基礎的核心，中國表示會於2050進入發達國家行列。
與此同時，美國《華盛頓郵報》1月21日也在題為《中國邁向科技超級大國的驚人轉型》的文章中稱，想想吧，僅僅25年前，中國的經濟規模還很小，高科技產業幾乎不存在。如今，中國正以「令人窒息」的速度向科技超級大國邁進。不僅是中國的技術在進步，而且中國的雄心也在增強。中國的大部分高科技產品曾經包括組裝在其他地方生產的先進組件，而現在中國正進軍「諸如超級計算機和更小型的噴氣式客機」等要求更高的領域。
