Science-based innovation

China has made science-based innovation an important priority and has invested substantially in building the institutions and capabilities needed for discovery and invention.Chinese companies are making progress in science-based businesses such as biotechnology，but China is not yet a top global competitor：it has less than a 1percent share of global revenue in branded pharmaceuticals，3 percent in biotech，semiconductor design，and specialty chemicals.However，we also find that Chinese companies are taking distinctively Chinese approaches to speeding up science innovation.

A number of reasons for slow progress in science-based innovation，not least of which is that this type of work takes a long time to pay off.Among the issues that are seen to inhibit science-based innovation in China are slow regulatory processes，questions about intellectual property protection，inefficient allocation of government research funding，and underinvestment by private-sector players.And，despite the large numbers of Chinese students being trained in scientific and technical fields，companies still struggle to find capable talent.The government is addressing some of these obstacles.Reforms to the drug approval process could reduce the time it takes to get a new drug to patients by two years.Also，efforts such as the Thousand Talents program are helping to bring overseas Chinese scientists home to work in industry and universities and to launch companies.In the meantime，Chinese drug companies are taking innovative approaches to speed up drug development.