In late 1996 Tony Blair as then UK Opposition leader famously said, “Ask me my three main priorities for government and I tell you education, education, education”. In more visionary an echo of that call, speaking at the biennial conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) in June 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for China’s science and technology development to be directed to  “Innovation, Innovation and Innovation”. A fresh glance at newly and first-ever citywide innovation zone Shenzhen suggests China’s ability to respond to Xi’s call is more advanced than most outside of China realise.  

In economics the impossible trinity describes how governments can set only two of three macroeconomic policy variables despite that are each otherwise independently desirable. Those three variables are a fixed exchange rates, independent monetary policy and free movement of capital.

  Pollution, congestion, population density and sky-high housing costs are among factors inspiring an emerging joint development plan for neighbouring Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. This would involve relocation of some activities from Beijing to surrounding areas. A recent China Daily article, ‘Move colleges out of capital”, suggests this might include relocation of some universities. Here we take a leap forward, and ponder if Hebei might even be earmarked to become Cambridgeshire 3.0.

  Chinese President Xi has begun a European tour to take in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and the European Union. His trip coincides with the release of 2013 data revealing that China has shot ahead of Germany for the first time in terms of patent filings.

  Soon after becoming Chinese President in November 2012 Xi Jinping spoke of his belief that “The Great Revival of the Chinese nation is the greatest Chinese dream”. Attempts to understand the concept of “Chinese dream” have followed extensively since.

  China continues to tackle its enormous electricity generation needs using a number of energy sources.  Nuclear power is a key part of the supply strategy due to its large,  constant, emission-free output.  The nuclear power plant construction schedule in China is unprecedented in its scale. 

  Five years since the onset of the financial crisis most Western economies are still struggling to return to healthy growth and employment levels. This week Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, asks whether Europe and Japan will indeed ever recover their “animal spirits”[1].

  To solve global problems, countries should spend less time admonishing China to become a responsible stakeholder, and focus instead on nurturing the domestic coalitions of interest groups and providing the technical capacity that will make it so.

  China passed its first patent law in 1984. This started a process of building a patent system closer to that of Japan and Europe. Three kinds of patents have been granted since then: invention, utility model and design patents.