China's (Not So Hidden) Developmental State: Becoming a Leading Nanotechnology Innovator in the 21st Century.

The United States, Germany, Japan, and some 40 other countries, notably including emerging economies such as India and China are betting that nanotechnology, among other emerging technologies, will provide the key to a $2.6 trillion market by 2014 - sufficient to confer global economic leadership on the country that attains first mover advantage (Holman et al 2007: iii). An estimated $11.8 billion was invested globally in nanotechnology R&D and commercialization in 2006 - $5.8 billion from governments, $5.3 billion from corporations, and $700 million from venture capital (Holman et al 2007: 11-12). Private investment only slightly outstripped public investment for the first time in that year. Governments worldwide have clearly been drivers of nanotechnology during its early stages, and private venture capital remains limited. China (and other late industrializers) is convinced that manufacturing prowess alone will be insufficient to becoming a leading economic power in the 21st century. China's overarching goal is to become an "innovation-oriented" society by the year 2020 (OECD 2007: 17). How to become innovative in the contemporary global economy, and why it matters, has generated a plethora of ideas, concepts, and hypotheses. Our particular concern here is how the debate over innovation is reflected in China's approach to national development, with a particular application to nanotechnology. In China nanotechnology is being funded largely through government sources. This paper examines the role of the Chinese Government in fostering advances in nanotechnology, looking at the promises and pitfalls of state-led development in the world's fastest-growing major economy. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]