Innovation ecosystem needs global cooperation

Editor's note: China has risen to 10th in the global innovation ranking for 2025, according to the Global Innovation Index 2025 report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization in September. People's Daily Overseas Edition spoke to Xiao Bin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Yao Xu, an associate researcher at the Fudan Development Institute, about China's strides in innovation. Below are excerpts from the interviews. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

In terms of innovation output, China has remained in pole position for the number of patent applications for many years. Marked achievements have been made in scientific and technological transformation. China's industrial restructuring and upgrading have yielded tangible results, and it is steadily gaining advantages in global industrial competitiveness and new drivers of growth are becoming stronger.

Artificial intelligence has significantly enhanced the efficiency of R&D processes, while the continuous improvement of the country's computing and data infrastructure has led enterprises to incorporate AI into their core strategic agendas. This has had a spillover effect in policy guidance, patent deployment, academic research and product application, leading to a quantitative increase as well as a qualitative improvement in China's innovation capacity.

China promotes a stable environment for international innovation cooperation and enhanced international people-to-people exchanges to inspire more inclusive and equitable innovation through the exchange of ideas.

Moreover, China supports the establishment of broadly accepted international rules and standards in areas such as AI and cyberspace, ensuring that innovation achievements serve the common interests of humanity and align with global standards. Through these efforts, China contributes its wisdom and solutions to building an open, inclusive and mutually beneficial global innovation and technology governance system.

The key to enhancing national innovation capacity lies in breaking down disciplinary boundaries and fostering deep integration and collaboration among the natural sciences, engineering and social sciences. Technological innovation should be deeply rooted in ethical and cultural contexts.

Drawing on international experience, China should integrate engineering practice with humanistic care to build a multidimensional innovation ecosystem that combines technological drive with value orientation. It is also essential to deepen institutional reforms in higher education and promote collaboration between universities and enterprises to strengthen the alignment between talent cultivation and industrial demand. These efforts will provide solid talent and institutional foundations for achieving self-reliance in science and technology.

To further enhance its innovation capacity, China should focus on three key areas. First, strengthen the innovation ecosystem by systematically planning AI computing power, data resources and high-quality open-source systems, and by advancing demand-driven initiatives and industry consortiums to bridge the "last mile" between research and market application. Second, reinforce the foundation of innovation by maintaining sustained investment in basic research and providing long-term, stable support to young scientific and technological talent. And third, strengthen innovation security and open cooperation by establishing a unified framework for AI technology evaluation, alignment and safety governance, and by promoting international pilot programs and standard cooperation to actively advance the global presence of China's AI ecosystem.