Light amidst global gloom

China has to fund more R&D into new technologies to cash in on limited global economic growth over the next two decades

History tells us that the application and popularization of new technologies result in a cycle of global economic growth and the world economy enters a period of recession or adjustments once the new technologies cease to be the driving force of productivity. After that, a new technological revolution is needed to pull the global economy out of recession and lead it toward recovery and growth.

The extensive use of computer and information technology in the mid-1980s helped the world economy enjoy relatively high growth, with the average rate reaching 3.5 percent in the 1990s and 2000s. In fact, it recorded 3.9 percent from 2004 to 2007, the highest since the mid-1980s.