China becomes fifth largest innovating country

Wolrd Intellectual Property Organisation issued the patent 2006 report

Link to full report is here

Report is very interesting, it shows that China has overtaken Germany in 2004 as the source of new patent filings. See chart below:

Of course part of this China success story is the law of large numbers, as illustrated by the number of patents per 1000 inhabitants. However, I watch China development strategy, how they handle innovations, hoiw they denied the Washington consensus reforms and followed their own path, how they build relationship capital with Africa countries (recall that between now and 2050 African population will grow by 1bn people and European population will shrink by 70 mln, or by 10 percent). When you look at South Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, you should begin to worry where Europe is heading with its lack of clear vision. Because I cannot call a vision a situation, when we have a “zombie” Lisbon agenda on the one hand, and spend half of the EU budget on argiculture on the other hand.