Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography Institute News
New publication on China’s innovation network

New publication on China’s innovation network

China is rising and gradually developing into an innovation-oriented economy. This transition is fueled by public and private investment in education and by increasing inputs into science and technology. Little attention, however, has been paid to the great differences in China-specific context peculiarity. The recently online-published article “The spatial configuration of innovation networks in China” by Guoqing Lyu and Ingo Liefner examines the determinants of innovation networks in China’s machinery manufacturing industry based on data generated through semi-structured interviews and large-scale questionnaire surveys. The results show that Chinese innovation networks are affected not only by innovation resource endowments and firm attributes, but also by government interference and regional culture. Regarding the influence of regional culture, the typical Northern culture with the importance of guanxi plays an important role in the process of searching for partners and makes the innovation network and interpersonal network interwoven.

Lyu, G. & Liefner, I. (2018): The spatial configuration of innovation networks in China. In: GeoJournal. DOI: 10.1007/s10708-017-9844-1