Why China Won't Innovate for the Next 20 Years


Bangalore:  While China is regarded as the one competitor that could outrun India in the race to become the most innovative, Xu Xiaoping, a prominent personality in the area of VC and funding smaller startups doesn’t think the bamboo country will prove to be innovative for the next 20 years.

Although this idea proves to be contrary to the recent news about investments China has been making into its R&D departments, Xu, at a Yale Club of Beijing talk, listed the factors that could prove to be stumbling blocks for China being truly innovative in the near future. Here are the factors that Venture Beat listed from Xu’s talk on Saturday:

1. Education is always first. Always, even if it kills off passion

Asian parents are always stereotyped as being overly protective, paranoid, and strict when it comes to their children, but what not many know is the fact that there is actually a base behind their anxiety—one that hinges on the fierce competition and difficulty related to academics.

With so many students fighting to get into the best schools and to bag the best jobs, the only way in other than having guanxi (relations) within management, according to Xu, is through premium grades. He went on to explain that the Gao Kao, which is China’s most important high school and university entrance exam is the main killer of both passion and creativity.

Xu is convinced that China’s education system lags behind Western countries such as America, where the flame of innovation is fanned, rather than put out. By the time students pass the main exams, they become stereotypes of every other student that passed out, doing what they are expected to, instead of excelling at something they love.

Read on for more reasons China won't innovate for the next 20 years.