Want to learn more about innovation and intellectual property in China?
IP-firm CEO and China expert Luke Minford shared his insights from more than 30 years of experience in the country at Papula-Nevinpat’s IP summit held on 5 October 2022 at Helsinki Music Centre.
“There are two common competing narratives about innovation in China,” says Minford.
“The first is the Western media narrative, which tells us that China missed the industrial revolution and went backwards under Mao; that since then it has only managed to play catch up thanks to a cheap labour force and a willingness to copy. This narrative wants us to think that China cannot innovate, at least on a fundamental level,” he says.
“The second narrative is that China must innovate in order to overcome the economic, social and environmental challenges it’s now facing; that if China does not, it will perish in the face of global competition. This narrative also sees advantages in China’s vast digitally-savvy consumer base, its centralised ability to plan and implement at scale, and its unswerving focus on domestic priorities.”
“I am constantly trying to educate people to form their own views amid these two competing narratives, neither of which is entirely right or wrong,” he says. Read more