KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION FLOWS IN THE CHINESE TECH SECTOR

125 pagesIn this thesis, I use patents filed at the United States Patent and TrademarkOffice as a proxy for company’s technology innovation ability. I apply graph theory, economic network analysis to look at the historic development of the Chinese high-tech industry over time. My research finds that before 1997, under the support of the Chinese government, the state-owned energy company Sinopec was the only company that filed patents in America. In the early 2000s, the computer manufacturing company Lenovo filed the most patents in America. Since 2006, the telecommunications industry has overtaken the computer manufacturing industry as the most innovative industry in China. Although 14 out of Huawei’s top 20 competitors are American firms, when it comes to 5G technology, Huawei has no US rivals. Recently, the rise of patents filed by the Chinese e-commerce giants indicates China starts to have an edge in e-commerce technology innovation