The Global Challenges of the Knowledge Economy: China and the EU
Can Huang & Luc Soete
#2007-028
This paper addresses some of the challenges confronting the European
Union and China as they build their knowledge economies, and their
on-going and possible future actions to address such challenges. Fifty
years after the creation of what became the European Union, we argue
that there is an urgent need to develop a new European Lisbon Agenda,
preparing the EU for globalization. A new and "outward-looking" Lisbon
strategy would focus on three key areas: international trade in
services, internationalization of research networking, and access to
brains and talent. The paper shows that the success of the Chinese
economy over the past three decades can be partially attributed to its
ability to absorb globally advanced technology and huge flows of foreign
investment, its large pool of knowledge and talent, and its enactment of
a policy framework that provides incentives to domestic and foreign
firms to innovate - a strategy very much reminiscent of Europe's own
internal Lisbon agenda. To move further, China needs to overcome the
obstacles of regional disparities, transform its industry and deepen
industry-academy linkages, which are also unavoidable tasks for the
sustainable development of Europe. We contend that the scope for
comparative studies of the EU and China, for mutual learning from each
other's experience - even for joint initiatives - is substantial.
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
ISSN 1871-9872