How you see China as a world-class innovator or world-class cheater ?

China's spectacular economic rise is producing some of the world's biggest and fastest-growing companies. Does this also mean that China is an innovation power on par with America? On the one hand, boosters point to the soaring number of patents held by Chinese technology firms like Huawei and Lenovo, the number of Chinese PhDs in technical fields graduating each year and the success of internet firms like Alibaba and Tencent as evidence that China is leapfrogging to the forefront of global innovation. On the other hand, sceptics highlight the lack of rule of law and respect for intellectual property rights inside the country, widespread corporate espionage and cybertheft, and forced technology transfers as evidence that China remains a copycat and a cheat.

Particularly important as the country's export-led growth model based on cheap labour runs out of steam. Now China's leaders openly talk about the need to shift from exports to domestic consumption, and of the need to boost services. They are explicitly targeting innovation as a national priority, in the hope of speeding the shift from brawn to brain that is required to prosper in this new century's ideas economy. So is China a world-class innovator or not? What do you think?

Yes, We are developing even in space?

ISRO is the crowning jewel of India. India’s space organisation, ISRO, launched a rocket  today carrying a small, unmanned spacecraft, the Mangalyaan (“Mars vehicle”). By the end of the month, the orbiter is set to stretch its solar wings and begin anine-month trip to Mars. Officially, it will look for signs of methane on Earth’s neighbor.  successful mission would swell national pride. But as the Mangalyaan begins its journey, many might wonder how a country that cannot feed all of its people can find the money for a Mars mission. How can poor countries afford space programmes?

India is not the only emerging economy with space ambitions. There are many countries regulating with over 70 space programmes, though only a dozen of these have any sort of launch capability. In this area China’s shown their advanced capability and : last year it put a woman in space, and in December it will launch its first (uncrewed) lunar mission. 

The glance of Indian edge, Inida still has immense numbers of poor people: two-fifths of its children remain stunted from malnutrition and half the population lack proper toilets. Its Mars mission may be cheap by American (or Chinese) standards, at just $74m, but India’s overall space programme costs roughly $1 billion a year. That is more than spare change, even for a near $2-trillion economy. Meanwhile, spending on public health, at about 1.2% of GDP, is dismally low. 

Needing alter development for general requirements: Trips to the Moon and Mars may well be mostly about showing off. But most space programmes are designed to get satellites into Earth’s orbit for the sake of better communications, mapping, weather observation or military capacity at home. These bring direct benefits to ordinary people. Take one recent example: a fierce cyclone that hit India’s east coast last month killed few, whereas a similar-strength one in the same spot, in 1999, killed over 10,000.