Senior tech official stresses innovation for growth

China must take the initiative on innovation rather than just relying on its late-development advantage, a top technology official said on Thursday.

"Innovation-driven growth will be the only model for China's development," said Zhang Laiwu, vice-minister of scienceand technology, at the third Annual Meeting of China's Independent Innovation in Beijing.

"Nowadays, no matter how much you invest, there will not be too much growth generated," added Zhang.

He also attributed the global economic turmoil in recent years to an over-expansion of the financial sector, and a lack of momentum in technological innovation.

Zhang said that many of the economic bottlenecks now being faced by China - such as in land and labor supply - can be resolved only through innovation, not only in technology, but also with the "introduction of new products, exploration of new markets, or acquisitions of new materials sources".

Zhang's comments were echoed by Hou Yunchun, the former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, who was also addressing Thursday's meeting.

"Pursuing what others do can only help us transform from a low-income society to a middle-income society, but it won't help us ascend to a high-income one," said Hou.

China is gradually realizing its goal of building an innovation-led economy by 2020.

That consists of increasing the proportion of expenditure on innovation to more than two percent of GDP.

The contribution of technology to economic growth should be more than 40 percent.

However, Zhang warned that much of the "innovation-driven growth" carried out by local authorities was investment-driven.

This could lead to overcapacity similar to that seen in the solar-power industry, which resulted in the bankruptcy of SuntechPower, once China's largest solar powercompany.

He Defang, director of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, warned that any national innovation strategy should take into account the different development stages reached by various areas of the economy.

He said that any economy can only be considered "innovation-driven" when per capita GDP exceeds $17,000, which in China are only in its eastern regions, which include cities such as Wuxi and Suzhou.

Those cities were among the top 10 "most innovative" in China, according to a latest survey ranking by Economic Daily.

Shenzhen was the most innovative city in 2013, while China Shipbuilding Industry Corp was the most innovative enterprise, according to its list.