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BIMSA Digital Economy Lab Seminar
Chinese Firms Are Increasingly Leveraging Science for Innovation, and U.S.-China Geopolitical Tensions Have Accelerated the Process
Chinese Firms Are Increasingly Leveraging Science for Innovation, and U.S.-China Geopolitical Tensions Have Accelerated the Process
Speaker
Yanbo Wang
Time
Friday, December 19, 2025 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Venue
A3-2-303
Online
Zoom 435 529 7909
(BIMSA)
Abstract
Science plays important roles in driving technological innovation, as evidenced by the United States (U.S.) and other OECD countries. While China has become a leading producer of scientific knowledge, Chinese firms’ engagement with science remains underexplored, especially amid rising geopolitical tensions. Examining the period from 2010 to 2022, we find that Chinese firms are increasingly leveraging science for innovation (evidenced by growth in patents that cite scientific literature—hereafter referred to as science-reliant patents) and participating in science production (reflected in rising domestic and international publications). Moreover, U.S. sanctions restricting Chinese firms’ access to proprietary technologies have accelerated their engagement with science, as science is a global public good. Firms on the U.S. Entity List have accelerated their engagement in corporate science, broadened the temporal range of scientific knowledge sourcing, and deepened their utilization of both domestic and foreign sciences. Although China’s upward trajectory is striking, a considerable gap in absolute levels of science engagement between Chinese and U.S. firms remains. Our study highlights the evolving science-technology nexus for Chinese firms under geopolitical tensions, offering important policy insights for global innovation and competition.
Speaker Intro
Yanbo Wang is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation at the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on technology-based entrepreneurship and the production, diffusion, and commercialization of scientific knowledge. Currently, his projects investigate the changing sources of competition for Chinese firms and the impact of geopolitical tensions on US-China scientific collaboration. Professor Wang serves as a Senior Editor at Organization Science and has been a member of the editorial boards for Administrative Science Quarterly, Strategic Management Journal, and Research Policy. His work has been published in leading strategy journals and in Science.
He holds a Ph.D. from MIT Sloan and an LLB from Peking University. Prior to his tenure at the University of Hong Kong, he was a faculty member at Boston University, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, and the National University of Singapore. Currently, Professor Wang is the Deputy Director of the HKU Research Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Coordinator for the PhD Program in Management and Strategy.