Strategic Independent Innovation Policy and its Application-A Case Study of International Trade in Hi-Tech Products in West China
Shamim Shakur, Jun Niu

Abstract
A decade after Beijing introduced its “go west” policy, China’s western provinces remain a lagging region. Massive infrastructure investment and generous corporate income tax rebates failed to reduce western China’s economic disparity with the burgeoning eastern provinces. Independent innovation can serve as the engine of growth for China’s western provinces as they wake up to the challenges of a knowledge-based economy and globalization. By exploiting provincial trade data of hi-tech products and local government R&D expenditures in west China, the paper analyzes the current innovation situation and problems in hi-tech industries. A strategic independent innovation policy can play a major role in promoting innovation abilities of a firm, creating firm specific and then regional specific advantages. The paper makes a caseto improve west China’s international competitiveness in hi-tech products to bebased ona carefully-structured strategic independent innovation policy.

Full Text: PDF