Back in 2011, when we began work on a McKinsey Quarterly article called “A CEO’s guide to innovation in China,”1 much of the debate was about whether the country was more likely to become innovative or to remain a fast follower of foreign leaders. Even then, that seemed like yesterday's question. Companies in China were innovating; we were seeing that every day in areas such as renewable energy, consumer electronics, instant messaging, and mobile gaming, both at domestic players and at multinationals with significant research and product-development presences.
Nothing that has happened since has changed our view. Indeed, our sense today is that the pace of innovation is quickening and that a new spirit of innovation is spreading across sectors into universities and even into key departments of the Chinese government. In a recent series of interviews with executives at Chinese companies, we detected evidence of real innovation leadership and the potential for more to come. John Oyler, CEO of the three-year-old Chinese biotech company BeiGene, for instance, underscored the attitude—“anything is possible, we can make it happen, there is no challenge we cannot conquer, we will surprise the world”—that he’s now seeing among Chinese scientists at his company.
To read the original article: China's innovation engine picks up speed | McKinsey & Company
