Although China and the United States are both big countries in scientific and technological innovation, the direction of innovation is obviously different.
1. The direction of scientific and technological innovation in the United States
The field of scientific and technological innovation in the United States is much less than that of 50 years ago, and it is limited to the fields of network and digital, military industry, communications, chips, finance, entertainment, etc., and the scientific and technological line is shrinking, but the strength of the advantageous fields is not reduced.
1. Integrated circuits: the world's first, general-purpose chips such as computer CPUs, graphics cards and GPUs are almost monopolized.
2. Military industry: the world's largest arms dealer, arms exports account for 45% of the world
3. Communication technology: At present, the United States is ready to skip 5G and upgrade directly to 6G, which is based on satellite networks; SpaceX's low-orbit Internet Starlink has launched more than 30,000 satellites, basically forming global coverage.
4. Artificial intelligence: the main direction of the United States, the Tianzi No. 1 project, the United States believes that artificial intelligence will dominate everything in the future and is the core of the fourth industrial revolution.
5. Operating system: The United States has a first-mover advantage and has formed a rich ecosystem, and it is difficult for latecomers to gain a foothold.
6. Social platforms: facebook, x, whatsapp, messenger, youtube, LinkedIn, etc., with more than 6 billion users worldwide, where there are people, there are American social software, which is the main tool for the United States to control the global ** orientation.
7. Online shopping platforms: Amazon, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, eBay, etc., of which Amazon is the world's largest online shopping platform, covering major countries around the world.
8. Biomedicine: representative companies such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, although Chinese people are relatively unfamiliar with American pharmaceutical companies, the gap between China and the United States in medical science is not smaller than that of chips.
9. Audio-visual platforms: mainly Netflix, Disney, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc., these platforms are not only American platforms, but also audio-visual platforms for the world.
10. Game Entertainment: Represented by Steam, EA, Epic, Unity, Blizzard, Apple App Store, Google Play, and Xbox, it controls the entire game industry chain, from game engines to game production and distribution, and the United States has far more control over the global game industry than imagined; Among them, the most critical is the four major game publishing platforms, corresponding to the computer game Steam and Epic GL, corresponding to the mobile game Apple App Store and Google Play, all games in the world can only reach global users (except China) by landing on these four platforms.
11. Aerospace science and technology: represented by NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Loma, with a focus on space stations, lunar landings, and Mars exploration.
12. Aviation technology: represented by Boeing, one of the two giants of large aircraft, with a global market share of about 40%.
13. Fintech: the world's largest capital market and the maker of financial rules.
Second, the direction of China's scientific and technological innovation
If the United States' scientific and technological innovation is a river, then China's scientific and technological innovation is a vast sea, far-reaching, in all fields and all directions, the scene is very shocking, in human history only Europe in the 19th century and the United States in the last century can be compared.
Power transmission: UHV and smart grid, the world's first.
New energy: solar, wind, nuclear, hydro.
New energy vehicles: power batteries, vehicle electrification, vehicle intelligence, unmanned driving, hydrogen energy, etc.
Infrastructure engineering: the world's first, indisputable.
Industrial raw materials: large-scale production of bulk industrial raw materials, refining of rare industrial raw materials, refining of associated raw materials, etc.
Industrial automation: Introduce new technologies such as the Internet, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and robotics to achieve a higher degree of automation.
Integrated circuits: The whole industrial chain of integrated circuits, including design software, design, manufacturing, manufacturing equipment, etc., seeks breakthroughs in all aspects.
Aerospace science and technology: space station, lunar base, space mining, space farming, space city, deep space exploration, etc.
Operating system: Computer operating systems and mobile phone operating systems are advancing, and some progress has been made at present, and basic usability has been realized, but the ecological construction has just started, and Huawei's Hongmeng system is more optimistic.
Aviation science and technology: C919 has been put into operation, the current localization rate is about 50%, and the key engine and other modules are still imported, and the localization will be gradually realized in the future, which is estimated to take about 20 years; The C929 is under development and a prototype is expected in the next three years; COMAC seeks to form a three-strong pattern with Airbus and Boeing.
Audio-visual entertainment: Audio-visual works are still mainly limited to China, and the ability to export to foreign countries is relatively weak; The audio-visual platform only has a certain number of users in some countries in Southeast Asia, and its influence in the world is weak.
Social platform: Douyin has more than 2 billion global users, becoming China's first social platform with global influence, which has greatly extended China's influence, but Douyin's development abroad is still difficult and it has been treated unfairly by Western countries.
Biomedicine: the world's first in pharmaceutical raw materials; The R&D of innovative drugs is catching up, and it is currently at the second-rate level in the world;
Online shopping platforms: AliExpress, Pinduoduo Temu, Shein, Douyin, etc. are all global online shopping platforms, and have achieved good results in the low-end market, but if you want to challenge Amazon, you still need to work quality and service.
Game entertainment: China is already the world's top game content producer, especially mobile games, with a global market share of nearly 50%; The game engine is almost blank in China, and the two major engines used in the United States are basically used; Tencent has tried to play a game publishing platform, but it has basically failed, and there is no game publishing platform in China in the international market.
Artificial intelligence, network technology and other information technology: basically the United States is taking one step at a time, China is following one step at a time, and it is still in the imitation stage; Artificial intelligence chips, China's biggest shortcoming is ecology.
3. Comparison of scientific and technological innovation between China and the United States
Two ways in which the United States is better than China:
The first is to build a global platform to control the lifeblood of the global economy. At present, the United States has created five global platform systems for shopping, social networking, audio-visual, game distribution and financial capital, covering almost all economic activities from physical goods, advertising and marketing, culture and entertainment to investment. Made in China is powerful, but for every product sold by Chinese merchants on Amazon, the United States may get more benefits than Chinese sellers, and the revenue of Tencent Games and NetEase Games will be siphoned off by 30% by American platforms! The platform is king, and China must actively make up for the shortcomings on the global platform!
The second is people-centered. Most of the innovation in the United States revolves around people, providing people with better services, better enjoyment, and subtly influencing people's thoughts, this strategy has brought the global human relationship with the United States closer, and established a world field and ideology that is beneficial to the United States. China is good at making tangible things, but it is not good at exporting its own culture and ideas!
China is superior to the United States in two ways:
One is the breadth of innovation. The U.S. has an obvious capital-seeking nature in scientific and technological innovation, and only bets on profitable areas, which leads to the fact that the breadth of U.S. scientific and technological innovation is far inferior to that of China. China seeks breakthroughs in almost all fields and directions, while the United States is confined to digital networks and virtual worlds, and has an obvious tendency to avoid reality and pursue fiction. In the short term, the United States may go further, but virtual technology ultimately needs the support of reality, and excessive de-realization, just like de-industrialization in the past, the road will inevitably get narrower and narrower, and eventually enter a dead end!
The second is the universality of innovation. Many of China's scientific and technological innovations are closely related to the well-being of the whole people, such as electricity, energy, infrastructure, industrial raw materials, pharmaceutical raw materials, public transportation, logistics and transportation, etc., which have a long innovation cycle, low profits, large investment and high risks, but they are indispensable and closely related to the interests of the whole people. Innovation in these areas is rarely involved in other countries, but China is still actively investing, if not for anything else, to make life better for its 1.4 billion Chinese, and the world will benefit from it. The most typical example is not China's insistence, the world cannot use such cheap solar and wind energy, and is still trapped in power shortages.
In contrast, I am more optimistic about China's innovation, although it is not as bright as the United States in the short term, but China is not biased, more inclusive, and has a stronger foundation. The most important point is that I am not very optimistic about the United States' all-in approach to artificial intelligence, which is now obviously hyped more than substantial, and does not rule out the possibility of becoming a second metaverse. Of course, we must actively learn from the advantages of the United States, and we must help the United States reduce its burden.