Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

Mon 07 Jul 2007China's top 20WORLD INNOVATION:China has become the world's factory, where half the industrial goods on earth are made, but it is not known for being a centre of innovation. That may be about to changeFOLLOWING ON FROM JAPAN IN the 1950s and 1960s, China's reputation today is for low-cost manufacturing of goods designed elsewhere. The government's thinking however, is focused on what comes next, and innovation is becoming a national obsession.