Unequal partners: U.S. collaboration with China and India in Research and Development

Abstract

For more than seven decades, leadership in technological innovation has sustained the unique position of the United States in the international system. From nuclear energy to the Internet, U.S. preeminence in pioneering new technologies has been an important source of the country's economic affluence and military might. In this context, it is not surprising that scholars now debate how rapidly emerging powers—particularly China and India—are developing their own capacities for innovation. Thus far, this debate has reached no consensus. Some scholars are impressed with the Asian giants' innovation trajectories, others criticize various weaknesses in their national innovation systems, and still others remain essentially undecided