GoKawiilChinese firms increased their reliance on science publications after the US restricted their access to proprietary information.Credit: Wang Li/VCG via Getty
Chinese firms that were restricted from accessing specific technologies created in the United States increased their use of science publications to boost innovation, according to an analysis of patent citations and scientific publications1 in Science today.
Researchers examined how Chinese firms adjusted their ways of accessing knowledge after the US government put them on an ‘Entity List’. The list prevents those on it from licensing certain materials and engaging with joint research and development projects. The US government says that the Entity List is designed to safeguard national security: It began putting large Chinese firms on the list in 2018 when the China–US geopolitical relationship became tense.
After their inclusion on the list, Chinese firms produced more patents that cited scientific publications than did companies similar to them that had not been sanctioned, as well as publishing more scientific articles than did unsanctioned companies, the article says.
The finding is notable because it shows the “unintended consequences” of US export controls, says Cong Cao, a researcher of innovation policy at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.
“Whether or not one supports technology controls, it is important to recognize that they can come with costs,” adds Dinsha Mistree, a political economist at Stanford University in California.
Although Chinese firms boosted their engagement with science after restrictions were introduced, Kenneth Huang, a researcher of innovation and technology management at the National University of Singapore, says the authors cannot be sure that a Chinese firm being placed on the Entity List actually caused this shift or whether other factors were at play.
Science against sanctions
Other studies have assessed the impact of US sanctions on Chinese innovation. But the latest analysis “uses some of the best data, as well as rigorous methods for such an analysis”, says Mistree.
To show the effect of US sanctions on Chinese innovation, the authors of the latest analysis used data sets spanning 2010–22 from several sources, including the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) — which is China’s patent and trademark office — the article-indexing platform Web of Science and the China Stock Market and Accounting Research Database.
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