Cooperation, innovation vital for China's emerging industries: expert

BEIJING£¬March 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Keeping cooperation and innovation capacity are the crucial choices for China to develop its emerging industries, an U.S. economist told Xinhuanet.

At present, there are three "main powers" co-predominating the development of emerging industries in the world, said Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director of McKinsey & Company in Beijing Sunday.

In an interview on the sideline of ongoing China Development Forum 2011, Barton said, "The first power is the power of re-balance."

"It is not the balance of the economy, but the balance between the growth from the developed countries to the developing countries, i.e., the balance of development," he explained.

Then comes the power of urbanization, which is at the same time also an important element in re-balance, he added.

To push forward urbanization, Barton said, China should encourage and promote its service sector, "so that people in the urban areas can have more opportunities," and balance urban and rural development levels.

The third power is the development of industries of strategic importance, he added. The Chinese government has stressed industries in energy saving and environmental protection, new information technology, biology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new material and new energy vehicles.

These seven industries are knowledge-concentrated or capital-concentrated, Barton noted, and in the following five years, they may decuple or achieve even more growth.

"They are globally strategic, so the country could be the node in attracting people to come here and build big businesses," he said, adding "I think it would work very well and help us all."

On the promotion of successful innovation and their commercialization, he said, it is essential to build up an opening network which can form combination, letting each party join and offering more opportunities.

In this respect, the government should play an active role through funding fundamental research or general R&D, putting necessary resources into startup of those promising ones and through the cultivation and use of talents.

By illustrating the experiences of top U.S. universities on scientific research, he added, if their Chinese counterpart, Peking University , Tsinghua University and others, can set up better cooperative partnership, then China would acquire huger potential and achieve more breakthroughs.

Barton also stressed the significance in protection of intellectual property and proprietary technology.

He noticed through cooperation among the governments, multinational corporations, small andmedium-sizedenterprises and academic institutes, a new-type innovative system has been built up in several western countries for the purpose.

The 12th China Development Forum, sponsored by the Development Research Center of the State Council, runs from Sunday till Monday and will address a wide range of topics centered on the ongoing transformation of China ’s growth pattern.