The rivalry between powers is being played out today, primarily in the field of artificial intelligence, patents and education. The extraction of the palm tree in these areas brings it closer to obtaining the status of a global hegemon.
According to the Center for Data Innovation report, presented by Daniel Castro, Michael McLaughlin and Elin Chicot, artificial intelligence (AI) not only increases productivity and competitiveness, but also helps to better protect national security. Sometimes he serves the common good – for example, by diagnosing diseases (and even that is no less effective than doctors). However, sometimes AI competition is a zero-sum game. This situation occurs, for example, in military use.
According to the authors of the report, the United States still dominates the global race for the AI palm. The USA got 44.2 points out of 100 possible. The second place was taken by China with a score of 32.3. The Europeans have nothing to be proud of – with a score of 23.5 points they took third place.
The US leads in talent, research, development, and equipment. China dominates the adaptation and data categories. The authors of the report list 4 reasons for keeping the United States in the lead:
– there are the most startups using artificial intelligence and receiving the most private funds;
Leading the way in the development of traditional semiconductors and AI-powered computer chips;
– it is there that the best scientific texts related to artificial intelligence are created
However, the authors of the report argue that “China is ahead of the EU and it seems that it is quickly catching up with the US.” Gregory K. Allen of the Center for New American Security believes China is not going to give up on AI. The plans of the Chinese Ministry of Education for 2018 include, inter alia:
– Creation of 50 world-class materials for AI research;
– creation of 50 thematic online courses and
– 50 research institutions, faculties and research centers dedicated to AI.
What’s more, the Chinese ministry is also launching a 5-year plan to train 500 AI instructors and 5,000 world-class students.
Technology in the field of economics
The Chinese authorities, led by Xi Jinping, are well aware that they must strive for leadership in the field of artificial intelligence and independence from international technology.
In July 2017, The New York Times wrote that Beijing announced a plan to take over the seat of the world leader in AI before 2030. According to the State Council program, the country must build its own AI industry, worth at least $ 150 billion.
The broadly planned program will include support for agriculture, camera tracking techniques, Internet censorship, and predicting future crimes. According to the plan, China should catch up with the United States in 2020, make breakthrough discoveries in 2025, and become “the world’s best artificial intelligence innovation center” in 2030.
This could be cause for serious concern, as the country is already implementing an Orwellian social credit program, which recognizes clauses for pro-social actions and cons for actions that are not encouraged by the authorities. A bad result can seriously complicate your daily life.
Fighting patents
In the broad category of intellectual property, measured by the number of patents, China is starting to come out ahead. Patent rivalry is a matter of the modern economy, in which the number of patents is growing at lightning speed. If in 1990 406 582 patents were recognized worldwide, then in 2018 there were no fewer than 1 422 800. The mentioned tripling is the result of the development of digital communication and modern technologies, among which the growth of patents is the most significant, says Erin Doffing on the pages of the site “Statista”.
One of them, and probably the most reliable, is the account of all applications filed in a given country. In 2019, 1,401,000 were filed in China. “This is 9.1% less than in 2018, but still more than twice as much as in the United States,” wrote Aaron Lininger for the National Law Review “. “This shows the dynamics of the local economy, but gives little compared to other states, since in each of them the rules for recognizing patents are different,” notes the analytical website China Power.
The best criterion for comparison is the so-called triad patents. The applicant applies for protection of his intellectual property with both the Japanese Patent Office and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office.
The goal of this costly and complex procedure (sometimes lasting 5-6 years) is to obtain protection in several countries at the same time. Back in 2016, the Chinese were not in the best position in these statistics (6.9% of all applications). The US share was 26.1%, and the Japanese share was 32.2%. Since the 90s of the XX century. The United States received 10 thousand already confirmed patents, while China exceeded two thousand in 2013.
The high position of Americans and Japanese in the ranking may stem from the fact that 2 out of 3 offices that recognize triad patents are located in these countries. It is also worth noting the applications filed in the system created under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which provides the possibility of filing patent applications in several countries at the same time. China entered into an agreement in 1994.
According to Francis Gury, Director of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 1999 the organization received 276 patent applications from China. In 2019, this number increased more than 200 times – up to 58,900.
As a result, in 2019, China surpassed the United States (which was in first place since the beginning of the organization’s work, that is, since 1967). Harry also notes the long-term trend towards the eastward trend of the source of innovation. Grant applications from Asia already account for more than half of all applications in the world.
If we compare individual firms, then since 2017, China’s Huawei has consistently ranked first among the companies filing the most applications. In 2019, South Korean Samsung was in second place, and the American company Qualcomm Inc. won the bronze medal, right behind the podium (4th place) was the Chinese company Gudang Dong Oppose Mobile Telecommunications of China (1.927). In the top ten companies there are 4 Chinese firms and only one American (the aforementioned Qualcomm).
However, the honor of Americans is saved a little by educational institutions. Here, in the top ten applicants, there are 5 American and only 4 Chinese universities. University of California (470) is in the lead, Tsinghua University is in second place (265), Shenzhen University is third (247), and MIT is fourth (230), according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
