INDIA vs CHINA {TECHNOLOGY}

Quantity-driven China beats India in the technology knowhow race

China is nipping at the heels of the US, the world leader in science and technology. It has already caught up in quantity, though it is still some way behind in quality.

If you had compared India and China in the late 1980s, there would not have been much difference in their science and technology capabilities. In the early 1990s, China had started moving ahead, but the two countries were not too far apart in their preparations for the 21st century industries.

But in the 1990s, China invested heavily in education and research and started moving ahead very quickly. It has continued this thrust ever since. Now the two are poles apart in science and technology infrastructure.

China is nipping at the heels of the US, the world leader in science and technology. It has already caught up in quantity, though it is still some way behind in quality.

India and China have brought different philosophies while investing in science and technology. Chinese leaders, many of whom are well-educated in science and engineering, decided that science and innovation should drive the Chinese economy.

Indian politicians, mostly without a scientific or technical background, had a different trajectory in mind for the country’s economic growth. China wanted to be the world leader in as many areas as possible, while India had no such overriding purpose.

Here ET collects some data that shows how far apart the two countries are in their preparation for the knowledge industries of the future. Some of these statistics have be taken with a dose of scepticism, as China is driven by the aim of creating quantity.

But the data clearly shows that China is now at least a decade ahead of India, and is moving further quickly