EVENTS

The 6th Giri Deshingkar Memorial Lecture

Institute of Chinese Studies

and

Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

 cordially invite you to the Sixth Giri Deshingkar Memorial Lecture

The Chinese Century? Some Policy Implications of China’s Move to High-Tech Innovation

 by

Prof. Richard Appelbaum

(Macarthur Chair of Sociology and Global and International Studies

University of California at Santa Barbara)

 “The Chinese Century? Some Policy Implications of China’s Move to High-Tech Innovation”

on

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 6 P.M.

at the Conference Room No. III, India International Centre (IIC) Annexe

 The lecture will be chaired by Prof. Ashis Nandy

Sreemati Chakrabarti      Rajeev Bhargava 

Hon. Director, ICS               Director, CSDS

(Tea will be served at 5:30 P.M.)

RSVP: 2399-2166 (Tel.)

icscr2005@gmail.com

About the Speaker

Richard P. Appelbaum, Ph.D., is MacArthur Chair in Global and International Studies and Sociology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He currently serves as Director of the M.A. Program in Global & International Studies, and is co-PI at the NSF-funded Center for Nanotechnology in Society.  He has previously served as chair of the Sociology Department, and was founder and Acting Director of the UCSB Global & International Studies Program. He received his B.A. from Columbia University, M.P.A. from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has been a Simon Visiting Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, England, and an Honorary Visiting Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Hong Kong. He has received numerous awards and commendations for excellence in teaching, including the UCSB Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award in the Social Sciences. He has published extensively in the areas of social theory, urban sociology, public policy, the globalization of business, and the sociology of work and labor. Professor Appelbaum is currently engaged in two principal research projects: a multi-disciplinary study of labor conditions in supply chain networks in the Asian-Pacific Rim and a study of high technology development (focusing on nanotechnology) in China.

Abstract

The Chinese economy has been tied to that of the US for the past 20 years.  But now - thanks to the some $2 trillion dollars in foreign reserve s China has amassed through export-oriented industrialization - China now seeking to become an “innovative society,” “leapfrogging development” by investing vast sums in developing an innovative and globally competitive research and development capability.  Nanotechnology is one of the key areas selected for investment; energy is a key focus of China’s efforts in general. China by now has developed a large and growing internal market, and appears to be changing from export-driven growth to more balanced growth involving internal consumption. This chapter examines China’s investments in science and technology, discusses strengths and weaknesses, and assesses the likelihood that China will emerge as one of the world’s leading economic powers.  We conclude with a discussion of the policy implications of these developments.