Introduction

Science and technology (S&T) and innovation have been a strong force in Chinese economic growth. They are expected to play a more important role on the road to building a prosperous society according to the National Plan 2006–2020 for the Development of Science and Technology in the medium and long term.

S&T and innovation policy has been playing a key role in enabling China to catch up and move forward to become an innovative country. But in past decades, China had a different strategy for policy making and adopted a variety of policy tools. Some policies had a great impact on economic growth, some did not. As China has achieved double-digit economic growth for more than ten years, some would like to ascertain the role played by S&T and innovation policy in this long period of growth. The purpose of the paper is to analyse the origins and development of science, technology and innovation policy in China since 1978 and the challenges ahead.

Science policy is about how to promote science in a country. It was given the status of a special policy by Bernal in 1939 (Bernal, 1939). Later on, Vannevar Bush further clarified the role of science in the famous report Science: The endless frontier. According to Bush, the purpose of science policy is to contribute to national security, health and economic growth (Bush, 1945).