Chinese University Patents Account for Over One-Quarter of Key Technology Inventions, US Research Funding Cuts Intensify Competition Concerns

According to Fortune, a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study released by Harvard Business School's Josh Lerner team shows that an analysis of nearly 14 million Chinese patents reveals Chinese universities account for more than a quarter of inventions in 14 key technology areas identified by the Pentagon (including AI, hypersonics, biotechnology, etc.), which is 8 times the 3.3% share of U.S. universities, while contributions from large enterprises such as Huawei and Tencent rank secondary. The study also found that the proportion of Chinese key technology patents containing "disruptive" technical language has risen from less than 2% in the early 1990s to 16% in 2022, approaching the U.S. level of about 20%, and the gap in patent quality is narrowing rapidly. Meanwhile, U.S. federal research funding continues to contract—the Trump administration has terminated over 1,392 NIH grants (involving $539 million), the NSF has also canceled or suspended nearly 2,000 projects, and the combined amount cut and frozen by NIH and NSF exceeds $3 billion. In 2024, China's R&D expenditure surpassed the U.S. for the first time ($1.03 trillion vs $1.01 trillion), and since 2004, the average annual growth rate has exceeded 14%, approximately twice that of the U.S. Researchers warn that the impact of research funding cuts may take years or even decades to manifest.