Companies to dominate tech revolution, says official

China will highlight the dominant role of companies in technology innovation and establish a market-oriented innovation system, according to a State Council briefing on Friday.

The country will increase companies' say in state innovation decision making, develop an industrial model with businesses taking the lead, carry out inclusive financial and taxation policies for innovation and favor innovative products for procurement.

The decision is part of China's "Opinions on accelerating implementation of innovation-driven development strategy through strengthening institutional reforms" released the same day.

Lack of innovation was identified as a weakness of Chinese companies, and only 14 percent above a certain size undertake research and development (R&D) activities. The ratio of R&D input is only about 0.8 percent, according to the briefing.

Data from the European Patent Office revealed that among the 274 000 patent filings received last year, China submitted nine percent while the US contributed 26 percent.