Let a Thousand Ideas Flower: China Is a New Hotbed of Research

The New York Times > Technology > Let a Thousand Ideas Flower: China Is a New Hotbed of Research

Set in the heart of the Haidian District in Beijing, with its canyons of universities, labs and high-tech ventures, his office occupies a corner of Microsoft Research Asia, the software giant's ambitious effort to tap scientific brainpower in China.

Dr. Shum oversees 170 scientists who huddle around computers in gray cubicles to brainstorm and tinker with ideas that may one day drive Microsoft's technological empire to even greater heights.

"Microsoft began to realize we can't find all the talented people in the U.S.," he said. Pointing outside, he added: "Nowhere in this universe has a higher concentration of I.Q. power."

Microsoft is not the only multinational company to use China as a base for research and development. In recent years hundreds of them have set up laboratories here, and Chinese officials claim the number is growing by 200 a year.

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"The Chinese are going to become sources of innovation,'' said Denis Fred Simon, a specialist in Chinese science and technology who is provost of the new graduate-level Levin Institute of the State University of New York. "They will find themselves enmeshed in global R.& D. more and more.''

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Executives at Microsoft and other companies argue that their Chinese labs are not taking jobs away from the United States or elsewhere. "There's an internationalization of research going on," Dr. Rashid said. "That's a good thing. The more smart people, the more innovation, and the more benefits for companies like Microsoft."

The starting point for this research boom is China's growing importance and sophistication as a market for technology, especially telecommunications and the Internet, industry executives said.

"People realize that with the expansion of China's market they need to tailor products to the China market," said Martin Hirt, who works for McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm, and has advised companies on technology development in China. "A 50-year-old Finnish or American engineer is not going to understand the needs of an 18-year-old Chinese youth."