While the US remains central to innovation research, China has become the biggest spender on later-stage development, a Boston Consulting Group study released last Monday shows.
波士顿咨询集团上周一发布的一份研究报告显示，虽然美国仍然处于创新研究的中心，但中国已成为在后期研发上支出最多的国家。
China is expected to invest up to twice as much as the US, or $658 billion, in the back end of the research and development chain by 2018, focusing on translating basic and applied research into commercial products and new manufacturing processes.到2018年，中国有望在后端研发链领域投入6580亿美元，达美国的两倍。中国在后端研发链领域的投入主要着力于将基本应用研究转化为商用产品和新的制造工艺。US leadership in industrial innovation "looks far less secure", despite its push in front-end R&D investment, the report concluded.报告总结称，虽然美国努力推动前端研发投资，但其在工业创新领域的领先优势看起来远没有那么稳固。The report suggested academic research should align with the interests of manufacturing industries.
该报告认为，学术研究应该与制造业的利益相一致。The surge in research spending comes as part of the country's decade-long efforts to upgrade its manufacturing sector.研究支出的激增，部分原因是中国十年来在升级制造业方面的努力。The world's second largest economy now ranks ninth according to the number of domestically domiciled high-tech public companies.现在，这一世界第二大经济体在国内注册的高科技上市公司的数量位居全世界第九。Innovation has sprawled out in diverse fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, drones, e-commerce, electronic vehicles, mobile telecommunications, high-speed rail, robotics and supercomputing.创新已经延伸到包括人工智能、生物技术、无人机、电子商务、电动汽车、移动电信、高速铁路、机器人和超级运算在内的多个领域。