Abstract:
This discussion paper addresses policy learning and policy implementation in China since about 2006. In particular, the potential change of research and innovation policy under Xi Jinping is discussed, as well as core policies and strategies to further improve the Chinese innovation system and to shift it from a low-cost to an innovation-driven economy. The Internet Plus strategy and Made in China 2025 (MIC2025) as the most well-known policies that support the overall and most central "Innovation Driven Devel-opment Strategy" are briefly introduced. A first section, however, discusses policy-making processes and policy learning processes in China in general. It tries to sketch the current debate in the scientific literature, if the reform era ended and if the new au-thoritarianism under Xi Jinping is hampering policy implementation and policy learning as well as the future economic development.