University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Conference on Chinese Approaches to National Innovation University of California, San Diego La Jolla, California, June 28 - 29, 2010 Chinese Innovations in Mobile Telecommunications: Third Generation vs. “Guerrilla Handsets” Tomoo Marukawa University of Tokyo! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! "#$%&'(!)*)+$! ,#!'#-!.&$./0*-+! '#-!1#$!.&-*-&#'!"&-2#/-!*/-2#$34!)+$5&44&#'! Chinese Innovations in Mobile Telecommunications: Third Generation vs. ‘Guerrilla Handsets” Paper presented at the IGCC Conference: Chinese Approaches to National Innovation La Jolla, California, June 28-29, 2010 Abstract: This paper analyses two cases of innovation which have taken place recently in China. Although both cases are related to mobile telecommunications, they represent very different types of innovation: One is a government-led, top-down type, which has been much publicized by the Chinese media as a successful case of China’s “indigenous innovation,” while the other is a bottom-up, unofficial one, which is usually not considered as an “innovation” in the Chinese media but rather as a case of industrial piracy. In this paper, however, I will shed light on the innovative aspect of the latter, and compare its market results with the former. JEL classification codes: L63, L86, O32 Tomoo Marukawa Institute of Social Science University of Tokyo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan e-mail:
[email protected] Introduction This study analyses two cases of innovation which have taken place recently in China. Although both cases are related to mobile telecommunications, they represent very different types of innovation: One is a government-led, top-down type, which has been much publicized by the Chinese media as a successful case of China’s “indigenous innovation,” while the other is a bottom-up, unofficial one, which is usually not considered as an “innovation” in the Chinese media but rather as a case of industrial piracy.