文/谢祖樨译/史小今

何为中国创新驱动力？

文/谢祖樨1译/史小今

中国有创新的能力吗？这是一个饱受争议的问题。很多人，尤其是西方人对中国的创新能力充满怀疑。然而，不仅很多外国人不相信中国的创新能力，许多中国人一样嘲讽“中国创新”的概念。

Is China capable of innovating? This is a controversial question. Plenty of people, especially those in the West are doubtful of China’s innovative capabilities. But it’s not just outside of China where you find non-believers, many Chinese also mock the concept of “Chinese innovation”.

[2]2014年春，我在《欧洲的世界》发表文章《不要小看中国的创新潜力》，阐述我对中国创新潜力的观点。2015年10月，在《经济学人》的熊彼得专栏里，中国被认为在某些方面具备创新的能力。而“某些方面”主要是指中国为适应快速变化的环境在业务模式创新上做出敏捷反应的能力。

[2] In the spring of 2014, I published inEurope’s Worldan article entitled“Don’t Belittle the Potential of China’s Innovation”. In this article, I described my perspective on China’s innovation potential. In October, 2015, in the Schumpeter22《经济学人》2009年开设的专栏，以美籍奥地利政治经济学家约瑟夫·熊彼得（Joseph Schumpeter，1883—1950）的名字命名。熊彼得是少数能以客观眼光看待商业的知识分子。他认为经济进步的核心就是创新，创新让新企业有机会取代老企业，同时也给予新企业以创新的动力。他曾将资本主义比作“具有创造性破坏力的永恒风暴”（the perennial gale of creative destruction），这也是他最常被人引用的话。column ofThe Economist,China was acknowledged as capable of innovation in certain areas. These“certain areas” were referring to China’s capability to create highly adaptive and responsive business model innovations in a fast changing environment.

[3]这是西方主流媒体首次公开认可中国的创新能力。最近，有更多的西方媒体开始谈论中国的创新能力。2016年12月，《连线》杂志发表了一篇文章，探讨了青年科技创业者尤其是互联网创业者在中国激增的现象。2016年3月的《连线》封面展现了西方对中国创新能力认知的大逆转。置于小米创始人雷军的照片下的标题写道：“是时候模仿中国了——你可以从最具创意的初创公司中学到什么？”今年1月，优步公司CEO特拉维斯·卡兰尼克在北京发表演说并预测，在未来的5年中，中国的创新将超过硅谷。他还警告硅谷的同事们，要意识到这种范式转变，不能自满。《连线》、特拉维斯·卡兰尼克、《经济学人》都非等闲之辈，对于全球商业和科技发展的动态了如指掌，其对于中国创新的看法值得我们注意。为什么中国创新的大幅进步最终引起了工业和意见领袖的关注？我认为原因有以下几点：

[3] It was the fi rst time ever that mainstream, western media openly recognized China’s innovation capabilities. Recently, more western media are talking about China’s innovation capabilities. The December 2016 edition ofWiredpublished an article discussing the large surge in number of young tech entrepreneurs, especially internet entrepreneurs, in China. The cover ofWired’s March 2016 issue showed a complete reversal3reversal颠倒，逆转。on how the west is now viewing China’s innovation capabilities. Placed beneath the face of Xiaomi founder Lei Jun are the headlines,“It’s Time to Copy China. What You Can Learn From Its Most Inventive Startups.”In January, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick gave a talk in Beijing where he forecasted that in the next five years, China’s innovation will surpass that of Silicon Valley. He also warned his colleagues in Silicon Valley that they need to be aware of this paradigm shift and cannot become complacent.Wired, Travis Kalanick, andThe Economistare not marginal players. They all have their fingers on the pulse of4have one’s finger on the pulse of熟悉，了解；紧跟最新动态。global business and technology. Their views on China’s innovation are worth taking note of. So why is China’s innovation apparently taking a giant leap forward forcing industry and opinion leaders to fi nally taking note. I think it’s because of the following reasons:

1.“为什么不是我？”：上世纪70年代末，中国改革开放拉开序幕，中国人发现，中国经济和世界经济差距巨大。

1. “Why not me?”: At the end of the1970s during the onset5onset开始。of China’s era of reform and opening to the world, the Chinese discovered that the gap between the Chinese economy and those economies was vast.

2.转型中的激烈竞争：中国从计划经济向市场经济的转型过程是循序渐进的。这种转型已经历了几十年的时间，如果要完全过渡的话，可能还要再花上几十年时间。在这期间，一系列商业领域被开放。中国巨大的市场规模持续吸引着大量竞争者并引发激烈的竞争。超竞争环境激励企业提高自身竞争力，而创新则是企业保持领先的最佳途径。

2. Transformative and intense competition: China’s process of shifting from a planned economy to a market economy is gradual. It’s taken several decades already and would likely take another couple of decades more, if ever to completely transition. During this shift over time, a range of sectors were opened up. The allure of the China market’s massive scale continues to attract numerous players and ignites6ignite刺激，引起。intense competition. The hyper competition7美国著名学者理查德·戴维尼（Richard D’Avani）1994年提出的观点。他认为，今天的企业处在超强竞争的环境下，持续优势是不存在的，只有通过打破现状才能获得一系列短暂优势。因此，长期的成功需要动态战略，不断地去创造、毁灭又再造短期优势。战略目标将是打破现状，而不是建立稳定和平衡。spurs companies to enhance their competitiveness and innovation is the best way for companies to stay ahead.

3.移动互联网的兴起：当然，这是一个关键驱动因素。当互联网、智能终端和社交媒体已经成为中国消费者日常生活的重心时，这就为创新者和创业者们提供了颠覆性创新的机遇。

3. The rise of mobile internet: This of course is a key driving factor. With the internet, smart devices, and social media becoming a core part of the everyday life of Chinese consumers, this provides tremendous disruption opportunities for innovators and entrepreneurs alike.

4.中国市场的庞大规模：中国市场的规模和快速演变属性允许企业快速扩张。与此同时，也给了创新创业者们不断摸索中学习的大量空间。对于中国市场潜力的良好预期让领头的中国企业获得高估值并从中获利，让他们获得了支持其成长所需的资本“弹药”。

4. The massive scale of the Chinese market: The size and fast changing nature of China’s market allow companiesto rapidly scale up. At the same time, it provides plenty of room for innovators and entrepreneurs to learn via trial and error. Leading Chinese companies are also bene fi tting from high valuations that are based on favorable forward looking expectations of China’s market potential. This gives them the needed capital ammunition8ammunition〈比喻〉战斗手段。to support their growth.

5.资本资源：在中国，经过过去20年的发展，很多风投公司和天使投资人已经在对中国的投资中获得了高额回报。无论这些投资来自境外还是本土，随着时间的推移，中国企业亦从这些投资者提供的巨量资本中获益匪浅。

5. Capital resources: Over the past 20 years of China’s development, many venture capital firms and angel investors have benefitted from exceptional returns from their investments in China. Regardless of whether these investors came from abroad or were homegrown, Chinese companies have also greatly bene fi ted from the vast sums of capital these investors have provided over time.

[4]中国已经进入一个新的时代。年轻且呈指数级增长的新一代创业者为国家注入新的能量和活力。当然，在创新和创业的过程中，很少有人能成功或尝试一次便成功，也有不少人会失败。也许在特定的情况下，政府还会干预。但是，只要创业者们不违法或者欺骗消费者，中国社会是允许和欢迎试错的。这个时代，这个中国创业者的时代，将给中国漫长的历史带来真正的突破性变革。□

[4] China has entered new era. A new generation of entrepreneurs defined by their youth and exponential growth nature has generated new energy and vigor into the country. Of course, in the process of innovation and entrepreneurial pursuits, only a few would succeed or succeed at the first try. Perhaps in certain situations the government would interfere. But as long as these entrepreneurs do not break laws or defraud9defraud骗取，诈取（钱财）。consumers, China’s society now allows and welcomes trials and errors. This era—the era of China’s entrepreneurs—is bringing forth real ground breaking times in China’s long history.

What Drives China’s Innovation?

ByEdward Tse

1 谢祖樨（Edward Tse）， 高风管理咨询公司创始人兼CEO。

（译者单位：清华大学社科学院）