Executive Summary

Battle for technological supremacy. The United States and China have emerged as the dominant players in the race for hegemony in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Divergent technology standards will persist while the competition continues. The winner will have outsized influence—with economic, political, and military implications for years to come.
Rise of the Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific is the new megaregion at the heart of the global economy and geopolitical competition. As China steps up, the United States bows out, and a variety of middle powers move into the mix, the Indo-Pacific will simultaneously become more important to the commercial success of multinational corporations and more difficult to navigate.
Clean food revolution. The global food industry is experiencing a profound disruption. More consumers prefer eating “clean foods” that are healthier and more environmentally sustainable. And technological innovations in food production are enabling a new meat mix that will change how people around the world consume protein.
Next-generation fake news. Fake news has already proven costly to governments, businesses, and societies around the world. Get ready for more volatility. Falsified video and audio are becoming less expensive and more convincing—and have a wider global reach. This next generation of fake news could prove far more damaging as fabricated stories become much harder to disprove.
Transformation of higher education. Technological changes, policy shifts, and companies taking a more active role in addressing skills shortages are reshaping higher education for the 21st century. As education shifts toward more technical training, a more specialized global workforce will emerge, and education systems will become a more important determinant of national competitiveness.

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Battle for Technological Supremacy

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has kicked off a new battle for global technological supremacy, and two leading players have emerged: the United States and China.¹ The United States remains the dominant technological force on the global stage, bolstered by longstanding R&D investments, strong university research programs, and an ingrained culture of innovation. China, however, has risen swiftly to become a top-tier challenger. Beijing is enacting national strategies, laws, and standards with the potential to fulfill Chinese President Xi Jinping’s stated goal of China becoming “a cyber superpower.” While the European Union (EU), Japan, and South Korea continue to invest heavily in R&D, innovation headwinds ranging from rigid business models and aging populations to limited venture capital funding have left them comparatively behind. The winner of the 4IR race will have an edge politically, economically, and militarily for years to come. As the winner has the potential to reshape the global operating environment, the stakes could not be higher.

Divergent government approaches to technology competition

The United States and China have fundamentally different approaches to waging their battle for technology supremacy. While China has prioritized state leadership with private-sector support, the United States is pursuing a more free-market approach, marking a shift from the US government’s historic leadership role in driving new technological innovations. US government investments dating back to the 1950s and 1960s were, for example, central to the commercialization of semiconductors, development of the global positioning system (GPS), and the creation of the Internet. In recent years, however, such bold government-led initiatives have been deprioritized in federal budgets, and longstanding research projects have ended. The new Office of American Innovation has produced limited results to this point, and President Trump did not nominate a science advisor until August, leaving the position vacant for the longest period since its creation in 1976. Instead, the United States is relying on its world-leading research universities, private-sector titans, and strong start-up culture to drive advances. The United States maintains an edge in these areas, but China’s government-led strategies are closing the gaps.

Beijing has unveiled a series of national strategies to achieve its science and technology goals. At the 19th Party Congress in October 2017, President Xi called for integrating the Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) with the Chinese economy to secure “commanding heights” dominance in science and technology. He argued that China should become a “science and technology superpower … advancing the development of big data, cloud computing, and smart cities so as to turn them into a digital silk road for the 21st century.” Specific efforts include Made in China 2025, which focuses on advanced manufacturing, the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, which calls for China to lead the world in AI by 2030, and China’s 13th Five-Year Plan for Informatization (2016–2020), which prioritizes 5G mobile broadband and quantum computing.

China has also deployed a “thousand talents” strategy, an effort to recruit Chinese citizens who have studied at leading universities abroad. Scientists and entrepreneurs are offered lucrative positions, including $160,000 signing bonuses, guaranteed research funding, and housing and food subsidies. Private and state-backed investors are also funding venture capital groups that target senior researchers and corporate leaders at major US technology companies. While heightened visa restrictions in the United States may be depressing talent recruitment from overseas, an estimated 7,000 foreign-trained Chinese scientists and innovators have already returned home.

Beijing is ramping up scientific investments as well. Between 2000 and 2015, Chinese spending on scientific research increased by an average of 18 percent per year, compared with only 4 percent in the United States. Although the United States remains the biggest research spender in the world, R&D as a percentage of the overall economy has fallen since the 1970s. Based on recent trajectories, China could surpass the United States in R&D spending as soon as this year (see figure 1). And China and the United States now award approximately the same number of doctoral degrees in engineering and the natural sciences at domestic institutions each year. While US scientific research generally remains at a higher standard and is cited far more frequently than Chinese equivalents, this growth marks another area in China’s technology ascendance.