International scientific collaboration has grown considerably over the past three decades. Australia's international co-publications have increased 18 fold from 864 in 1980 to 16,369 in 2010. For China, the increase is 781 fold from 37 to 28,927 over the same period. Although scientists are at the front line of scientific collaborations, they are not the only actors in the process. Universities and research organisations (among other organisations) that employ scientists also have an interest in the outcomes that are generated from international collaboration. Similarly, governments are motivated by the potential benefits of collaboration with respect to developing scientific and technical human capital (STHC). Nations contribute to collaboration by promoting mobility and supporting collaborative research through science policies; Australia and China both follow this pattern. This means various expectations are involved in the collaborative process. However, little is known about the social process that underpins international collaboration or how differing expectations are reconciled in this context. Australia and China, like other countries, have adopted the national innovation system (NIS) approach to developing their national science, technology and innovation (ST&I) capacity. This generally forms the conceptual framework for the implementation of national science policies. However, the NIS approach generally fails to take into account the production of scientific knowledge that occurs through a social process that transcends national boundaries. While research outputs are useful for showing the more 'visible' form of knowledge, the tacit process involved for the production of that knowledge requires more investigation. The findings of this study contribute to overcoming the problem of accounting for transnational knowledge production and consequent contributions to national systems of innovation. The research underpinning this thesis is inductive and exploratory in nature. The analysis is focused at three levels: macro, intermediate, and micro. The macro level investigates the comparative policy context of Australia's and China's NISs and in particular, policy incentives for promoting international scientific collaboration. At the intermediate level, the investigation is focused on collaboration among institutions, within different disciplines, and between scientists and institutions in Australia and China. This part of the investigation draws on bibliometric, patent and a secondary analysis of survey data. The micro level of analysis is the most detailed part of the investigation and focuses on international collaboration between individual scientists in both countries as well as their extended global networks. For this part of the study, detailed interviews were carried out with 79 collaborating scientists working in Australia and the Beijing and Tianjin municipalities in China. This study finds that international collaboration is underpinned by a complex process that involves the cooperation not only between individual scientists, but also between scientists, their employing institutions and the countries in which they live and with whom they collaborate. The thesis argues that international scientific collaboration is essentially a system of exchange. Throughout this system a range of 'scientific currencies' are offered, received and reciprocated between scientists, between institutions, between states; and between scientists, their organisational employers, and government agencies. The 'currencies' include a range of 'goods', of both explicit and tacit nature. Through this exchange process, different expectations are fulfilled and reconciled.
Date of Award | 2013 |
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Original language | English |
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- knowledge networks
- knowledge management
- technological innovations
- intellectual capital
- research
- international cooperation
- Australia
- China
Dispersed knowledge networks and their implications for national innovation systems : an investigation of Australia and China's scientific relationships
Niu, X. (Author). 2013
Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis