As China and the UK seek to collaborate more closely in science and innovation, there are lessons they can share about how to govern and debate new technologies, write Adrian Ely and David Tyfield in the Guardian today.

A visit to Bejing by UK Chancellor George Osborne and science minister David Willetts this week, bought the nature of Chinese-UK science and innovation partnerships in to focus and on to the news agenda.

Drs Ely and Tyfield look at one such area of partnership, low carbon technologies, where there has been spectacular growth as a result of the targeted policies and investment. But state intervention alone is not enough. The article discusses how, in both countries, political challenges as well as technological ones must be addressed to bring about the necessary shift to a low carbon economy.

Low carbon innovation in China – Prospects, Politics and Practice

The article  links to a new STEPS Centre affiliate project, Low Carbon Innovation in China – Prospects, Politics and Practice, which will be launched in December. The project, led from Lancaster University, is an international collaboration between researchers in the UK and at leading institutions in China to investigate different models of innovation and their role in low carbon transitions.

The project’s aim is explore the extent, nature and social implications of low-carbon transitions in China, a key concern for the whole world, and will compare government-led, high-tech ‘indigenous innovation’ approaches with emergent, lower-tech approaches in the areas of agriculture, energy and mobility.