Catching up or forging ahead in the era of 5G? Evidence from Chinese patent data

Probing the development of technology can offer insights into its future implementation. In this study, patent statistics are used to examine the changes in the technological capacity of the telecommunication sector in China and shed light on the development of 5G technology. Given full access to patent data, we find an increase in patent applications eventually leads to an increase in the innovation quality of the Chinese telecommunication sector. Firms, particularly industry leaders, greatly contribute to technological capacity by constantly producing high-quality innovation. Unlike those of previous studies, our findings reveal that a robust advancement reduces the technological capacity gap between the telecommunication sectors of the U.S. and China. Patent measures not only enable us to determine that Chinese telecommunication technology is at the gradual catch-up stage of the catch-up cycle, but also reveal responses to the technology window, the demand window, and the institutional windows of opportunity. Moreover, patent statistics can track knowledge flows. It can also find that accessing foreign knowledge has helped the Chinese telecommunication sector for learning and assimilating such knowledge to cultivate its knowledge base. We further find other than training qualified professionals, universities offer limited contributions to the technological capacity of the telecommunication sector.