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For several years now, there have been talks about China catching up or even overtaking Western countries when it comes to innovation. But what concrete signs are there?Technical innovation is not the same as "here are some huge FAANG-style companies". Baidu, Alibaba, Temu etc are also not about innovation, nor is Google, X, Facebook, and co (glorified internet scale crud apps) are not about innovation in their main business. One would think that capturing the hostile US/EU market is also not a goal for Baidu, Alibaba and co (they'll just be litigated away).
The critical technologies are not confined in the Googles and Facebooks of this world, the most critical ones are under the radar when it comes to the public:
"China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technologies, with Western democracies falling behind in the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, a report by an Australian think tank has found. China is in a position to become the world’s top technology superpower, with its dominance already spanning defence, space, robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology, according to the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)".
China is doing good work in research, they have better than western manufacturing expertise, skills, and capacities, and they have been producing top of the line products of their own in several areas.
For an example in a more visible consumer space where they dominate, take DJI drones, as an example. Also gimbals of various kinds. And companies like Insta360 and DJI are also starting to overtake GoPro in action cameras.
