CHINA: From Profligate First Mover to Frugal Fast Follower
In 2023, I was living in France and writing my new book The Frugal Economy when I read “The Sciences of the Middle Empire” by Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud.
This well-researched book showcases China’s pioneering and major contribution to sciences.
Did you know that “Chinese” paper was invented nearly six centuries before “Arabic” paper and twelve centuries before it appeared in Europe?
That movable type was used in China as early as 1048, four centuries before Gutenberg’s invention?
That gunpowder is the result of a search for eternal life?
Jean-Marc Bonnet-Bidaud, an astrophysicist, takes you on a journey through China through the centuries to discover 9 great innovations.
These 9 inventions have long wrongly attributed to European countries, including silk, paper, printing and gunpowder.
Using numerous iconographic documents, Jean-Marc sheds light on the scientific contributions of the Chinese civilization, which call into question the current Eurocentric vision.
Not without humor, he describes their birth and their transmission to the rest of the world. He traces the major contribution, often essential in world history although little known in Europe, of Chinese scientists.
As I read this book, as an Asian, I was proud to learn China was a FIRST MOVER in scientific innovation.
But I also intuited that being a PIONEER isn’t cheap.
Indeed, many scientific discoveries made in China in Antiquity and Middle Ages were sponsored (financed) generously by royalty and nobility.
As Google Gemini describes:
“Historically, Chinese emperors, particularly during dynasties like the Han and Song, significantly invested in science and technology innovation, fostering advancements in areas like papermaking, printing, gunpowder, the compass, and advanced agricultural practices, which contributed to China’s leading position in technological development for centuries.
Chinese rulers often directly oversaw and funded scientific research projects, viewing technological progress as crucial for national strength and prosperity.
Notable examples:
Han Dynasty: Astronomer Zhang Heng developed the first seismograph and a water-powered armillary sphere.
Song Dynasty: This period saw significant development of gunpowder technology, including early firearms and rockets.”
Hence, Imperial China enjoyed a PROFLIGATE first-mover advantage in science by investing massively in it.
Conversely, modern China today is relying on agile startups like DeepSeek AI to achieve a FRUGAL FAST-FOLLOWER advantage in tech innovation.
DeepSeek didn’t *invent* AI or the very first AI model.
But it created a BETTER AI model using LESS (fewer ressources).
20 years ago, when I popularized the concept of INNOVATION NETWORKS, I explained the 21st century belongs not to INVENTORS of new technologies, but TRANSFORMERS who transform their own and others’ inventions into lasting value.
Frugal innovation is the art of transforming inventions into value faster, better, cheaper.
21st Century China is on its way to becoming a global leader in FRUGAL TECH and FRUGAL SCIENCE.
