Saturday, May 14, Glam, 4:00 PM

Join us at Glam with the Economist's China Business Editor & Shanghai Bureau Chief, Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran, in a discussion and debate on one of the defining topics of our age.

Chinese companies have long had a reputation of being good copycats but bad innovators --  a "shanzhai country", as some have lamented of the fast and frugal imitation.

In recent years, though, Chinese creativity seems to be catching up. Huawei and ZTE are already among the top companies globally across all industry sectors by annual volume of international patent applications. Shenzhen has surpassed Silicon Valley as the world's best place to start a cutting-edge electronics firm. Private-sector entrepreneurs, not state-owned enterprises, are the greatest contributor of jobs and economic growth in China.

Can such bottom-up dynamism overcome top-down restrictions on the flows of information and people that are the lifeblood of global innovation? Will "Made in China" become "Innovated in China"? Is the workshop to the world really transforming into its most potent crucible of creativity? 

About the Speaker

Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran is an award-winning book author and senior editor at the Economist. He opened the Economist's first Shanghai bureau in 2012, and currently serves as its China Business Editor. His editorial responsibilities range from business and finance to science, technology and innovation. His latest book, on the future of global innovation, is Need, Speed and Greed: How the New Rules of Innovation Can Transform Businesses, Propel Nations to Greatness, and Tame the World's Most Wicked Problems.