Assessment of the Drivers and Effects of International Science and Technology Cooperation in Xinjiang in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

International science and technology (S&T) cooperation is one of the important ways to ensure the continuous development of a national innovation system. “One Belt One Road” advocates the concepts of common business, common construction, and sharing, and new countries and regions are constantly added. However, different countries/regions have different natural and socio-economic characteristics, so the main controlling factors affecting their international S&T cooperation may not be the same. Therefore, this paper uses a combination of multi-source data and multiple methods to collectively construct an assessment model of the driving effect of international S&T cooperation in Xinjiang. The evaluation results of the entropy-weighted TOPSIS model show that the contributions of S&T level, city nature, and S&T investment to international S&T cooperation in Xinjiang are 22.9%, 22.3%, and 20.4%, respectively. Singapore, Germany, and Russia are the top three countries in terms of the effectiveness of international S&T cooperation with Xinjiang. The results of the STIRPAT model show that the total number of R&D personnel and the number of R&D personnel per 1000 workers are the main factors affecting the driving effect of international S&T cooperation. The former can be regarded as the stabilizer of international S&T cooperation. This paper’s findings can provide theoretical support for the efficient integration of diverse advantageous resources among cooperating subjects.

The Tenuous Co-Production of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Brazil and Latin America

“…24 During the 2017 Belt and Road Forum, an official in Brazil's federal tax bureau indicated that Brazil was willing to actively participate in all aspects of the BRI. 25 A former Argentine Foreign Minister was similarly quoted as saying that the Initiative is 'a crucial multilateral integration project that goes beyond the traditional Silk Road to reach Latin America,' and that Argentina 'is willing to actively participate in the building of the Belt and Road'. 26 During Deputy Foreign Minister Qin Gang's visit to Suriname in 2017, that country's government also expressed its interest in participating in the Initiative.…”