Who Spends the Most Energy on Research, Development, and Deployment?

More

I've been swamped with other duties lately, but wanted to quickly point out this report from Harvard's Belfer Center. It's a comparison of energy-related RD&D across Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico, China, and South Africa, or the "BRIMCS". 


Plenty of good nuggets in here, but some interesting data first. This is total RD&D spending in 2008:


Brazil: $1.2 billion
Russia: $734 million
India: $667 million
Mexico: $170 million (2007)
China: $7.2 billion
South Africa: $209 million

China has a whopping lead on spending, six times that of the next largest spender Brazil. But here's the kicker, the report puts US spending at $4.1 billion, just over half of what China spent in the same year. 


Of course, this figure alone says little about how the money is being spent and whether the capital is deployed efficiently. And there is plenty of evidence that suggests that some Chinese capital can be used much more efficiently. In addition, it seems difficult to determine how much spending was channeled proportionally toward the second "D", or deployment/demonstration, especially for China. I am not certain that Chinese stats break down the different categories so precisely. 

These issues aside, the gap in energy spending among the leading emerging markets is striking. And I think it does reflect to some degree the seriousness with which China pursues energy technologies and its quest to lead the pack. I don't have a larger point to make here, but people interested should check out the report.
Jump to comments

Damien Ma is a Fellow at The Paulson Institute, focused on investment and policy programs and the Institute's research and think tank activities. Previously, he was a lead China analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and advisory firm. More

Damien Ma is a Fellow at The Paulson Institute, focused on investment and policy programs and the Institute's research and think tank activities.

Previously, he was a lead China analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk research and advisory firm. He specialized in analyzing the intersection between Chinese policies and markets, with a particular focus on energy and commodities, industrial policy, U.S.-China trade, and social and internet policies. His advisory and analytical work served a range of clients, from institutional investors and multinational corporations to the U.S. government. Prior to joining Eurasia Group, he worked at a public relations firm in Beijing, where he served clients ranging from Ford to Microsoft. He also was a manager of publications at the U.S.-China Business Council in Washington, DC.

Ma writes regularly for The Atlantic online and publishes widely, including in Foreign Affairs, The New Republic, and Foreign Policy, as well as appearing in a range of broadcast media, such as the Charlie Rose Show, Bloomberg, and the PBS NewsHour. He also served as an adjunct instructor at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is currently working on his first book on China (co-authored). He speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and some Shanghainese dialect.

Get Today's Top Stories in Your Inbox (preview)


Elsewhere on the web

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus

Video

Miami: The Next Big Start-Up City?

How the city became a center for innovation

Video

Video

A Brief History of Romantic Comedies

From The Atlantic's Chris Orr

Video

Life in 'the New Arctic'

A moving portrait of a fading landscape

Video

Video

The Rise of New York City

A fascinating look at Manhattan in the 1940s

Video

What Is Methane Hydrate?

"Flaming ice" is a vast natural energy source

Video

NASA's Time-Lapse of the Sun

Now with epic dubstep music

Video

Shaken Not Tuned: Cocktail Experiments

Can a tuning fork improve a cocktail?

Video

Video

Is He Cheating? A 1950s Guide

'That little blonde secretary from the office?’

Video

New Yorkers: Vintage Vacuum-Tube Amps

Risking electric shock to restore old amplifiers

Video

The DIY Piano-Bicycle

Everybody needs a hobby

Writers

Up
Down

More in Business

In Focus

Photos of Tornado Damage in Moore, Oklahoma