China’s roadmap for developing a successful innovation ecosystem

Global competition and the development of digital technologies have brought significant changes to the business landscape. Companies must now interact with several actors to conduct and coordinate activities to produce products or services. In this process, companies must rely on other companies’ expertise, creating an adequate ecosystem where innovation can boost economic growth. However, countries have developed different levels of innovation ecosystems, as countries with a more mature ecosystem develop wealthier conditions. China is one successful case where a complete transformation process of its innovation ecosystem and its economic development can be observed in a relatively short time. Thus, it is of interest to describe China’s roadmap for developing one of the most successful innovation ecosystems in the world. This study collected data from secondary sources following a case study methodology to determine China’s strategies related to innovation ecosystems from 1950 to 2025. Finally, this study aims to establish guidelines that can be followed by other countries.