Strategic Knowledge Collaboration between Danish Business and Chinese Academia

Building an innovative, knowledge-based economy is crucial for the future of China, for ensuring sustainable growth. External academic relations are central to creating this innovative economy. Especially Sino-American academic relations through brain circulation, entrepreneurship and investments have received research interest. The possibilities for business from a small open Scandinavian economy to build high-level relationships with Chinese academia have not been studied. This article examines the motives of a range of Danish businesses for engaging with Chinese academia and the outcomes of such engagement. Such collaboration contributes to the expected areas as innovation, science and technology, research and development, and absorptive capacity in China. However, this collaboration also builds high-level networks and reputations in China for—in this case—Denmark and Danish business. This finding is overlooked in the traditional literature on innovation in China, but it is clear when including an International Relations perspective on transnational relations.