Innovation system in transition: Opportunities for policy learning between China and Russia

China and Russia--two giants in the group of emerging markets--continue to attract wide attention as emerging science and technological superpowers. Both countries demonstrate mixed success in innovation development and are struggling to overcome the legacies of the former state planning system and accelerate their transition to effective national innovation systems. This study evaluates the existing path dependencies and compares the achievements of China and Russia. It is suggested that there are a number of policy complementarities and opportunities for mutual learning between the two nations especially in the areas of: university reform, cluster development, and increasing productivity of state-owned enterprises. The case of nanotechnology policies offers an interesting and somewhat contrasting view. Copyright The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.