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2012 Summer Training Workshop on the Relationship Between
National Security and Technology in China

July 9–20, 2012

Download 2012 flyer

Applications DEADLINE MARCH 15, 2012

Graduate Student Application (.pdf) 

Graduate Student Application (.docx)

Faculty, Government, and Private Sector Application (.pdf) 

Faculty, Government, and Private Sector Application (.docx)

Project SITC's two-week summer training course at UC San Diego is open to advanced graduate students, junior faculty, and early- to mid-career analysts and provides a comprehensive overview of the development, role, and linkages that science, technology and innovation plays in China’s national security. In the second week, participants will attend two conferences:

1) An examination of the organizational makeup, decision-making processes, and relational networks of the civilian and defense science and technology systems;

2) An in-depth analysis of the performance and restructuring of the Chinese defense industry.

The workshop examines the relationship between national security, technology, innovation, and China’s rise as a world power. Of central interest is how China is mobilizing and applying its economic, political, strategic, corporate, financial, intellectual, and scientific capabilities in conjunction with leveraging external resources to achieve its grand ambition of catching up technologically with the world’s advanced powers within the next 1–2 generations.

Course Content

The course is in two components. The first week consists of classes and expert panel discussions to provide participants a comprehensive understanding of the drivers and dynamics shaping past, present, and future Chinese approaches to security, technology, and innovation. Topics include:

  • The historical relationship between security and technology in China
  •  Chinese grand strategic thinking on technology and security
  • The political economy of security and technology
  • The reform of the defense industry
  • Integration between the civilian and defense economies
  • The nature and structure of the Chinese national innovation system
  • Military end-user drivers in shaping technology innovation
  • China’s technology modernization efforts in comparative perspective
  • Prospects for China’s technological catching up
  • Methodological approaches and analytical tools in examining the relationship between Chinese science, technology, innovation and security

During the second week, participants will have the opportunity to attend two conferences on Chinese approaches to technology innovation and the Chinese defense science, technology and industrial base. This course is part of the Project on the Study of Innovation and Technology in China (Project SITC), an exciting IGCC initiative on understanding China’s emerging science and technology capabilities.

For more information about the workshop or the SITC program, please contact Heidi Serochi.