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Comparing the Role of Knowledge Creators in the Ecosystems of China and the UK: A Case of 3D Printing

In general, policy makers stimulate S&T (science and technology) knowledge creation to cultivate the emergence of innovation ecosystem within the national boundaries. It is implicitly assumed that the knowledge can be translated into business values for growing this ecosystem. However some opponents argue that local knowledge creation may not necessarily contribute to the prosperity of business ecosystem especially in latecomers due to the weak links between science and industries. This paper, therefore, proposes a framework to compare the emerging innovation ecosystems between the developed countries and emerging economies. China and the UK are selected as the two exemplar ecosystems for the comparative studies, as the former is representative for leading-edge basic research, and the latter one is renowned for fast catching-up in both science and industrial competence. This study finds that China's 3D printing may have a unique edge in S&T knowledge ecosystem, but may be inherently flawed when local universities play too much roles in the emergence of innovation ecosystem; by contrast, the UK has better settings for the growth of keystone firms for business platforms. This study will contribute to the innovation ecosystem literature, and will be of interest to 3D printing and emerging industry researchers.