This synthesis report summarises the main findings of the OECD review of the Chinese national innovation system (NIS) and policy, in four sections:

• Section I highlights the role of science, technology and innovation in the context of China’s need to shift from a sustained to a sustainable growth mode, and the importance of broad-based framework conditions for innovation for building an efficient market-based innovation system.

• Section II assesses the pace of development and analyses the main features of China’s national innovation system, focusing on the key performers of R&D and innovation activities, namely, the business sector, the public research institutes and the universities, and the science-industry interface.

• Section III analyses China’s policy for promoting science, technology and innovation, including the public governance of its innovation system.

• The final section offers concluding remarks and provides policy recommendations. A preliminary version of the synthesis report was released at the OECD-MOST conference on the Review of China’s National Innovation System: Domestic Reform and Global Integration, held in Beijing in August 2007. The final version included in this volume has taken into account the conference discussions.