Government in the catching-up of technology innovation: Case of administrative intervention in China

•We develop a framework of the mechanism of government intervention in innovation.•We draw up the framework to analyze a case of TD-SCDMA standardization in China.•The generalization of the proposed framework is discussed.•Theoretical reflections on government interventions in innovation are made.•Practical implications for catching-up nations to intervene in innovation are given.

This paper advances the extant knowledge of the mechanism of government intervention in technology innovation, especially that in the catching-up context. It forms a three-layer theoretical framework and further uses it to analyze a case of the standardization of TD-SCDMA, a third generation (3G) of mobile system, in China. The findings validate the argument that in technology development and technology diffusion stages, there are different innovation task foci and different challenges, which require the government taking a mix of regulative, financial and administrative instruments to intervene. The government needs to draw upon the institutional environment, R&D and industrialization capability and the technology characteristics of the innovation in identifying the innovation tasks and challenges, and determining the intervention strategy. In the catching-up context, when pursuing the indigenous innovation in complex technology, "hard" government intervention is necessary. Especially the government should take advantage of its control of national economy and the industry to explore the potential of intervention using diverse administrative instruments, for example the leading role of state organizations in innovation should be considered.