According to a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics in China, the most innovative city in China is Shanghai. Other cities cracking the Top 10 included Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Beijing, Changzhou, Yantai, Guangzhou and Shaoxing. For close followers of the Chinese innovation scene, these findings may not come as a shock, but I was personally a bit surprised to find Beijing at #6. Anyway, the survey also looked at the pace of R&D spending in China, the composition of this R&D spending, and the primary sources of funding for this R&D research:

“The survey found that that the majority of research and development funding is spent on improving existing products and technology; only one third is spent on developing new products and basic research programs. According to the survey, 33% of funds are used to improve efficiency and reduce the costs of production; 31% is spent perfecting current technology, and doing research to widen the uses of products; 24% is spent on the development of new products and technology; 9% is used in basic research; the remaining 3% is spent elsewhere. The survey also found that internal revenue-raising is the major source of funds for innovation. Over 75% of funds come from the enterprises themselves, 12% from loans, and less than 5% from the government, partners and capital market.”

[image: Shanghai skyline via TravelBlog]

That is, if you’re a tech-savvy C-level executive from a hugely successful U.S. corporation. In a free Wall Street Journal Online feature, Brian Steinberg describes a clever new advertising pitch from Unisys, in which the company is using the cover of FORTUNE magazine to sell its wares to some of the leading IT decision-makers in the country:

“Around 20 high-ranking executives at corporations such as Subaru of America, DHL, Citigroup and Northwest Airlines will get a surprise when FORTUNE magazine arrives on their desks this week. Each will find his or her own face gracing the cover. The covers are one-of-a-kind mock-ups wrapping the actual FORTUNE edition, part of an advertising ploy conducted by IT company Unisys that brings new meaning to the idea of niche marketing. Unisys is sending the magazines to get the attention of executives - mostly CIOs - responsible for making buying decisions about their companies’ technology products and services. In other words, the people Unisys most wants to influence.”

As Steinberg goes on to explain, the FORTUNE cover wraps are personalized to the needs of the particular corporate executive. Moreover, the company is placing outdoor signs and billboards in strategic locations that these executives might see, even going so far as to map out morning commutes in order to find the most advantageous locations.

In short, the new advertising initiative is based on influencing the influencers: “We’re not trying to have grandma at home understand who we are and what we do. We’re not even trying to have every business executive understand who we are and what we do. It’s a very narrow set of executives that we really want to reach.”

[image: Unisys trade show]