In the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), the Chinese Committee of Science, Technology and Education, the main body for the central government's innovation policy, highlights the strengthening of the scientific–technological base and the upgrading of domestic innovative competences, and places the industrial focus on seven new strategic industries. Available data show that the transition is underway, from a Chinese growth model based on the availability of inexpensive land, investments, exports and a very large low-cost workforce to science-based and innovation-driven growth. However, the poor outcomes from public S&T expenditures suggest that future growth will depend on a different growth formula and that the greatest impact will come from an innovative innovation model. This paper focuses on an emerging Chinese innovation model that applies elements of cluster theory and the regional innovation systems approach to the next development stage of Chinese Special Economic Zones. The model also adopts features of the Triple Helix model of university–industry–government relations such as ‘systemness’ and entrepreneurial universities to enforce regional innovativeness. The author outlines the management and governance challenges associated with the policy objective of moving from imitation to innovation. The paper is based on a study on cluster management for the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 2009–2013 and on empirical research in collaboration with the Chinese Association of Developmental Zones (CADZ) in 2012. The study used 15 expert interviews with managers of Tianjin Wuqing Development Zone in the Beijing–Tianjin Corridor and with senior officials of CADZ, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Science and Technology, at the Second China German Innovation Forum held in Berlin on 26 and 27 November 2012.
