China faces innovation centre glut as top-down policy backfires

Shacheng, China

THE Chinese government's call to the nation to build an innovation-driven economy from the top down has sparked a rush by local governments to construct new buildings in the name of supporting creativity.

Innovation centres have been popping up around the country and are set to more than double to nearly 5,000 in the next five years, according to Internet research firm iiMedia. The only problem for local governments - entrepreneurs are not moving in.