On February 4, 2025, Asia Society Northern California hosted a tech workshop “Has the Sleeping Dragon Woken Up? A Workshop on U.S. - China Tech Competition and Collaboration.”

Session 1: How to Use Scientific and Technical Data
This discussion was moderated by Mark Cohen, Senior Tech Fellow, Asia Society Northern California and the Asia Society Policy Institute. Speakers included Caroline Wagner, Faculty at John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University; Arun Hill, Lead Consultant at Clarivate and Fellow at Clarivate Center for IP and Innovation Research™; and Ellie Sakhaee, Manager of AI and Emerging Tech Policy at Google.

Panelists discussed varying methods of data analysis to assess U.S. - China Tech Competition and Collaboration. Wagner spoke on international collaboration in academia as a data point, citing that China saw exponential growth in international collaboration for scholarly output until 2022. Hill covered how patent data can signify competitive strength, highlighting factors such as influence, rarity, expenditure, and asset value as ways to measure patent strength. Sakahaee discussed the benefits of both open and closed source LLMs and delved into metrics to track AI leadership. Q&A focused on the concept of open source as a pillar for collaboration in science, use cases for AI in China, and the rise of DeepSeek.

Session 2: Aggregating and Applying Data Sources
This discussion was moderated by Glenn Tiffert, Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Panelists included Barry Naughton, So Kwan Lok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego; Jeff Alstott, Director at the Center for Technology and Security Policy; Senior Information Scientist and Professor of Policy Analysis at Pardee RAND Graduate School; and Suzanne Harrison, Principal, Percipience LLC and Chair Patent Public Advisory Committee at USPTO.

Naughton discussed how Chinese industrial policy reveals research priorities and has contributed to the rise of Chinese solar panels, batteries, and EVs. Alstott emphasized a need for more systems engineering and research in the U.S., highlighting the important of resource allocation for a stronger national research portfolio. Harrison described the need for strategic, cross-collaborative approaches to U.S. - China relations. Q&A focused on security risks of open-source models and which technologies present greater security risks than others.

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