Science, Technology, and Innovation; Technological Entrepreneurship; Talent Migration; Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods.

Educated in both China and the U.S. and in both the natural and social sciences, Professor Cao has worked at the University of Oregon, the National University of Singapore, the State University of New York, and the University of Nottingham before joining the University of Nottingham Ningbo China in 2015.

As one of the prolific scholars in the social studies of science, technology, and innovation in China, Professor Cao has published extensively in scientific elite; human resources in science and technology; innovation and entrepreneurship in nanotechnology and biotechnology; and the reform of science and technology system.  He is the author of China’s Scientific Elite (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004 and 2012) and GMO China: How Global Debates Transformed China’s Agricultural Biotechnology Policies (Columbia University Press, 2018).  He also is a co-author of China’s Emerging Technological Edge: Assessing the Role of High-End Talent (with Denis Fred Simon, Cambridge University Press, 2009), Innovation in China: Challenging the Global Science and Technology System (with Richard Appelbaum, Xueying Han, Rachel Parker, and Denis Fred Simon, Polity, 2018), and The Political Economy of Science, Technology, and Innovation in China: Policymaking, Funding, Talent, and Organization (with Yutao Sun, Cambridge University Press, 2023).  His papers have appeared in international leading journals of science, technology, and innovation and edited volumes.

Professor Cao’s research has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the European Union, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), among others.

Globalisation and Innovation in China