Research Associate
Personal background
Xiaolan Fu (傅晓岚) is the Founding Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD), Professor of Technology and International Development and Fellow of Green Templeton College.
She was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the Ten-Member High Level Advisory Group of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism and to the Governing Council of the UN’s Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries. She is also a member of the UN SDSN Leadership. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Her research interests include innovation, technology and industrialisation; trade, foreign direct investment and economic development; emerging Asian economies; innovation and productivity in the UK/US.
She has published extensively in leading international journals independently or in collaboration with others. Her recent books include Innovation under the Radar (forthcoming), China’s Path to Innovation, China’s Role in Global Economic Recovery and The Rise of Technological Power in the South. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, and serves on the editorial boards of Industrial and Corporate Change, International Journal of Technology Management and four other international journals.
Professor Fu has received large research grants from funding bodies that include the European Commission, ESRC, EPSRC, British Academy, DFID, and the Cairncross Foundation. She also received the European Commission EFMD Gate2Growth 2005 ‘European Best Paper’ Award, Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2012 Outstanding Paper Award, and European Association of Management (EURAM) annual conference Innovation Strategic Interest Group 2017 Best Paper Award.
She has been a consultant for UNDESA, UNCTAD, UNIDO, the World Bank, the OECD, the European Commission, the ILO, the Commonwealth Secretariat, UKTI and the Chinese government. Professor Fu serves on the Advisory Expert Group of the OECD Global Investment Forum and the DFID/ESRC Economic Growth Directorate (DEGP), and was President of the Chinese Economic Association (Europe) and CEA (UK) in 2010-11. She currently serves on the Management Committee of the Oxford University China Centre. She is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge and University of Tsinghua, and a Visiting Professor at Fudan University. As a leading China expert, she has participated in various media interviews and panel discussions including for the BBC, Sky News, CCTV, CGTN, People’s Daily, and China Daily. In 2014 she was invited to address the UN General Assembly on ‘Science, technology and innovation in developing countries’. Professor Fu came to Oxford from Cambridge University, where she was a Senior Research Fellow. Before coming to the UK, she had five years’ work experience in the business sector in China before embarking on her academic career.
She is one of the ten winners of the 2021 Falling Walls Scientific Breakthrough Award.
Selected publications
Fu, X., Kaplinsky, R. and Zhang, J. (20112) ‘The impact of China on low and middle income countries export prices in industrial-country markets’, World Development. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.04.001.
Fu, X. (2012) ‘Foreign Direct Investment and Managerial Knowledge Spillovers through the Diffusion of Management Practices’, Journal of Management Studies, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01036.x.
Fu, X. (2012) ‘How does openness affect the importance of incentives for innovation?’ Research Policy, Vol. 41 (3): 512-523. doi: 10.1016/j.respol.2011.12.011.
Fu, Helmers and Zhang, (2012) ‘The two faces of foreign management capabilities’, International Business Review, Vol. 21, no 1: 71-88.
Fu, Li and Johnson, (2011) ‘Internal and external sources of tacit knowledge: evidence from the optical fibre and cable industry in China’, Journal of Chinese Economics and Business Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4: 383-400.
Fu, X. (2011) ‘Processing-trade, FDI and Exports of Indigenous Firms: Firm-level Evidence from High-technology Industries in China’, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 73, No. 5.
Fu, X. and Zhang, J. (2011) ‘Technology transfer, indigenous innovation and leapfrogging in green technology: Solar-PV panel industries in China and India’, Journal of Chinese Economics and Business Studies,Vol. 9, No. 4.
Fu, X. and Gong, Y. (2011) ‘Indigenous and foreign innovation efforts and drivers of technological upgrading: evidence from China’, World Development, Vol. 39, No. 7: 1213-1225.
Fu, X., Pietrobelli, C. and Soete, L. (2011) ‘The Role of Foreign Technology and Indigenous Innovation in the Emerging Economies: Technological Change and Catching-up’ (Introduction to the special issue), World Development, Vol. 39, No. 7. 1203-1212.
Fu, X. (2011) China’s Role in Global Economic Recovery, Routledge.
Fu, X., Hlmers, C. and Zhang, J. (2011) ‘The two faces of foreign management capabilities: spillovers and competition from FDI in UK retail sector’, Review of International Business. doi:10.1016/j.ibusrev.2010.12.002.
Cosh, A., Fu, X. and Hughes, A. (2011) ‘Organisation structure and innovation performance in different environments’, Small Business Economics. doi: 10.1007/s11187-010-9304-5.
Fu, X. and Soete, L. (2011) The Rise of Technological Power in the South, Palgrave MacMillan.
Fu, X. and Yang, Q. (2009) ‘Exploring the cross country innovation gap in patenting: a stochastic frontier approach’, Research Policy, Vol. 38 (7): 1203-1223.
Fu, X. and Gong, Y. (2009) ‘International and intranational Technology Spillovers and Productivity Growth in China’, Asia Economic Papers, Vol. 8, No. 2: 1-23.
Fu, X. (2008) ‘Foreign direct investment, absorptive capacity and regional innovation capabilities in China’, Oxford Development Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1: 89-110.
Fu, X. and Zhang, J. (2008) ‘Does intra-country pollution heaven exist’ FDI and environmental regulations in China?, Journal of Asia Pacific Economy, Vol. 13, No. 3: 332-353.
Fu, X. (2008) ‘Trade-cum-FDI, human capital inequalities and regional disparities in China’, Journal of Economic Change and Restructuring, Vol. 40, No. 1-2: 137-155.
Cosh, A., De Hoyos, R., Eisingerich, A., Fu, X. and Hughes, A. (2006) ‘Experiences of UK Mid-corporate Companies in Emerging Asian Economies’, UK Trade & Investment, © URN 06/1137.
Fu, X. (2005) ‘Exports, technical progress and productivity growth in a transition economy: a non-parametric approach for China’, Applied Economics, Vol. 37, No. 7: 725-239.
Balasubramanyam, V.N. and Fu, X. (2005) ‘Exports, foreign direct investment and employment: the case of China’, The World Economy, Vol. 28, No. 4: 607-625.
Fu, X. (2004) ‘Exports, Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Development in China’, Palgrave Macmillan.
Fu, X. (2004) ‘Limited linkages from growth engines and regional disparities in China’, Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 32, No.1: 148-164.
Balasubramanyam, V.N. and Fu, X. (2003) ‘lsquo;Township and village enterprises in China’, Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 39, No. 4: 27-46.