EAGER:Technology Development, Strategic Risk and National Policy: The Impact of Chinese State-Capitalist Investments in U.S. Shale Gas

美国是最大的页岩气生产国，拥有最先进的技术。作为全球最大的能源消费国，中国在战略上瞄准了页岩气，但缺乏竞争优势。中国的回应是投资在能源资源和技术勘探和开发方面处于领先地位的美国中小企业。该项目探讨了中国投资如何影响美国的技术发展，以及随着信息的跨国共享，页岩气投资和风险如何演变。为了了解控制点如何影响页岩气的技术开发，该项目研究了研发资助机制、技术生产组织和天然气地质结构等国家差异之间的复杂相互作用。核心假设是，中国对美国页岩气的投资将导致适合其独特制度和地质的技术发展，从而影响技术的种类和选择；随后的页岩气生产将改变美国页岩气的技术轨迹和投资，并对战略、环境和国家安全产生影响。该项目提供了识别高杠杆投资、改善决策和社会福利的工具，同时加强了国家安全。这项研究将使政策制定者能够确定页岩气研究的投资机会，并衡量投资应该如何转移以获得最佳的社会效益。很少有政策工具能评估外国政府对美国技术投资的影响。该项目制定了衡量标准，以考虑国家资本主义投资如何影响全球技术发展，并对美国国家安全、贸易、就业和环境保护产生直接的政策影响。这项研究超越了经济投入产出或工程模型，发展了新的专业知识，研究技术的情境决策是如何以及为什么发生的。具体而言，该研究确定了中国在美国页岩气投资对技术发展的影响。该项目采用了定性和定量相结合的方法。研究设计包括行业调查、专利分析、个人访谈/实地考察、监管分析以及一家中国国有企业和一家中国私营公司在美国页岩气投资的案例研究。对于科学和技术政策，本研究阐明了影响能源技术轨迹的相互关联的过程、历史、地质特征和投资，特别是石油和天然气。

The United States is the largest producer of shale gas and has the most advanced technology. China, the world's largest energy consumer, is strategically targeting shale gas, but lacks competitive advantage. China's response is to invest in U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises that have pioneered exploration and development of energy resources and technology. This project explores how Chinese investment is shaping U.S. technology development and, how shale-gas investments and risks evolve as information is shared cross-nationally. To understand how the locus of control affects technology development in shale gas, the project investigates the complex interactions between national differences in R&D funding mechanisms, technology-producing organizations, and natural-gas geological structures. The central hypothesis is that China's investments in U.S. shale gas will lead to technology development suiting its unique institutions and geology, affecting variety and selection of technology; subsequent shale-gas production will alter technology trajectories and investments in U.S. shale gas with strategic, environmental and national-security repercussions. The project provides tools to identify high-leverage investments, improving decision-making and social welfare while enhancing national security. This research will allow policymakers to identify investment opportunities in shale-gas research and to gauge how investments should shift for optimal social benefits.Few policy tools evaluate effects of foreign governments' investments in U.S. technology. This project develops metrics to consider how state-capitalist investments shape global technology development, with immediate policy implications for U.S. national security, trade, employment and environmental protection. The research moves beyond economic input-output or engineering models, developing new expertise on how and why contextual decisions on technology occur. Specifically, the research determines the effects of China's investments in U.S. shale gas on technology development. The project employs mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. The research design includes an industry survey, patent analysis, personal interviews/site visits, regulatory analysis and case studies of a Chinese State-owned Enterprise's and a Chinese private company's investments in U.S. shale gas. For science and technology policy, this research clarifies interlinked processes, histories, geological features and investments that impact technology trajectories in energy generally, and oil-and-gas specifically.