International collaboration is considered to exert a positive effect on research performance. However, the impact of international collaboration on the performance of research institutions is under-documented. This paper fills the void in the literature by utilizing InCites data of 1,067 Chinese research organizations. The main results show that international collaboration promotes the performance of research organizations in general, but the effect varies according to the types of institutions. The organizations in less-developed regions are more affected by international collaborations than those in developed regions. The empirical results also demonstrate that the United States is the most important scientific collaborator of China.

This paper aims to evaluate whether national science and technology programs in China help boost private investment in research and development and improve firms’ productive efficiency and innovation performance. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 443 innovative firms in China during the period of 2008–11. A matching estimator together with a difference-in-difference approach is employed to investigate the effect of undertaking national science and technology programs. The results show that the effectiveness of national science and technology programs may be over-estimated. There are also heterogeneous effects across firms of different sizes and ownership and with different programs.