A knowledge economy that works with ideas

Manufacturing is an essential step but don't go too fast, says academic

Although the Chinese government has expressed its eagerness to transform China from being the world's manufacturing hub to a knowledge economy, it needs to tread carefully, a Cambridge University professor says.

Sir Mike Gregory, who heads the Institute for Manufacturing at the university says it is wrong to conceptualize the "knowledge economy" as a world without manufacturing, because manufacturing is an essential step in capturing value from ideas.