China leads the world in 37 out of 44 critical technologies, with Western democracies falling behind in the race for scientific and research breakthroughs, a report by an Australian think tank has found. “Unchecked, this could shift not just technological development and control but global power and influence to an authoritarian state where the development, testing and application of emerging, critical and military technologies isn’t open and transparent and where it can’t be scrutinised by independent civil society and media. They include establishing sovereign wealth funds to fund research and development (R&D), facilitating technology visas, “friend-shoring” and R&D grants between nations, and pursuing new public–private partnerships