Factual studies can help think tanks

James G. McGann, director of Think Tanks and Civil Society Program at the University of Pennsylvania, heads the team that prepares a report on global think tanks every year. Since 2006, when the yearly process started, the ranking in the report has been taken as an important reference point for the think tanks' quality and influence. In an interview with Li Yang at the Center for China and Globalization, a think tank in Beijing, McGann tells China Daily the opportunities and challenges for Chinese think tanks as they try to go global.

Q: How can Chinese think tanks become globally influential?

A: They should embrace innovation and institutional diversity. China has nothing to fear from a larger, more diverse set of think tanks, including the truly independent think tanks ... The rewards and nature of bureaucracy-based think tanks is that there's no incentive institutionally (or) organizationally, as suggested by Max Weber, for innovation and organizational renewal ... Chinese think tanks need to recruit staff with new skills and new ideas, and create a national network of think tanks in China that encourages innovation and exchange of these practices.