I am working at a company which invented a lot of real stuff (and quite a few Nobel prize). That's when it was PROTECTED by US government and had MONOPOLY of the industry. Once the deregulation set in, money drained, the innovation is gone.
Government protection is VERY VERY important in the first place. Of course, a research mindset and tons of money to spend to drill on interesting project regardless of profit is of the utmost importance. Saying private company can do innovation by itself is SILLY. None of the major innovation can be done without government resources.
China has no environment like that because its researchers did not think deep. They always complain no freedom to do something. Too bad, American researchers now are the same with no freedom due to money constraint. Some of those inventors lamented the good times might never come back.
