Home

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the HKU Business School. I received my PhD from the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University in June 2025.

My research primarily focuses on patents, science, and innovation. I study how scientific knowledge contributes to technological progress and competitive advantage, and how policy or institutional shifts shape firms' innovation.

On the one hand, I examine the growing role of Chinese science in U.S. innovation, showing that American firms engaged in scientific research are more likely to draw on this expanding cross-border knowledge base. On the other hand, I study how Chinese firms increasingly rely on science for innovation, and how U.S.-China geopolitical tensions have accelerated firms' engagement with science as an innovation input.

At the same time, I also work on related topics in patent strategy, ESG, and entrepreneurship, including China's dual-filing patent practices, satellite-based measures of firms' actual carbon emissions, and entrepreneurship among patent agents.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions: junhanwang@hku.hk.

Latest News

  • February, 2026 "Chinese Firms Are Increasingly Leveraging Science for Innovation, and U.S.-China Geopolitical Tensions Have Accelerated the Process," coauthored with Xibao Li and Yanbo Wang, received a revision invitation from Science.
  • August, 2025 Joined the HKU Business School, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Hong Kong.
  • June, 2025 Graduated with a PhD from the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University.

Research

ACADEMIC PAPERS

• Junhan Wang, Xibao Li, Yanbo Wang. Chinese Firms Are Increasingly Leveraging Science for Innovation, and U.S.-China Geopolitical Tensions Have Accelerated the Process. 2025. Revision at Science.

• Junhan Wang, Xibao Li. Patent Novelty and the Dual-Application Strategy of the Firm. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2024, Chicago, USA.

• Junhan Wang, Xibao Li. Deregulation and Employee Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Patent Law Industry in China. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2023, Boston, USA.

• Junhan Wang, Li Wen, Leng Ganxiao, Qiu Huanguang. Impact of poverty alleviation relocation on livelihood capital and livelihood strategy of poor households. China Population, Resources and Environment, 2020, 30(10):143–153.

• Junhan Wang, Ze Zhang, Shipeng Yan. Direct Carbon Emissions of Chinese firms: A Remote Sensing-Based Dataset. Available at SSRN 5598132.

• Luyao Wang, Junhan Wang, Guannan Qu, Xibao Li. How Complementary Assets Matter in Employee Entrepreneurship? Academy of Management Proceedings, 2025.

WORKING PAPERS

• Chinese Science Is Increasingly Present in U.S. Innovation, and American Firms Involved in Scientific Research Are More Likely to Leverage This Growing Knowledge Base

First author, with Xibao Li, Yanbo Wang

Presentations: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy Research Virtual Seminar (Jan 11, 2024); HKU Business School Brownbag Seminar (Nov 30, 2023); EAI Seminar, NUS (Nov 24, 2023)

Conference acceptances: SMS 44th Annual Conference (Istanbul); 2024 AIB Conference (Seoul, South Korea); 2024 International Conference on the Science of Science and Innovation (ICSSI), USA; Second Global Innovation and IP Conference (Hangzhou, China)

• Deregulation and Employee Entrepreneurship: Evidence from the Patent Law Industry in China

First author, with Xibao Li

Conference acceptances: 83rd Academy of Management Annual Meeting (Boston, USA); 43rd Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting (Toronto, Canada); 10th Biennial IACMR Conference (Hong Kong); 2024 SEJ PDW (Hong Kong)

• Entering New Technology Fields and Patent Application Strategy

First author, with Xibao Li

Conference acceptances: 84th Academy of Management Annual Meeting (Chicago, USA); 43rd Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting (Toronto, Canada); 10th Biennial IACMR Conference (Hong Kong); Second Global Innovation and IP Conference (Hangzhou, China)

• A Dataset of Simultaneous Discoveries in China’s Scientific Literature

First author, with Yujing Jiang, Jiehao Zhang, Xibao Li

• Standing on Shaky Shoulders: The Diffusion and Containment of Patent Citations to False Science

Corresponding author, with Jiehao Zhang, Xibao Li

WORK IN PROGRESS

• The Echo of Ideas: Measuring Simultaneous Invention with Large Language Models — with Yanbo Wang

• Gatekeepers or Guardians? Patent Office Responses to Geopolitical Sanctions — with Zitai Hu, Wenlong He, Yanbo Wang

Other

AWARDS & HONORS

  • First-class scholarship

    Tsinghua University 2024

  • First-class scholarship

    Tsinghua University 2023

  • First Prize for CAS-THU Doctoral Student Academic Forum

    Tsinghua University 2022

  • Greenberg Scholarship

    Tsinghua University 2022

  • Greenberg Scholarship

    Tsinghua University 2021

  • Outstanding Graduate

    Remin University of China 2020

  • First-class scholarship

    Remin University of China 2019

  • First-class scholarship

    Remin University of China 2018

  • National Scholarship

    Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China 2016

  • National Scholarship

    Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China 2015

OTHER SKILLS

  • IT Skills: Stata, Python (proficient in programming and handling big data), SQL

  • Professional Certificate: Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

  • Leadership Experience: Head of the Academic Department of the Student Union; Head of party group of the Department of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategy

  • Talents: Electronic keyboard; Piano; Bawu; Latin dance