Developing ‘Integral GenAI Innovation Ecosystems’ in the Chinese Higher Education Context

This article provides the theoretical foundation for upcoming primary research on the formation of ‘integral generative AI (GenAI) innovation ecosystems’ in the Chinese higher education context. Based on an adaptation of Gramsci’s idea of the ‘integral state’, which informs the move beyond Western civil society/market-led and Chinese political state-led innovation ecosystem models, key features of an integral innovation GenAI ecosystem are elaborated upon. An expanded framework builds on previously published work on socialised GenAI systems comprising a multi-level approach, with particular emphasis on ‘thickened’ meso-institutional layers (e.g., supportive local investment, institutional governance frameworks and critical practices) mediating between an enhanced macro-strategic direction and upscaled micro-level practices. Theorising the institutional meso-system helps analyse challenges facing non-elite Chinese universities in moving from a ‘low-technological-baseline equilibrium’ (LTBE) constraining GenAI development to demonstrating features of GenAI innovation ecosystem ‘readiness’. The framework also draws on Lury’s ‘problem space’ research methodology, with a particular focus on its ‘within/without’ contextual factors, while also contributing a chrono-dimension to reinforce its conceptual role over time. The article concludes with an outline of a primary research strategy to investigate the challenges of building integral GenAI innovation ecosystems in Chinese higher education institutions more broadly.