by Jon Swartz, USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Where are the Big Ideas?

Dr. Yangyang Zhang has plenty of them.

“Near-space technology” developed by his company, Kuang-Chi, promises Jetsons-like comfort with the Martin Jetpack and metamaterial, which can be used to flow light around an object, effectively rendering it invisible. It’s the type of venture that personifies a fearless can-do spirit and insatiable appetite for risk- taking that imbues the country’s young generations — one fully supported by the government.

Chinese scientists are launching the largest telescope into space by year’s end, and they’ve completed the deepest (1.5 miles) underground research lab. Portable chargers, meanwhile, are being sold to homeowners to convert homes into mini-charging stations for electric cars, says Carl Yao, executive vice president of global strategy at CSOFT International, a multilingual-localization software company in Beijing.

“There is a hunger to do extraordinary things,” Yao says.

A golden age in innovation is ubiquitous: Biotech, mobile apps and transportation projects lead the way. Drones — everything from do-it-yourself helicopters to robotic rickshaws and homemade submarines — tickle the imagination. China leads the world in registered patents.

The Chinese ambitions for tech extend to business. On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping bore several gifts: a $38 billion contract with Boeing to supply 300 planes and a wide-ranging accord between Cisco Systems and Inspur, a Chinese cloud computing and data center company.

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