Is this the Asian Century? Gurvinder singh

Rise of Asia East Asian Tigers had exceptionally high growth rates from the 60’s to the 90’s South Korea & Taiwan specialized in hardware production. China & India have developed substantial software sectors as well as hardware exports. All four have become very successful in both the hardware & software sectors.

Transitioning Economies Knowledge based economy traditional economies Based on intellectual capital Education Research Patents Connections / Contracts Greater dependence on knowledge and high skill levels by business and public sectors Developing countries trend towards agricultural or industrial economies Resources Exports Manufacturing Greater dependence on low labor costs and consumer expenditure

Catching Up High tech growth in Asian Developing Countries Taiwan has become a regional hub for original design manufacturing. South Korea invested heavily in technology R&D. 80% of the world’s software outsourcing is done by Indian firms. China’s electronic exports have grown from $26 billion to $460 billion between 1998 and 2007. Reasons experts think this will be the Asian Century Developing countries can succeed in sectors such as biotechnology, semiconductor and nanotechnology. The largest economies, such as India/China, possess certain advantages.

Asian Century Or Not? Although the Asian economies are catching up, there is still a widening knowledge gap between the four major Asian economies and western developed economies (incl. Japan) Study uses three criteria to test their theory Patent Filings R&D Expenditure Patents granted by the USPTO After 1: We intend to demonstrate that Asia’s developing countries may lose the tools they need to succeed in the KBE, an economy in which knowledge is transformed into intangible assets of great significance --LAST-- The investigation of R&D expenditure reveals the technological advancement efforts of the four selected Asian countries included here. Patent filings reflect the number of innovations developed in a country. Patents granted by the USPTO indicate a country’s performance in the largest and highly competitive market – the USA.

R&D Expenditure Graph shows R&D Expenditure as a proportion of GDP. Used as measure for evaluating a nation’s technological level, capabilities, and pursuit of advancement. Anything over 3% is generally regarded as highly conducive to high-tech industrialization (only Japan has it). Korea, Taiwan, India, and China all have grown their R&D expenditure while US has been steady (but it’s largest economy). Even though all four economies increased their expenditure in a bid to better compete in global IT industry, US and Japan still beat them by the amount spent overall

Patent Filings Why Patent Filings are Important Patent protection encourages invention by granting rights to those who are willing to spend time and money on unknown fields. Not all patents lead to money making, patents do defend the rights of inventors and allow them to make a fortune in the market. Hard for developing countries to breakthrough initially since patents are usually first based in already developed countries. Why Patent Filings are Important Demonstrate the strength of a nation’s R&D competency Number of filings by residents shows a nation’s R&D capabilities and the country’s ability to rival others in high-tech sectors. More patents lead to a more advantageous position in the market. After 1: In turn, patent holders can then use their ownership rights to prevent others from entering their unique market. After 2: More patents a nation has, the more advantages it holds.

The total number of differences between the USA and South Korea remained huge, increasing from 68,000 in 1985-90 to 86,000 in 2001-06. India lagged behind the USA by 73,000 cases per year in 1985-90, which increased by 2001-06. By then there were 180,345 more patent filings in the USA than in India. The gap in the number of patent applications filed by residents in Japan and Taiwan remains enormous – 318,129 per year for the most recent period.

Patents granted by The USPTO The United States is the world’s largest and most lucrative market. All four Asian economies’ residents lagged in the number of patents they gained from the USPTO compared to US residents. Taiwanese residents had a gap of 55,86 per year in 2001-06. Chinese residents were only granted 2,246 in 2001-06. Korean residents were granted 4,326 in 2001-06. After 1: You want to hold as many patents as you can in the US because of how large the market is. Those patents can be licensed out or put into production to build a product and gain profit from it. After China stat: India has a similar situation with USPTO patents US residents were granted an average of 85,199 patents a year, Japanese 34,349. --CONCLUSION-- Very difficult for these (or any) economies to catch up to the Western economies (incl. Japan), especially with the transition to the KBE. New and frontier technologies are controlled by advanced economies, we can expect that developing countries will become more dependent on the technologies of developed countries, which means they will have a hard time getting ahead and ushering in the Asian Century.