Whether Asia can become more innovative is a question whose answer holds the key to raising Asia’s future competitiveness and living standards for its populations. The region’s past few decades of rapid economic growth have largely been driven by its ability to become the factory of the world. Foreign know-how was important and there was little domestic innovation. However, innovation is becoming more pressing for Asia, because easy technological catch-up gains have already been made, the labor force advantage is shrinking, and cheap capital is not a sustainable advantage.

This Council research study on innovation argues that Asian innovation is on the rise in a variety of industries, and likely to become more so thanks to increased technical and scientific capabilities coupled with growing local markets. But Asia is lagging in the creation and adoption of innovations with substantial impact. The challenge now is to build on current success with better institutional and corporate policies.

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