Technological Advancement and Long-Term Economic Growth in Asia

We are living in an age of remarkable technological change that is forcing us to think very hard about the linkages between technology and economic development. The harder we think about it, the more we realize that technological innovation is almost certainly the key driver of long-term economic growth. We further realize that the innovation process must be supported by a complex set of social institutions. Although markets have a great deal to do with innovation, innovation is not purely a market-driven phenomenon. Innovating economies require an interconnected set of market and nonmarket institutions to make the innovation process work effectively, and for this reason, governments need an innovation strategy if they wish to foster highly innovative economic systems. This need for an innovation strategy is as real in Asia as it is anywhere else in the world. In Asia, however, the necessity is perhaps more immediate than in most other developing regions , since many Asian economies now stand at a threshold of development requiring a new approach to technology and growth. Over the next twenty-five years, many Asian economies will undergo a transition from being top-flight adopters of