Originally posted on GoLive Indonesia:
? Christopher Findlay, Dean of Faculty of Professions, University of Adelaide Would you believe it? Indonesia actually has a trade surplus with China. How did this happen? This is what we find in a new data set released by the OECD and the WTO last month. We are familiar with…
Author: Smart Societies
Smart Societies explores changes to emerging economies in Asia driven by science, technology, education, and innovation.
Jokowi plans to set up a new Ministry of Research and Higher Education
Originally posted on GoLive Indonesia:
President elect Joko Widodo recently spoke to the media about his plan to merge Research and Development (R&D) agencies in differing ministries into a new Ministry of Research and Higher Education (Link: Vivanews 16 September 2014). His reason is clear- that is to improve efficiency, transparency and research impacts’ ‘measurability’.…
Japan’s universities can’t win
By Takamitsu Sawa In January last year, shortly after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power, the government created the Industrial Competitiveness Council to study concrete steps to strengthen Japanese industry’s international competitiveness, which has weakened in recent years. Indeed, many Japanese manufacturers were forced to retreat from the market of fast-selling smartphones and tablets…
Scientific ties that bind?
By Eugene Sebastian Governments in Asia are spending big on science, technology and innovation to drive their economies. These governments also recognise that investing in system reforms alone is not enough. Spending on having programmes that help strengthen links is also important. Can closer international scientific ties help strengthen international links? The Royal Society in…
China’s Education Gap
An article that recently appeared in the New York Times identifying the gap in China’s phenomenal education expansion. By Helen Gao BEIJING — Every September, the campuses of Peking and Tsinghua Universities, dubbed the Harvard and M.I.T. of China, brim with bright-eyed new students, the winners of China’s cutthroat education system. These young men and women…
Saudi’s push towards an innovation economy
By Mohamed Imam Salem, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is pushing to diversify its economy beyond natural resource. Transitioning towards a knowledge-based economy is its optimal development strategy. In pursuing this strategy, the Kingdom is focusing on science and technology. As the technological requirements of the global…
Indonesia’s innovation challenge
By Siwage Dharma Negara The 2014 Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks Indonesia 87th out of 143 countries in terms of innovation capability. In this aspect, Indonesia still lags behind several of its ASEAN neighbors, such as Singapore (7), Malaysia (33), Thailand (48), and Vietnam (71). Indonesia’s ranking is only better than Brunei Darussalam (88), the Philippines…
Unleashing the power of innovation
By Andrew Moody Is China about to lead the world as an innovator again? The world’s second-largest economy invented gunpowder, the compass, printing and papermaking, but has fallen behind not just in recent decades but for most of the last two centuries. After reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, China became the workshop of the…
China needs a culture of creative innovation
By Timothy Beardson Here are several tools by which we can measure the level of innovation in a country. In China there is often a focus on numbers of patents, university graduates and scientific papers. The authorities have set quantitative targets for patents as a measure of innovation, and the number granted has subsequently increased. However, a…
The new science of diplomacy?
How do you increase resources in tough financial times? One answer is to look overseas. UK research is looking to dynamic emerging economies in Asia and Latin America where spending on science and innovation is growing fast. Even the UK government sees science and innovation as an emerging business opportunity in its international engagement. According to…
Reinventing higher education
The revolution to reinvent the university has begun according to the Economist, the UK’s weekly newspaper. Three forces are reinventing the university: rising costs, changing demand and disruptive technology. Higher education, The Economist argues, suffers from Baumol’s disease – the tendency of costs to soar in labour-intensive sectors with stagnant productivity. Whereas the prices of…
China Wants Fewer College Grads, More Skilled Workers. Sound Familiar?
By Dexter Roberts The U.S. and China differ in many ways. But when it comes to education, there’s one striking similarity. In both countries a mismatch exists between what young people learn and the skills employers need. Just as in the U.S., China’s university graduates—some 7 million each year—are struggling to find jobs. Now China has…
Asia-Pacific Analysis: Bridging the ASEAN research gap
By Crispin Maslog Member states of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), home to some 600 million people, expect to enter 2015 riding on the waves of strong economic growth and a burgeoning middle class. This development coincides with the launch of the integrated ASEAN Economic Community next year. However, some South-East Asian economies…
Twitter on the rise in Asia
In five years’ time, more than 40 per cent of Twitter users will be in Asia Pacific, according to a new report by research firm eMarketer. Slowing user growth in the United States has been a growing concern for Twitter ever since it went public late last year. It is also a major reason why…
How American Universities Turned Into Corporations
By Andrew Rossi – 22 May 2014 A profitable student loan market has fuelled an arms race among colleges and universities, along with an astronomic rise in tuition fees that seeks to capture the student loan dollar through increasing fees. College graduation season is here, and that means students should be celebrating their hard-earned educations….
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