The Indian Economic Times reports the spectacular success of the incredibly frugal Mars Orbiter Mission that put India straight into an elite club and opened up an array of business opportunities has created the right atmospherics for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US during which he would engage with the civil society, policy makers and the business community. And in almost all of these, one subject that would be the talking point would be technology.
One BRIC to rule them all?
Which of the BRICs will wield the most influence in twenty-five years? Easy. China and India are rising powers. Both economies are recording higher growth rates. China’s sheer size makes it easier to mount a challenge on the U.S. Even international political economic theory points to either one or both. But stretch the boundaries of theory the answer may be different, argues Rudra Sil from the University of Pennsylvania.
US – India higher education relations
Even before he came to office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called India and the U.S. “natural allies”. In September, Prime Minister Modi and President Obama will meet in Washington. The Brookings Institute recently released a briefing paper “The Modi-Obama Summit – A leadership moment for India and the United States” in preparation of the visit. The paper covers a range of issues from internet governance, nuclear cooperation to counter-terrorism and Asia broadly. A section of particular interest is the US-India higher education relations. In a short chapter, Shamika Ravi, a Fellow with Brookings India in New Delhi offers some suggestions on how US and India could strengthen their bilateral relationship in higher education.
Thai Science, Technology and Innovation
Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Yuthavong considers the country has the potential to become a leader in the South East Asia’s science, technology and innovation. Science and technology is a key to helping Thailand escape from the middle-income trap by 2030. The Deputy Prime Minister argues what is needed is increased investment in education and a change in mindset not only in Thailand, but the Asean region.
Trade in value added, what is the difference?
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…
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…
Nanomedicine: India’s next small thing
Nanotechnology is one of the key technologies of the 21st century. Its multidisciplinary involving areas such as applied physics, material science, molecular biology and engineering. It has the potential to transform every economic sector from medicine, energy, electronics to food science and cosmetics. Scientists are already collaborating to create new medical devices and more resistant…
Russia’s higher education: Tipping point?
In this week’s Smart Societies blog we look at Russia’s higher education challenge. Our article focuses on Russia’s renewed efforts to internationalise its higher education sector. But a paper published in the Studies in Higher Education by Maria Yudkevich from the National Research University Higher School of Economics identifies inherent challenges to Russian ambition. Russia’s…
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…
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