Asia has driven a boom in recent years in terms of R&D spending, venture capital funding, academic publications, and patents.

To navigate this region, Lux Research issued a new report, “State of Innovation in Asia: Key Industries and Players Shaping Asia’s Innovative Ecosystem.”

The report utilizes Lux’s methodology to analyze and determine which countries are leading the innovation charge in the global arena.

Looking beyond the numbers, the report paints a picture of how the region’s emerging players will dictate the evolution of the global innovation ecosystem.

Lux Research predicts that in the coming years:

• China and South Korea will leverage their robust and diverse innovation portfolios in solidifying their innovation positions regionally and globally;
• Japan’s innovation status will continue to shrink as the country eventually innovates itself into a corner of specialization as its antiquated innovation strategy struggles to keep pace with regional peers;
• Singapore solidifies itself as the pinnacle R&D hub of the world, serving as a living laboratory for the development, prototyping, and testing of cutting-edge technologies in real-life scenarios;
• Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand will continue to lay the necessary groundwork to be the next global innovation hot spot, with clear potential to be the world’s next unicorn haven;
• India’s domestic innovation ecosystem will depend heavily on universal adoption of the “innovate, patent, produce, and prosper” spirit or else it will remain a tech playground for foreign players

“In a time where tech innovation is nearly synonymous with global economic status, China and South Korea’s recent innovation boom has propelled both to the top of the global leaderboards,” said Yuan-Sheng Yu, senior analyst at Lux Research and lead author of the “State of Innovation in Asia” report. “While the infatuation with Silicon Valley is still prevalent in innovation circles, we are seeing an increasing interest in Asia, and rightfully so. China and South Korea may be the shining stars of Asia today, but we believe Southeast Asia’s innovation landscape will inevitably lead to the next global boom in innovative ideas and unicorns.”

The report’s analysis finds that the center of innovation power is undeniably shifting toward the East as the transition toward a new world order is underway. The rise of Asia innovation is a global phenomenon and ripe with opportunities for everyone, not just the regional players. For the past several decades, organizations in Asia have benefited tremendously from expanding their innovation efforts abroad to the U.S. and Europe – the reverse can be equally fruitful for those able to properly navigate Asia’s innovation ecosystem.