Get A Hip Replaced And See The Taj! 18 April 2008
Posted by Michael in India, Innovation, Observation, Services.add a comment
In another angle on Asia as a lower-cost medical destination for Westerners, India is capitalizing on its plethora of tourist sights like the Taj Mahal and Rajistan to offer an innovative combination of medical services and tourism.
“India is a perfect destination for medical tourism that combines health treatment with visits to some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places of the world. A growing number of foreign tourists are flocking in large numbers because of the superlative medical care, equipment and facilities that are in India.
India excels in providing quality and cheap health care services to overseas tourists. The field has such lucrative potential that it can become a $2.3 billion business by 2012, states a study by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). In 2004, some 150,000 foreigners visited India for treatment, and the numbers have been rising by 15 per cent each year. India is in the process of becoming the “Global Health Destination” owing to the following advantages:
- The cost of medical services in India is almost 30% lower to that in Western countries and the cheapest in South-east Asia.
- Language is a major comfort factor that invites so many foreign tourists to visit India for medical and health tourism. India has a large populace of good English speaking doctors, guides and medical staff. This makes it easier for foreigners to relate well to Indian doctors.
- Indian hospitals excel in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery, joint replacements, transplants, cosmetic treatments, dental care, orthopaedic surgery and more.”
[From TravelVideo.tv]
AirAsia Good Airline But Innovative? Maybe Not. 18 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Innovation, Observation.add a comment
In response to Fast Company’s recent ranking of Innovative Companies, some comments have focused on an Asian company on the list, AirAsia. A good Airline, to be sure, but not developing and commercialising new concepts, services or products. Being a really good competitive business doesn’t mean you are innovative. Some have made the assertion that Asian executives and entrepreneurs are ‘guilty by non-association’ with innovation, and that Westerners with new ideas still have an advantage when it comes to getting heard by financiers and others who are in a position to advance innovation. I would disagree to a large extent, and say that proven experience in innovation usually gets attention in Asia, no matter your country-of-origin. In broad strokes there are more evident examples of innovation coming into the region than going out (perhaps ex Japan, Taiwan and Korea). However in many industries we see an acceleration of entrepreneurial energy, but it’s first-generation in many cases, and the people who are in positions to fund and share the risk in “native” innovation should keep that in mind.
Asia Benefits From ‘Brain-Gain’ 17 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Culture, Innovation, Insight, Observation.add a comment
Science and technology is booming in Asia, and acting as a magnet for Asian scientists wishing to return home after training in the West—especially to China—attracted to full- or part-time positions in both academia and industry.
Promoting the eastward migration is a strong government push—particularly in China, Singapore, Korea, and Japan—to become global players in science and technology, and massive investment from the pharmaceutical industry. The result is a heady mix of new R&D opportunities.
Yet the “returnees” are only one side of the story. Also finding new opportunities are Western scientists wishing to work in Asia—including academics taking up professorships at Chinese universities. At the same time, scientific institutions in the West are keen to seize the new opportunities for research collaboration in Asia.
All of this means that Asia is now enjoying a significant brain-gain.
[From Science Careers]
Taiwan Wants To Build Their Own Brands 15 April 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, Innovation, Observation, Opinion, Products, Services, Taiwan.add a comment
Huang Der-Ray, director general of the Hsinchu Science Park Administration, said companies in the park had steadily increased spending on research and development from 4 percent of total revenue in previous years to 7 percent in the past three years.
Companies have also begun to focus on innovation and building their own brands. Mediatek, a chip design company that initially focused on optical storage drivers’ chips, has ventured into other areas, including designing chips for wireless communications and high-definition digital televisions. The company is one of the most profitable in the science park and is considered a pioneer in its designs.
Several companies in the science park have focused on research into new technologies, including solar energy. Just in the past two years, more than 15 companies in Hsinchu have invested in solar research, Huang said. One, Gintech Energy, has been successful in designing solar panels, which it sells to power companies around the world.
More companies are also moving toward design instead of just manufacturing. A decade ago, only about 20 or 30 companies in the Hsinchu Science Park were chip design companies, with most being contract manufacturers. Now, there are 80 companies whose focus is IC design, Huang said.
“This is Taiwan’s Silicon Valley,” Huang said. “This park is not just a manufacturing base. It wants to design new products. We are now going toward this direction, creating Taiwan’s own brands.”
Analysts said one of the biggest challenges Taiwan companies faced in developing a global brand is overcoming the label-consciousness of consumers here, who prefer internationally recognized brands rather than domestically designed products. Other than Acer and ASUS, which are laptop brands of Taiwan, few homegrown Taiwan high-tech products are known around the world, unlike in South Korea.
[From the IHT]
China about to get web innovative 20 March 2008
Posted by Michael in China, Innovation, Observation.add a comment
Companies like eBay and Google know that Chinese tech firms are forces to be reckoned with. Both Web giants have tried to push into the Middle Kingdom’s tech industry only to be shoved back by local competitors who were faster to market and better tuned to the tastes of the local audience.
But in each of those cases, the American companies could console themselves that imitation is the best form of flattery. The search engine Baidu may hold 60% of China’s search market, compared with Google’s 26%, according to Chinese Web research firm Analysys, but its site design and search algorithm largely mimic Google’s.
Alibaba’s Taobao.com has maintained dominance over eBay in China, but only by virtue of a few new features aimed at the local audience, like allowing real time bartering on prices–not by coming up with a smart new business model. So far, tech startups have outdone their U.S. counterparts in China through careful mimicry and adaptation–not innovation.
Author Rebecca Fannin, who has been covering China since 1992 and is the international editor of the Hong Kong weekly Asian Venture Capital Journal, says that’s about to change. In her new book Silicon Dragon: How China is Winning the Tech Race, she argues that businesses like Baidu and Alibaba foreshadow another generation of Chinese startups–those with their own highly competitive and homegrown ideas.
Taking a break from her book tour of Asia, Fannin spoke with Forbes.com from Hong Kong about the newest crop of entrepreneurs in China, why they’re poised to outthink and outspend Silicon Valley, and how they deal with local problems like corruption, censorship and piracy.
[Read the Forbes.com interview]
“Brand China” moving up the quality ladder 20 March 2008
Posted by Michael in Branding, China, Observation, Products, Strategy.add a comment
For nearly two decades China has been the world’s low-cost factory. Although this remains a strong component of the world’s economic dynamic, China is beginning to see that fray at the edges. Energy prices, increasing wages and protectionist posturing from trading partners is putting pressure on certain industries. Especially vulnerable among these are many light industry areas which are seeing new direct investment and existing production moving to even lower-cost markets like Vietnam. This trend will increasingly spread across the production spectrum forcing Chinese manufacturers to move up the quality ladder rather than being a pure quantity/cost play. When they move in this direction it will be an even more tempting opportunity to properly develop and export Chinese brands. More from Xinhua.
Questions about Asian innovation 10 March 2008
Posted by Michael in China, Culture, India, Innovation, Observation.add a comment
I asked a social community the other day which company in Asia (outside Japan and Korea) was most innovative? It was interesting that most of the responses were about Indian companies posted by Indian professionals. Although the professional community is strongly global, it got me thinking that there are forces at work. Language: Chinese professionals are likely not participating in the online innovation conversation as much as English-focused countries, for example. Culture: Is there a strong or weaker ‘culture of ambition’ in varying parts of Asia? Dialogue: is there a dynamic that compels certain types of people or professions to be more inclined to express themselves in a conversation?
