NSF 95-309
Decades of market success in general manufactures gave Japan the revenues and rationale for even larger investments in education and in research and development (R&D). These investments, in turn,
propelled that country's entry into technology areas previously dominated by the West. Today, several other Asian economies are exhibiting similar patterns of industrialization (see Balk 1991). Once considered a locus for labor-intensive,
low-skilled manufacturing, Asia now boasts several economies that are active, if not prominent, suppliers of a growing number of high-technology products in the global marketplace.
Which of these economies will be full-fledged participants in the technology development efforts of the future? Which will be the competitors in tomorrow's high-tech product market? To provide a
basis for answering these questions, this report profiles nine economies linked by an Asian identity, yet marked by great economic and technological disparity.
A group of four - Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan - often referred to as the "four tigers" or as newly industrialized economies (NIEs) have made dramatic leaps forward in the global economy over the past decade. Still, they do not yet measure up technologically to Japan.
The remaining four countries, China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, lag far behind Japan and the NIEs in terms of economic and technological development. Yet each of these four countries has exhibited tremendous growth on both these fronts. Recent commitments voiced by the governments of these countries to pursue technology-based economic growth might mean that one or more of these countries could be the next "tiger" of Asia. These four countries are herein collectively referred to as the emerging Asian economies (EAEs).
