A Fascinating Report

The latest edition of the Economist has a fascinating report on technology in India and China, which is definitely worth checking out if you are interested in the development of the hi-tech industries in these two rapidly emerging global economic powerhouses.
The key argument the report’s author makes is that both countries should focus on driving continuous innovation through the diffusion of technology among their vast populations rather than spending huge amounts of money in attempts to achieve “big bang” inventions in order to leapfrog other economies:
“Besides, firms enjoy great scope for innovation, even if they do not march across the technological frontier. Indian and Chinese firms have a comparative advantage in finding new uses for existing technologies, and combining them in novel ways. This kind of “architectural innovation” may be scientifically modest, but it can nonetheless be commercially significant. This was, after all, how Japan's electronics firms came to dominate their market.
In making this kind of innovation, both countries can draw inspiration from their vast ranks of adventurous consumers, who may be a greater spur to technological creativity than any number of white coats or government exhortations. This is one reason why a nation's technological fortunes rest as much on its powers of adoption as they do on its powers of invention. The shallow penetration of computing in India and the retarded spread of 3G phones in China should trouble their policymakers as much as the number of patents filed or scientific papers cited.”