Asia - Pacific

Broadcom Corp. recently revealed its plans to build a new $800 million R&D center in Taiwan. This is not only a significant financial boost to Taiwan?s high-tech chip cluster, but it marks a major advance for the region ? as this will be the first facility of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.

The ‘Kobe Medical Industry Development Project’ represents Japanese cluster development on a grand scale within the medical industry. Kobe is located in the Kansai region, which accounts for 19% of Japan’s GDP (50 billion US dollars in 1998) and takes advantage of a large population of 23 million. Within this advantageous region, the Japanese government has worked with the city authorities and private industry to design and build a world-class research facility: Kobe Medical Industry Development Project

When Hong Kong once again became part of China, it created the opportunity and necessity to integrate two economic systems: That of British - Hong Kong and that of the Pearl River Delta belonging to the Chinese republic. How this integration is progressing can be read in a recently completed 256-page report by The 2022 Foundation.

Business Review Weekly (BRW), Australia's leading business magazine, has a feature article: "Industry Clusters - the future of business". The article first explains what clusters are and then focuses on how to identify and develop them.

Much attention continues to be focused on Malaysia after the currency crisis, as it continues to rebuild its economy. Malaysia has a comprehensive strategy in place that may help ease the concerns over future investment and continue high-tech economic growth.

Last November, J.E. Austin Associates and the Kenan Institute Asia (KIAsia) began working as part of the "Southeast Asia Competitiveness Iniciative" (SEACI) in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. SEACI, sponsored by U.S. AID, is supporting these countries with cluster development as part of helping them recover from the 1997 Asian Crisis.

As India's trade policies are liberalised, its textile industry faces the issue of upgrading its clusters and preparing itself for global competition.

South Korea is making a concerted government effort to combine biotech and IT industry clusters.

As the world of electronics moves towards advanced IT products, investment and development of southern China's electronic industry boomed.