ABSTRACT

The development of the information technology (IT) industry in the Asia Pacific region faces two challenges. Firstly, can its established physical, technical, regional and governance infrastructures be adapted to meet the challenges embedded in the set of products and processes created by the IT industry? Secondly, as this adaptation evolves, which cities and regions will be best suited to connect to or lead global responses to these challenges?

The chapters in this book have set out to explore these questions, providing details of change in a range of aspects of the IT industry such as mobile phones, software services, and flat screen design in regions in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, China and Australia. The book also outlines the policy responses of national and regional governments in Singapore, India and China and India. These case studies provide a basis to understand effective strategies which could be formulated for the future.

This book’s originality emerges from the fine detail provided about firms, in particular regions and cities, from research carried out by young scholars in the past two years. This makes it very useful for readers keen to understand the recent changes in this dynamic industry in a fast growth part of the world, and it will also help to shape thinking by policy makers on policy settings that can be applied.

part I|8 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|6 pages

The IT industry in the Asia Pacific region

Heritage, context and future

part II|21 pages

The new global context

chapter 2|19 pages

The ICT-led model of economic evolution in global innovation networks

ICT and eco-innovation as qualitative comparisons

part III|95 pages

National perspectives on the Asia Pacific IT industry in a global context

chapter 4|21 pages

Singapore's ICT industry

An evolutionary perspective

chapter 5|18 pages

Time and spaces of China's ICT industry

chapter 7|19 pages

The IT industry in Japan

Entrepreneurship and servicization

part IV|92 pages

Sectoral responses to global change

chapter 10|20 pages

China's good-enough innovation

Shanzhai handsets and shanzhai economy

chapter 12|17 pages

A geography of innovation in isolation?

Knowledge spillover, technology transfer and innovation of firms in China's software industry

part V|59 pages

Regional and local responses to global change

chapter 13|22 pages

A half century of envisioning the future in Bangalore

From autarky to innovation in the global information economy

chapter 14|21 pages

Localizing production of the globalized knowledge enclaves

The role of the sub-national states in development of the IT-ITES clusters in India