Counting on Technology for Help Up the Economic Ladder

Abstract

LINKS TO INDUSTRYLOS BAA‘OS, THE PHILIPPINES-- The farms, factories, and businesses here and across Southeast Asia are increasingly knit into a global economy, which means they will have to climb the technology ladder to compete successfully. That requirement is driving the steady rise in government spending on R&D throughout the region. In drawing up their R&D portfolios, government officials are attempting to strike the right balance between applied and basic research, in particular between the desire by researchers to do world-class science and the country's need to develop technology appropriate to local industries.