The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
This paper looks at Singapore's efforts to transform the economic growth base from one that is predominantly efficiency driven to one that is more innovation driven. To accelerate the transition process, the government is aggressively investing in "innovation infrastructure" systems and institutions that make the city a more conducive environment for innovations. The modus operandi, with a distinctive "winner-picking" flavor, mirrors that of its earlier strategic industrial policy in building up the manufacturing sector. It is also in sync with the new urban growth literature, which argues that the success of any innovation-driven growth strategy depends on a city's ability to attract a large community of creative individuals in different fields.Innovation infrastructure building requires more than putting in the right systems. It also requires a mindset change at various levels of society. This paper looks at how the government's policy philosophy and practices have evolved over time, and discusses the effectiveness of the government-led, strategic supply-push approach in propelling Singapore onto an innovationdriven growth path. It takes into consideration the city-state's underlying comparative advantages (or disadvantages) and asks how Singapore's existing strength in efficiency infrastructure may give it a first mover advantage in attracting creative talents, how its success may be affected by the small size of the economy, and the various political and social constraints that a small sovereign city-state faces. These issues are explored against the backdrop of the keen competition among the major cities in the region to become an innovation hub.
Without intending to do so, China has in recent years played a major role in East Asia's economic integration. It has done so mainly through the production and supply chain networks it has spun across the region. This paper argues that given the developmental trends in the Chinese economy, the Chinese government should pursue a more active strategy towards a broader and more balanced economic integration with the region. The emergence of a multi-track production structure, increased importance of domestic consumption and the services sector, together with faster integration of the domestic economy, will fundamentally change China's trade and investment relationships with the rest of East Asia and necessitate a review of China's economic integration strategy. The paper also argues that ASEAN can play a useful role in facilitating the region-wide integration process. Copyright The official journal of The Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) 2006.
This exploratory study investigates the adoption and use of information and communication technologies in Myanmar by examining the nature and structure of the information technology profession. The investigation is based on a theoretical framework consisting of three components: domains of information technology professional expertise; the scope of the information technology professional's knowledge, skills and experience; and specific knowledge and skills associated with the domains of professional expertise. The findings show that specialist skills in systems development, database, network and communications are important. This paper also provides insights that are not found in current literature which investigates information technology skills in Myanmar.Keywords: Myanmar, IT skills, IT adoption. 1.INTRODUCTION Myanmar embarked on the path of political and economic reforms in 2011. This created an opportunity and challenges to investigate the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the country by examining the nature and structure of the information technology (IT) profession. Myanmar is the second largest country in Southeast Asia. It borders five nations and has a population of 48.34 million (The World Bank, 2012). The World Bank categorizes Myanmar as a low income country and its economy is primarily an agricultural economy (The Asian Development Bank, 2012a; The World Bank, 2012). Economic indicator from The Asian Development Bank shows that Myanmar is experiencing 5.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2011 and its economy is expected to grow at seven to eight percent a year, triple per capita income and become a middle income nation by 2030 (The Asian Development Bank, 2012a). To achieve this goal, the government of Myanmar is developing coherent strategies to overcome many structural impediments to realize the economy's potential by opening foreign investment in a range of sectors (The Asian Development Bank, 2011; The Asian Development Bank, 2012b).In a report prepared for the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Pernia (2008) reported that Myanmar is a country with high appreciation of technology but low in availability of technology. The Myanmar's government ICT master plan shows that it aims to utilize IT as a vehicle for business organizations penetrating the international market and to have widespread business applications of IT in EJISDC (2013) 59, 3, The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries http://www.ejisdc.org 2 organizations to improve productivity (SEACOOP, 2010). The report from SEACOOP (2010) also concludes that although Myanmar is at an early stage of ICT development, there is a clear potential for developing a viable ICT industry and effective use of ICT to make the country more productive and competitive in the international market. In addition, it has identified software development and training to be the key drivers of ICT development in Myanmar (SEACOOP, 2010). One of the key...
This paper looks at how government intervention shapes the evolution of the Singapore economy and accounts for its successes and failures over the past 50 years. Compared with other dynamic Asian economies, the Singapore government's approach to intervene in the economy is both more extensive and more intrusive, but with a narrow focus on GDP growth and surplus accumulation as the primary objectives. The ruling government's near complete dominance in politics has enabled it to mobilize resources to create the preconditions for strong GDP growth and high savings. But the impact on the broader development of the economy and the long term sustainability of growth is less obvious. High GDP growth and strong savings have been achieved without developing the inherent production and indigenous innovation capacity, securing a larger hinterland and providing a less skewed income distribution and higher quality of life for residents. As the economy enters a new phase where more complex and multi-faceted development is needed, the Singapore government will require more than its vaunted competency in mobilizing resources to deliver the outcome.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.