Jul 9, 2018, 7:30 PM ETPanel, Conference Presentation

Innovators Who Are Changing Asia

Disruptive Convergence: Patrick Tsong identifies a convergence of over a dozen disruptive technologies, including AI, IoT, blockchain, and facial recognition, creating a complex and exciting competitive landscape.
Demographic Dividend: Innovation is largely driven by a young demographic; Tsong notes that the primary community of innovators in Asia was born in the 1990s, possessing a "can-do" spirit and a belief that they can replicate or surpass giants like Jack Ma.
Economic Leapfrogging: Noni Purnomo highlights that developing markets like Indonesia are skipping older technology generations (e.g., personal computers) to jump directly to mobile internet, with mobile phone users (300 million) exceeding the population of 260 million.
Untapped Potential: The region accounts for approximately 50% of global unicorns, with China leading, followed by India, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Mobile-First Ecosystems: In Vietnam, 96 million people are connected, with the young population accessing first-world knowledge via online education, despite deficiencies in local university systems.

Indonesia: Digital Transformation and Urban Planning

Bandung Technopolis: Mayor Ridwan Kamil is developing a new town dedicated solely to technology-oriented businesses to transform Bandung into the "Silicon Valley of Indonesia."
Government Digitization: The city of Bandung has deployed 400 software applications to modernize public services, including apps for ordering doctors, monitoring baby health, and online farmer marketplaces.
Anti-Corruption Measures: Digital tools have replaced human-to-human permit processes, saving $100 million in two years by eliminating unnecessary budget programs and reducing corruption opportunities.
Education Reform: The city is revising vocational curricula to align with industry needs and funding an innovation center to provide access to expensive technology for local entrepreneurs.
Scalability Test: Mayor Kamil aims to scale his digital governance model to the provincial governor level within 60 days.

Vietnam: Talent and Global Integration

Overseas Talent Return: Henry Nguyen notes that the return of overseas nationals has been pivotal in establishing the venture capital scene since his firm's inception in 2004.
Student Brain Drain: Over 100,000 students leave Vietnam annually for education, with approximately 25,000 studying in the U.S. each year, posing a challenge to retaining talent.
Blockchain Ambitions: Vietnam is positioning itself as a blockchain center, leveraging a youth population (born 1990 or later) that constitutes half of the country's 96 million people.
Economic Stage: Vietnam's GDP per capita is currently comparable to the U.S. in 1910, driving a rapid adoption of technology as a means to accelerate economic climbing.

China: Leadership and Disruption

Rapid Valuation Growth: Companies like Xiaomi, Meituan, and Alibaba have achieved valuations between $30 billion and $100 billion within 5–7 years, necessitating continuous innovation to avoid disruption.
Payment Dominance: China has rapidly leapfrogged credit card usage to mobile payments (Alipay, WeChat Pay), creating a cashless ecosystem that now complicates foreigner transactions.
Infrastructure Support: The deployment of high-speed railways (80% of global capacity) has enhanced mobility, enabling people to travel between Beijing and Shanghai in a day, fostering knowledge exchange.
Competitive Landscape: Chinese giants like Alibaba and Tencent dominate due to deep localization and complex ecosystem navigation rather than government protectionism; foreign entities like eBay and Amazon failed to compete without local adaptation.

Bluebird Group (Indonesia)

Disruption Response: The taxi operator, initially the world's first to launch a Blackberry app in 2011, faced significant disruption from Gojek and Uber due to complacency in mobile adoption.
Strategic Pivot: Bluebird adapted by launching its own app with pre-booking features and collaborating with Gojek under a "Go Bluebird" partnership.
Future Vision: The company is transitioning from a pure taxi service to a "Mobility as a Service" provider, integrating public and non-public transport, with a strategic horizon of 5–10 years.

Innovation Methodologies

Local Adaptation vs. Copying: Panelists refute the "copycat" label, arguing that Asian innovation involves adapting global concepts to specific local topographies and cultural needs (e.g., Gojek adapting to motorcycle taxi networks).
Cultural Nuance: Innovation must respect cultural heritage; for instance, Asian social games reflect community-based family structures, differing from Western console gaming focused on individual competition.
Civic-Minded Entrepreneurship: Henry Nguyen observes a trend of strong social-mindedness among Asian entrepreneurs, particularly the younger generation, who aim to contribute to their communities and countries.

Technological Horizons

Healthcare Disruption: The convergence of genomics, AI, and cloud computing is enabling early-stage cancer detection, increasing 10-year survival rates from 10% (Stage 3) to 90% (Stage 1/2) while reducing treatment costs.
Urban Design Shifts: Future city planning must account for autonomous vehicles, potentially flipping the current paradigm where cars are parked 90% of the time, necessitating the repurposing of vast parking infrastructure.
Longevity Trends: The ability to live longer, driven by early detection technologies, is a key area where converging technologies will impact global economies.

Political and Economic Shifts

Technology Disrupting Politics: Digital transparency is holding politicians accountable, as voters can directly compare promises with outcomes via social media and apps, forcing greater responsiveness.
Regulatory Reform: Ridwan Kamil successfully removed permits for small businesses under $50,000 in Bandung via mayoral autonomy, resulting in the birth of 30,000 new businesses in six months.
Investment Barriers: Investors cite politics, corruption, and lack of mass education as primary hurdles in Southeast Asia, suggesting that successful economic transformation requires simultaneous disruption of political structures.
Talent Attraction: Bandung attracts US investment (e.g., a $200 million tech firm) by offering world-class engineers, low costs of living, and a livable environment, despite infrastructure gaps managed by central government.

Lessons for the West

Government Responsiveness: Asian governments are increasingly mirroring private sector agility; the ability to rapidly deploy software and adapt policies (e.g., 400 apps in Bandung) serves as a model for modernizing public services.
Urban Livability: Mayor Kamil emphasizes that attracting the "creative class" requires cities to be culturally vibrant, offering cafes and workable environments that appeal to millennials seeking autonomy over traditional employment.
Collective Ambition: Unlike the West, where middle-class stability may slow disruption, Asian markets exhibit a collective urgency to use technology as a ladder for rapid economic advancement.