As economies across Asia strive to shift away from low-cost production towards more environmentally and socially sustainable production models, they are looking for innovative ways of transforming their productive structures. Start-ups of all kinds – those that use new technologies, those that offer new services and products, and those that provide solutions to emerging problems – can play an important role in making innovation a development driver for the region.
To encourage the creation of these new firms and open opportunities for them to grow, governments must take concerted policy actions in many areas. This can be achieved only if some form of baseline assessment is available to target those policies, assess progress and take corrective measures when needed. And yet, Asia’s fast-changing start-up scene remains poorly researched with data on start-up ecosystems, pro-startup policies and the impact of support instruments still in short supply.
To help fill those gaps, this report sheds new light on the region’s expanding innovation frontier, zooming in on the unique characteristics of start-up ecosystems in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam, and offering policy recommendations for accelerating their development.
Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir
Director
OECD Development Centre