“Innovation requires open markets that embrace fair competition and effective IPR protection to sustain vitality.” These views were expressed by Ken Hu, rotating CEO of Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, in a speech delivered at an event to acknowledge the contribution of Asian countries and economies to the Global Innovation Index for 2013 in Shenzhen today.
Mr Hu believes that only markets that encourage open and fair trade and promote competition are the true engines of innovation that will drive industrial and social development. “Two fundamental reasons attribute to the rapid social and economic development in the last 200 years: first is the advancement of technologies, second more importantly is that open trade facilitated global resource reallocation and industry restructuring, maximizing the utilization of technical innovations.”
Mr. Hu also talked about the impact and importance of protection for intellectual property in relation to innovation: “Only through effective intellectual property protection can science and technology innovators be rewarded for the fruits of their labours. By doing so, their rights and innovative spirit can be protected and the momentum can be maintained. Protecting IPR is a necessary means to maintain market integrity and encourage enterprises to invest more. ”
Mr Hu shared his thoughts on how the sound innovation environment in Shenzhen, a city near Hong Kong, has contributed to Huawei’s success and growth over the last 26 years. He said that Shenzhen is an open, fair and free market with effective IPR protection mechanisms: “The city of Shenzhen benefits from this approach and has successfully boosted local business and urban development,” he said.
Hu said the core concept behind Huawei’s innovation success is to remain customer and market-oriented and not focused exclusively on technology: “We focus our innovation on customers. So far, we have set up 28 joint innovation centres with customers around the world. These innovation centres have helped us to discover crucial innovation breakthroughs, and act as test centres when we are integrating global resources and help Huawei to compete globally”.
According to the GII 2013, the geographic concentration of innovation is spreading from developed to emerging economies, including Asian countries. The report reveals that the innovation environment in these countries is continually improving. An outstanding example of emerging innovation clusters, Shenzhen has benefited greatly from the public policies that encourage innovation and the market environment that attracts investment.
Bruno Lanvin, co-editor of the GII report and Executive Director of INSEAD’s European Competitiveness Initiative said: “As emerging economies promote fair competition through more open collaboration, these countries or regions’ competitiveness has also been enhanced.” Bruno appreciates Huawei’s dedication to continuous innovation and the support it offers to other countries to help them foster an environment for innovation. Meanwhile, he extended his gratitude to Mr Hu for Huawei’s contribution to the GII 2013 ad support as a Knowledge Partner.
Co-published by INSEAD, Cornell University and the World Intellectual property Organization (WIPO), the GII report assesses each country’s public policies, education environment and other dimensions that impact innovation in order to form a comprehensive ranking indicating each country and region’s relative innovation capabilities.
Huawei became a GII Knowledge Partner in 2013-2014 and contributed to the development of this year’s report. The company hosted the launch of the GII 2013 report in Shenzhen, China, the first time that the GII has been launched in an Asian country. Huawei’s contribution demonstrates its commitment to continuously improving and enhancing the global environment for innovation.
