Enterprise Tech Dispatch: South-East Asia has untapped R&D potential; Tech companies keen on expanding India operations

The untapped research potential in South-East Asia has affected the economic development of the region, says New Jersey-based Web of Science Group study. 

The Global Research Report examined the research outputs of 14 countries in South-East Asia, including India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

The bottom line is that countries in this region lag significantly when compared to their European and Asian counterparts in terms of quantity and quality of research.  The study also made recommendations as to how South-East Asian countries could up their research game.

 "South and East Asian countries have deep roots in learning, culture and technology over millennia,” said Jonathan Adams, director of the institute for scientific information. 

 New development hubs and increasing investments

However, online content censorship and poor research output has not deterred companies from increasing investments or setting up technology centres in India. 

• Affle India, a consumer intelligence platform, has opened a research and development centre in Bengaluru. A Sify report also stated that the centre will help consolidate research in analytics and deep learning models.
• London-based ContractPod AI wants to expand its Mumbai technology hub in India. This comes after it recently secured $55 million Series B round thanks to Insight Partners and Eagle Proprietary Investments. The company’s focus will now be on building technology innovations in the legal sector using AI technologies. 

ContractPodAI was built with the backing of IBM’s AI software, Watson.

• German multinational conglomerate, Thyssenkrupp Industries India, is focusing on a revenue of 4,000 crore revenue over the next five years, the company’s chief executive officer Vivek Bhatia told the Press Trust of India.

The company deals with energy, mineral processing, material handling equipment. It now wants to build its presence in the growing Internet-of-Things or IoT market.