The hot Asian summer

No question: The top international story in R&D is the rise of Asia. That’s chiefly China and India, but not only – as suggested by our report of a rare Singaporean takeover in Europe. It is, in fact, the region that never sleeps: While most European researchers were at the beach or mountains this Summer, the R&D news flow from Asia pounded on. Herewith, a few tidbits from that news machine – some important, but mostly bizarre.

Go East, young man

Is there any major Western company that isn’t yet running, or planning, a lab in China?

Just this Summer, Astra Zeneca announced a $100 million research programme there, focusing on the identification of biomarkers for drug development. Chip maker AMD announced its second lab in China. DuPont said it has more than 100 researchers and technicians there at a new lab.

A good summary, for the chemical industry, graces the latest cover of Chemical & Engineering News. Electronic Business asks: “Is China the next R&D Superpower?” And a survey by the European Commission found China and India ranked third and fourth among EU companies as research destinations (after the EU and US).

And of course, the local companies are at it, too. A local photovoltaic cell company, Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., announced a new lab in Shanghai for early 2008. If its technology claims are accurate, this venture smashes any idea that China is playing catch-up in things like renewable energy:

A consequence of this rush that we’d like to see more written about: The impact on R&D costs there. Already, researchers' salaries are going through the roof, alongside the cost of renting office space in downtown Shanghai.

Then there’s the old battle over intellectual property rights – specifically, Western arguments that China isn’t doing enough to protect them. Lest anyone forget this in all the rush to make money, the very grumpy US Trade Representative is blasting through Singapore, Malaysia and China this week, dropping complaints along the way about Chinese IP policy.  

The comeback kid?

Apparently, nothing – not even international opprobrium and local embezzlement charges – can keep disgraced Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk out of the lab.

A report this week in Korea Times says Hwang is back at the workbench, cloning pigs, in the Seoul suburbs. He opened a lab in Kuru earlier this month with about 30 mostly-junior researchers. It was funded by private backers. He is working on pigs at the moment, and hopes to get back into human cloning – though the newspaper noted that the odds aren’t high of the Korean government granting the necessary permits. Hwang devastated the international stem-cell community last winter, when it was found that he had falsified data in his prior stem-cell research. The government, which once lionised him, has charged him with embezzling grant funds.

Hogwarts: Labwork 101

Ever wonder how Houdini really did it? Then keep an eye on India’s new Magic Academy Research Centre, inaugurated this week in Kerala. It promises, on a 1.4 acre complex, to facilitate research “on the intriguing art of magic,” according to the Hindustani Times. It will also shelter “aged and sick magicians.”

Man bites dog in Australia…

This item, spotted in the Sydney Morning Herald, should probably go into Guinness. The new chancellor at the University of New South Wales announced he wants to cut support staff to hire more researchers. Seems the university has a ratio of 1.51 general staff workers to academic employees – far higher than the norm. His solution: After just two months in office, he sent a notice to 1,200 workers that they may be made redundant.