Asia Is the World's Center of Innovation — Report
6
Intermediate
Vocabulary
Repeat each word, definition, and example sentence after your tutor.
innovationNounˌɪnəˈveɪʃən
the action or process of introducing new methods, ideas, products, etc.; a new idea, product, etc.
Apple has always been known for its innovation.
inventionNounɪnˈvɛnʃən
the action of making or introducing something that has not existed before; something that has been made or introduced for the first time
The invention of the car gave people more mobility than ever before.
investmentNounɪnˈvɛstmənt
the action or process of putting money into something in order to make more money; the amount of money put into something, or the thing into which money is put
He made a fortune through early investments in companies such as Facebook and Twitter.
patentNounˈpætnt
a legal right to be the only person or company to make, use, or sell a new product for a period of time
Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for the world's first working telephone in 1876. 
take into accountPhraseteɪk ˈɪntuː əˈkaʊnt
to consider something
The study did not take income into account.
faceVerbfeɪs
to have a difficult situation as a possible outcome
If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison. 
Article
Read the article aloud on your own or repeat each paragraph after your tutor.Asia Is the World's Center of Innovation — ReportA lot of the world's new research and innovation is coming from Asia, according to a new report.
WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, looked at the places where new research is being done and where new inventions are coming from.
It also looked at the areas where that research and innovation is being supported by investment.
And four of the top five areas are in Asia.
According to WIPO, the area of China that includes Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong is the world's number one place for innovation.
Over the last five years, WIPO said that more than 117,000 patent applications have been made in this area.
That's almost 9% of all the patent applications made across the world during that time.
One quarter of these applications were made by the company Huawei.
And almost 200,000 new scientific research papers were published in this area.
It does have a very big population, but WIPO took this into account when looking at the data.
In second place was the area of Japan that includes Tokyo and Yokohama. Here, more than 135,000 patent applications were made by companies like Mitsubishi, NTT and NEC.
The only place outside of Asia in the top five was Silicon Valley in the US, where some of the biggest companies in the country are based.
This has often been seen as the center of innovation, but it's now facing competition from around the world.
Beijing was next on the WIPO list, while Seoul was fifth. There were four more Chinese areas in the top 20, while the area that includes Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto was 11th.
Discussion
Have a discussion based on the following questions.- What are your thoughts on WIPO's findings?
- Do you find it surprising that four of the top five areas in the report are in Asia?
- What are the most innovative companies in your country?
- What famous inventions came from your country?
- Do you know many people who work in tech?
Further Discussion
Have a discussion based on the following questions.- Do you know any creative or inventive people?
- Does your job involve much creativity?
- What are your country's most important industries?
- Which industries do you think will grow the most over the next few decades?
- Imagination is more important than knowledge. — Albert Einstein. What do you make of this quote?