Asia Magazine #7

A bulletin by Chalmers students in Asia

asiabulletin no7

2006 05

/ the technology gap in singapore / / diesel on the move / the great firewall / is asia backwards /

/ on the road to a new china

asiaContents

ign

2

asiaOffice

Des

Sing

apo re

Editorial

Major Events at the Office

3

Representatives Spring 2006

4

NCTU Europe

5

asiaReport

22

First Date Between India and Taiwan

6

Aiming for Wireless Leadership

7

On the Road to a New China

8

The Great Firewall 10 From Production to Programming 12 Rough Sea in the Pirate Bay 14 1997, Before & After 15

Think different Taiwan cars

Is Asia Backwards? 16 Inside Taiwan’s Automotive Industry 17 The Technology Gap in Singapore 18 Diesel on the Move 21

17

Singapore — Asia’s Next Design Hub? 22 Chalmers in Asia 24

WHAT IS CHALMERS ASIA? Chalmers Asia was opened in March 2003 and is the result of a bilateral exchange agreement between National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and Chalmers University of Technology. The Chalmers Asia office is strategically located at NCTU, near Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park.

PURPOSE - Increase awareness at Chalmers about the development in East Asia, with focus on Taiwan.

- Support mobility of students and staff between NCTU and

Chalmers - Enhance Chalmers’ visibility in Taiwan and the neighbouring region

THE CHALMERS ASIA BULLETIN The purpose of this publication is to increase the awareness of Asia among the students and the staff of Chalmers. The articles are written by the Chalmers exchange students in Asia.

Editor in Chief, Editor: Carl Hedin carl.hedin@asia.chalmers.se Tomas Björklund tomas.bjorklund@asia.chalmers.se CONTACT Chalmers Asia National Chiao Tung University 1001 Ta-Hsueh Rd. Hsinchu 300 Taiwan, R.O.C.

web phone

fax

www.asia.chalmers.se +886 (0)3 573 73 69 +46 (0)31 780 41 55 +886 (0)3 573 74 69

Letter from the editors What you now hold in your hands is the product of twelve exchange students from Chalmers who decided to explore Asia. In the global world we live in today, this doesn’t sound very exciting; how different can it be?

Letter from the head of office

Asia is famous for having toilets that are merely holes in the ground. At first, I thought this was simply a matter of underdevelopment; however, in the brand new library of NCTU in Taiwan most toilets are holes in the ground.

Many Asians think it is disgusting to sit on a westernstyle public toilet, and would much rather use a hole where they don’t need to touch anything. This became totally clear to me when I visited a public restroom with only Western toilets and found footprints on the seat!

The year of the dog has arrived and the Chalmers Asia office has begun the fourth year of its mission to increase the presence of Chalmers in Asia. We are very pleased to see that the bilateral cooperation between Chalmers and National Chiao Tung University is reaching new heights. The exchanges of master students flourish side by side with mutual exchanges of Ph.D. students and Chalmers students attending the summer program in Mandarin. Furthermore, a conference on Nanoelectronics will be arranged at Chalmers on NCTU’s initiative. The outlook is thus brighter than ever and the opportunities for students at the two schools are almost endless.

Is Asia backwards? To Chinese people, ”forward in time” does not mean looking towards the future, but rather towards the past. The explanation is that since you cannot see the future, you must go backwards into it. Reasonable, right?

There are a million little situations like this where Westerners and Asians take different things for granted. This diversity creates a great opportunity for our different cultures to learn from each other, be it in toilet design or business strategy.

Chalmers Asia is year by year improving its function as a hub for Chalmers students in Asia. The first step has already been taken by incorporating all Chalmers students in Asia in the writing of the Asia Bulletin.

Through this, the regions and topics covered are increased, hopefully implying an even wider knowledge among the students at Chalmers about Asia.

So read on, grasp the opportunity our bulletin provides to catch a glimpse of the developments in Asia.

CARL HEDIN Tomas Björklund

Asia is the largest and most inhabited continent in the world and the complexity of politics, culture and people is for most Westerners overwhelming. In order to function in a business environment in Asia or even work with Asian companies in other parts of the world, experience from these countries and cultures are invaluable. By making observations and by making mistakes yourself, you can learn so many things that cannot be grasped from home. In an increasingly global society this kind of knowledge will be equally important as your professional skills. Follow our advice and take the opportunity to study at the Chalmers campus of the future – Asia.

editor in Chief Editor, Layout Artist

JACOB LINDMARK

Head of Office

asiaOffice

Major Events at the Office

Lucia was a busy day at the office. Early in the morning Taiwanese students enjoyed Lucia buns, mulled wine, ginger bread, and traditional Lucia music. Our Lucia show with authentic songs and apparel was highly appreciated. Many Swedish people living in Taiwan gathered in the evening at the Swedish consular residence to listen to Swedish children singing Lucia songs together with us. It seems that national holidays are even more important for people living abroad.

The Chalmers Asia Office in Taiwan was officially inaugurated on the 27th of March 2003. Many people gathered this year to celebrate our three-year anniversary; among them were both the President and Vice President of NCTU, as well as students and staff from the university. It was clear that the three years of cooperation between Chalmers and NCTU have been fruitful, as several of the guests had already been to Chalmers and expressed their gratitude over this opportunity.

NCTU celebrates its anniversary on the 8th of April every year with a big fair. Chalmers Asia was there and sold Swedish pancakes with jam and whipped cream.

There have been several events organized for the students who are interested in studying at Chalmers, ranging from an informative meeting held by a speaker from the Swedish trade council, to Swedish movie nights where Lukas Moodyson’s Show Me Love and Together have been shown.

The office staff has also visited some Swedish companies in Taiwan, e.g., Volvo and Scandinavian Health Limited, a company founded by Swedish entrepreneur Roger Samuelsson in 1989 that has grown to become a leader in the development and manufacturing of highend drug delivery devices.

Some office members have attended events around Asia to better understand the developments in the region. Erik Alexandersson’s article From Production to Programming is the result of him attending a conference on embedded systems in Shenzhen, China. You can further read in this issue about what Kajsa BeijerOlsen found out at a design conference in Singapore.

Several more trips are planned for this spring. Read all about them in the next issue.

asiaOffice

REPRESENTATIVES SPRING 2006

From left: Tomas Björklund, Carl Hedin, Håkan Olsson, Jacob Lindmark, Erik Zotterman, Karolina Norstedt, Erik Alexandersson

JACOB LINDMARK, Head of Office, is a student at NCTU’s

KAROLINA NORSTEDT, representative, is responsible for Chalmers

Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Engineering Physics.

Email: jacob.lindmark@asia.chalmers.se

Asia’s corporate relations. Karolina is a student at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Technology Management and Economics.

Email: karolina.norstedt@asia.chalmers.se

HÅKAN OLSSON, Deputy Head of Office, is currently working on ERIK ALEXANDERSSON, representative, is working with the

his master thesis on Hybrid Engines at the Mechanical Industry Research Laboratories (MIRL), a laboratory in the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), located in Hsinchu. Håkan has a background in Engineering Physics.

Email: hakan.olsson@asia.chalmers.se

student exchange program between Chalmers and NCTU. Erik is also part of the Alumni group and is webmaster of the Chalmers Asia website. Erik is a student at NCTU’s Computer Science department and has a background in Computer Science and Engineering.

Email: erik.alexandesson@asia.chalmers.se

CARL HEDIN, representative, is part of both the Information and the

Alumni groups. Carl is also editor of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin.

Carl is a student at NCTU’s Electrical Engineering department and has a background in Engineering Physics.

Email: carl.hedin@asia.chalmers.se

TOMAS BJÖRKLUND, representative, is part of the Information

group. Tomas is also editor and layout artist of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin. Tomas is a student at NCTU’s Computer Science department and has a background in Engineering Physics.

Email: tomas.bjorklund@asia.chalmers.se

ERIK ZOTTERMAN, representative, is working with the student

exchange program between Chalmers and NCTU. Erik is a student at NCTU’s Institute of Management of Technology and has a background in Mechanical Engineering.

Email: erik.zotterman@asia.chalmers.se

asiaOffice

NCTU Europe’s Column

As a part of the bilateral exchange agreement between Chalmers University of Technology and National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), NCTU Europe office is expressively constructed for interacting with Chalmers, other universities, and international companies in Europe. Chalmers University of Technology educates a lot of engineers in Sweden while National Chiao Tung University is an origin of engineers in Taiwan. Both schools desire to learn the strengths and advantages from each other to improve the development in the academic and industrial fields. NCTU Europe acts as a contact window for NCTU and Chalmers and facilitates both schools to achieve their goals.

NCTU Europe is located in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is run by exchange students from NCTU at Chalmers. NCTU Europe has many missions. First of all, it promotes and supports the exchange of staff and students between Chalmers and NCTU. In addition, it enhances NCTU’s visibility in Sweden and other European countries. Moreover, it provides interested students with information about National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, and introduces recent development in technology in Taiwan. Furthermore, via NCTU Europe office, Taiwanese companies can expose themselves to Chalmers and other institutions in Sweden.

To achieve our mission, NCTU Europe members hold many activities. To support exchanges of students between NCTU and Chalmers, we hold an information evening to provide information about exchange student opportunities for Chalmers students. To enrich NCTU’s understanding of Europe, the members also report to NCTU about the recent development in Chalmers, Sweden and Europe. We also identify opportunities in both ways between NCTU and Chalmers. To enhance NCTU visibility in Europe, the members establish contact with different academic institutions and industries. We also publish a bulletin on NCTU Europe’s official webpage to let everyone know what we are doing and what is happening in Europe.

NCTU Europe Chalmers University of Technology Hörsalvägen 7 412 96 Gothenburg Sweden web phone

www.europe.nctu.edu.tw +46 (0)31 7722588

asiaReport

First Date Between India and Taiwan

BY JACOB LINDMARK What do you think of when you hear the abbreviation IT? India and Taiwan? Probably not, but both are major players in the IT industry and there are signs that the hitherto fairly limited cooperation between them will grow.

In January 2006 the first Taiwanese parliamentary delegation visited India and in the following month the Taiwan India Cooperation Council was established in Taipei. The activities mark the end of a 56-year long period of lacking official political connections and expectations are now rising for increased trade between the two.

A major reason for the Taiwanese interest in India is the island’s ambition to decrease its dependence on China. In times when the manufacturing capability and market size of China to many seem irresistible Taiwan is seeking alternatives.

Since the Nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-Shek were driven away from Mainland China to Taiwan after losing the civil war to the Communists in 1949, Taiwan has had an unstable political status; it is not recognised as a country by most members of United Nations and thus cannot have embassies in those countries. In spite of this, Taiwan has experienced tremendous economic growth and is today a major actor in the industrial world.

Even though China still claims its right to reunite Taiwan with the mainland, by military action if necessary, it receives two fifths of Taiwan’s exports and more than two thirds of Taiwan’s total stock of foreign investments. This creates a very dangerous dependence that the Taiwanese government has trouble reducing.

Alongside China, India is also a candidate of becoming an economic superpower. The world’s largest democracy is expected to exceed China in population size in 25 years. Moreover, India is not facing the painful demographics that China is ex-

pecting due to the one-child policy. English literacy, quality education, a growing domestic market and low costs constitute the foundation of the expected Indian growth.

“It is in Taiwan’s strategic interest to promote India as an alternative investment centre to China,” delegation leader Hsiao Bi-Kim told The Straits Times at a reception hosted by Taiwan’s representative in India, Andrew J.C. Kao. One reason why increased cooperation and trade between India and Taiwan might be beneficial is that Taiwan’s competence in hardware is a perfect match with India’s competence in software. By the end of 2004, Taiwan’s investments in India amounted to incredibly low $116 million, to be compared with the underestimated official figure of $41.7 billion in China.

At this stage the increased interest from Taiwan is mainly based in the government.

In earlier attempts to lessen the dependence on China there has been a resistance

from Taiwanese companies that prefer the Chinese market to which the distance is small with regard not only to geography but also to language and culture.

“Although China is the world’s factory, India is now the world office and is set to create more output value than its bigger rival as predicted by the world’s marketwatchers. If Taiwanese companies are still reluctant to act now, it will be too late.”, says Wu Fu-Cheng, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.

Although having had an official delegation visiting India in itself is a step forward, it should be noted that according to Hsiao Bi-Kim some Taiwanese legislators that were intended to participate were denied visas in what by analysts is thought to be a concession to lessen the irritation in Beijing.

This might indicate that there are obstacles to close political ties between Taiwan and India, but while Taiwan has already had economic success in spite of tense politics, this should not be enough to stop trade and cooperation. If only the Taiwanese businessmen themselves see the opportunity of trading with such a large and open market we might be able to add an I to the T of Taiwan and further boost the Taiwanese IT industry.

Jacob Lindmark majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Aiming for Wireless Leadership

BY CARL HEDIN South Korea is an economic tiger and a technological wonder. Through many successfully conducted catch-up strategies orchestrated by the strong government, the country has managed to propel its high tech industry to a level on par with the most developed in the world. But why stop there? Korea has greater plans for the future; to become the leader in the evolution of technology.

The great success of Korean companies, such as Samsung and LG, in the cellular telephony segment can be explained as a particularly successful outcome of a Korean strategy to bet all its resources on an emerging standard and then ‘leapfrog’ ahead of established players. When the US inventor firm Qualcomm was still struggling to develop CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) as a feasible alternative to GSM in 1993, the technology was licensed by Korea; both government agencies and firms were put into highest gear to commercialize the technology ahead of US incumbents including Motorola and Lucent. Qualcomm here used a novel business strategy in the telecom industry to generate revenue from licensing and Intellectual Property (IP) rights instead of becoming an equipment manufacturer. This is a success story for both Korea and Qualcomm as CDMA became very popular in the US market and is the technological foundation of both American and European 3G standards.

Swedish telecom equipment manufacturer Ericsson almost managed to halt the Korean development of CDMA by offering the Korean mobile operators GSM systems at huge discounts. This was an irresistible business proposal for the mobile operators, but the Korean government stepped in and prevented the deal. All resources were to be focused on CDMA. This highlights how the strong relationship between government and industry in Korea can unite the whole nation towards a common goal.

An interesting note is that in Taiwan, Korea’s neighbouring tiger economy, the cellular telephony industry is almost completely absent except for the recent acquisition of Siemens’ handset division by Benq. A twist not often mentioned in the history books is that Taiwan was given the opportunity to licence CDMA before Korea, but turned the offer down because it seemed too expensive.

Given what we know today, the cheapest solution for either Taiwan or Korea would have been to purchase Qualcomm!

Korea is already the most connected country in the world with a broadband penetration of 75%. The main focus of today is to

make Internet mobile. Korean companies rallied to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Busan in November 2005 to show off new wireless technologies. Most noticeable was WiBro; a homegrown and cutting edge standard for mobile broadband access. WiBro is another example of successful joint development between government agencies and firms. Samsung Electronics puts one third of its budget on wireless technologies.

This has ledto the development of WiBro, and focus is now shifting towards fourth-generation mobile standards (4G), which most likely will be based on technologies similar to WiBro. ”We want to lead the evolution to the next generation of technology,” says Lee Ki Tae, president of Samsung’s telecom division. This marks a big shift for Korean companies. Before they have been focusing on manufacturing and improving design, but now they want to lead with innovation. This goal is also shared by the Korean government. South Korea, Japan, and China signed an agreement in March 2006 to strengthen their cooperation in several key technology areas, including 4G. This cooperation is an indication that for a country the size of Korea it is very difficult to single-handedly shape major technology standards. Indeed, in terms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry and market size these three countries are, even when united, dwarfed by both USA and Europe.

Predicting the future of communication technologies is a very complex task. Not only is there uncertainty from an engineering point-of-view, but also on government policies, spectrum allocation, and business models. If Korea will succeed with its goal to lead the evolution to the next generation of technology remains to be seen, but rest assured that they will at least take an active part in the shaping of the future.

Carl Hedin majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

On the Road to a New China — A Look at China’s New Five-Year Plan

BY ERIK ZOTTERMAN When Mao came to power in 1949, China was many years behind the industrial nations of the world and Mao wanted this to change.

Influenced by the success of Stalin’s Five Year Plans for the development of the Soviet Union, Mao introduced his own plan for China in 1953.

The launch of the first five-year plan was an attempt to boost industries and set China on the path to become a leading power in the world.

Even though many things have changed in China since then the five-year plans are still in practise.

areas grows rapidly, millions of people living in the rural areas of China’s western provinces are still struck by poverty. Feelings of being left out of China’s economic boom among the rural poor have led to numerous incidents of protests and social unrest. Government statistics show that the lowest-income families, comprising the bottom 10% of all families, own less than 2% of all the residents’ assets in the society, while the highest-income families, or the top 10% of all the families, own over 40% of the total assets.

Chinese leaders have now warned against extremes of poverty and wealth as a source for increasing unemployment and intensifying social conflict. The tremendous strain that has been put on China’s environment is also becoming a threat to the country’s continued economic growth.

The new five-year program recognizes these problems and is said to lead China on the path to common prosperity as a way to bridge the growing gap between the rich and the poor. The recognition that economic growth is not equal to economic development, and that growth is not the final goal of development, is included in the plan for the first time. The Chinese government has announced that for the next five years China plans to pursue growth in a fair, balanced and sustainable way, both socially and environmentally.

The goal of the annual growth rate for the coming five years has been set at 7.5% of the country’s GDP (Growth Domestic Product), which is considerably lower than the 9.5% average of the previous five years. The urbanization of the country is expected to keep growing from 42% to 48% during the next five-year period.

The Chinese government also insists that they will continue to reform their country’s policies toward the further opening to the rest of the world. To improve the living standard for the Chinese population living in rural areas, an increasing amount of investments

When the time had come to present the 11th five-year plan in late 2005, the government instead presented a five-year program. The change in name from plan to program is said to indicate that the governmental control of the economy will be lessening in the coming years; however, the new program, which stretches from 2006 to 2010, is still the roadmap for the country’s economic development.

It will bring some revolutionary changes according to analysts; unlike the previous five-year plans used since 1978, when China first launched her economic reforms, the main focus of the new program is broader than just economic growth.

When the economic reforms started in 1978, Deng Xiaoping proposed the principle of allowing some of the regions and some of the people to become rich first in order to achieve a final “common prosperity” later. So far it seems as though only the first part of the principle has been realised. The rapid economic growth in China has led to widened regional economic gaps. While the wealth of the population living in the prosperous eastern costal

are planned for water, electricity and road development in these areas. Offering nine years of elementary school for everyone and increasing the amount of people in rural areas that are covered by medical insurance from 20% of the population to 80% is another step towards social improvement.

had a rate of 3.7% of GDP spent on R&D in 2004. The number of Chinese students reaching a higher level of education will be increased. As a part of this development the importance of protection of intellectual property rights is also stressed in the new plan.

If China makes the new program come true, it will have an impact not only on the county itself, but on other countries and industries as well.

Torbjörn Bäck, head of the Swedish Trade Council’s office in Beijing, says that Swedish companies’ interest in China’s new fiveyear program vary considerably, but most of the companies already established in China show great interest in how this plan might affect their business. The Swedish Trade Council carefully reviews China’s program and keeps Swedish companies informed.

For the Swedish company SKF, which manufacture bearings and other components used in windmills, this five-year program is good news. The amount of wind energy produced today in China is 569 MW but will be increased to 20 000 MW by the year 2020 in order to reach the goal of 10% renewable energy. This makes China one of the world’s largest growth markets in the windmill industry and SKF is hoping some strong winds will blow their way.

However, this early on nothing is certain. “What is most important is of course not what is in the program but what parts of the program that are actually implemented.”, Torbjörn Bäck concludes.

Energy consumption By 2010 China plans to have reduced its energy consumption per GDP unit by 20%. To be able to reach this goal, efficiency improvements within the most energy intensive industries, such as steel and construction are planned. The program also relies on modern energy efficient consumer products, such as refrigerators, to help keep the consumption down. Furthermore, the use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy, hydro energy, windmills, and bio fuels shall be increased from today’s level of 7% to 10% of the country’s total energy consumption. The dependence on import of foreign energy shall also be reduced. Further, the discharge of environmentally hazardous pollutants shall be reduced by 5% before 2010. All these measures are meant to create a more sustainable environmental development, and are very ambitious considering the rate of the country’s economic growth.

Innovation As a way to reduce China’s dependency on the imports of foreign key technologies, a specific plan describes how China will transform itself into an innovation driven economy within 15 years. To be able to increase its innovation capacity in order to reach this goal the percentage of Chinas GDP spent on research and development will be doubled and reach a level of 2.5% of the GDP. As a comparison Sweden, with one of the highest rates in the world,

Erik Zotterman majors in Mechanical Engineering at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

The Great Firewall Protecting the Chinese Empire in the 21st Century

BY TOMAS BJÖRKLUND As a dictatorship, China has many times come under fire for suppressing human rights.

Much of the criticism during the last few years has been focusing on China’s limitation of free speech on the Internet.

Twelve years ago, Internet did not exist in China. But since the 17th of May 1994, when China got its first Internet connection, a lot has happened. On each and every street corner there is now an Internet cafe with teenagers playing online games and chatting with friends. This has truly revolutionized the way of living for many Chinese people, but any political revolution hoped for has failed to appear. With the arrival of the Internet, people began to theorize that it would inevitably lead to an end of dictatorships in general. With free information available everywhere an oppressive regime would not be able to function. In reality this has not been the case.

In China, the government has decided to fence off the Internet for the general population. This limitation has been named The Great Firewall; a play on words with the Great Wall and a firewall which limits connections between computer networks.

Free Speech In contrast to what many think, China has free speech written into its constitution.

Like most countries it also has exceptions to free speech. But whereas most countries only limit against agitation against certain groups (ethnic, religious, etc.), China also limits against agitation against the government. With this limitation in place the law of free speech becomes toothless and opens up opportunities for the government to crack down on whatever it deems inappropriate.

Not surprisingly there are many things

on the Internet deemed inappropriate. The Chinese government does its best to filter out all this contents. Filters on the Internet is nothing new in the western world where child pornography, spam and viruses are filtered out; often without any clear laws governing this.

China takes this one step further and filter out even more content. In the Chinese government’s viewpoint it makes no difference if the disruptive information is child pornography, pages containing views on Taiwanese independence, foreign news such as BBC, information relating to the banned movement of Falun Gong, or anything that has to do with democracy in China. As long as something is deemed inappropriate, it is made unavailable.

Western Companies helping Ever since the Internet hit it big in China, western companies have been eager to enter what promises to become a huge marketplace. In entering an environment of censorship companies often check their values at the door. Companies, such as Cisco, which provided equipment for constructing the The Great Firewall defend

10

themselves by claiming that they only sold the hardware. They also say that they cannot, and should not, be able to control what their equipment is used for.

By joining the Chinese market firms subject themselves to Chinese laws. This has not been seen kindly upon by democracy and freedom activists, especially when the foreign companies seem to go beyond what the law requires of them, to appease the Chinese government. This is the case for many content providers such as Microsoft, Google and Yahoo; they have all come under fire for voluntarily limiting the information available through their websites. Microsoft’s portal MSN does not allow phrases such as “Taiwanese independence” in blogs. Google has recently launched a self-censured version of their search engine at www.google.cn that does not show search hits that are inaccessible to the user because of the firewall. The results of this policy is easily seen when one for example tries to search for “tiananmen” on Google Pictures. If the search is made through the international website, one is met by pictures from the bloody riots in 1989 while if the search is made on the Chinese website,

asiaReport

how to avoid censorship while publishing on the Internet.

The easiest way to surf the web anonymously is often to use a proxy server. This is a server placed outside of the restricted zone that helps forwarding webpages through the firewall. This can for example be used to publish a blog. But this is a cat and mouse game. It does not take long before a public proxy server also is blocked by the firewall.

There are numerous other, more or less complicated, technologies for becoming anonymous on the Internet. There are some programs that connect to websites through several other servers, and there are other programs that connect to their own the only thing seen are happy families on the famous Beijing square.

There has also been several cases where email providers have serviced Chinese courts with emails send through their system. This has led to convictions of Chinese citizens to prison terms of up to ten years.

They defend themselves by claiming that they do exactly the same thing on court order in their home countries.

Loopholes There is no such thing as a secure network.

And even though it must be said that China has succeeded surprisingly well in limiting what is available for the general population there are always those who know how to bend the rules.

In September of 2005 an organisation called Reporters Without Borders released a booklet called Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents. Reporters Without Borders is an independent group, although funded by the French and American governments, which very vocally stands up for reporters in war-zones, dictatorships, and other places unfriendly of critique. The handbook they have released is a guide on

11

decentralized networks for privacy. There are also services such as Invisiblog which lets anyone publish a blog anonymously.

These measures are all very suited for the computer wiz, and less so for the journalist and whistle blower. But the human driving force to communicate is strong and what most Chinese use to go around the barriers are to simply use synonyms, hints and similes. And that is something that no firewall, great or small, can catch.

Tomas Bjรถrklund majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

asiaReport void __init pidhash_init(void) { int i, j, pidhash_size; unsigned long megabytes = nr_kernel_pages >> (20 - PAGE_SHIFT); pidhash_shift = max(4, fls pidhash_shift = min(12 pidhash_size = 1 <<

(megabytes * 4)); , pidhash_shift); pidhash_shift;

printk(“PID hash table entr pidhash_size, PIDTYPE_MAX * pidhash

}

ies: %d (order: %d, %Zd bytes)\n”, pidhash_shift, _size * sizeof(struct hlist_head));

for (i = 0; i < PIDTYPE_MAX; i++) { pid_hash[i] = alloc_bootmem(pidhash_size * sizeof(*(pid_hash[i]))); if (!pid_hash[i]) panic(“Could not alloc pidhash!\n”); for (j = 0; j < pidhash_size; j++) INIT_HLIST_HEAD(&pid_hash[i][j]); }

printk(“PID hash table entries pidhash_size, pidhash_shift, PIDTYPE_MAX * pidhash_size *

: %d (order: %d, %Zd bytes)\n”, sizeof(struct hlist_head));

for (i = 0; i < PIDTYPE_MAX; i++) { pid_hash[i] = alloc_bootmem(pidhash_size * sizeof(*(pid_hash[i]))); if (!pid_hash[i])

From Production to Programming

BY ERIK ALEXANDERSSON China can rightfully claim to be the factory of the world; the nation produces and assembles a great majority of the goods we encounter in our everyday lives. On the other hand, services only represents 6% of the total value of Chinese exports, which can be compared to the Swedish figure of 20%. China’s entrance into WTO, and the nation’s liberalization of laws and governmental policies will encourage China’s development of an economy based on more

high-value services. Further, although almost half of China’s population are still farmers, the country has a growing educated middle class; increased levels of education will support a service-based economy. Infrastructure, especially Internet access, is another key element needed to take part in the service based economy; this is one effort that a strong state such as China is able to make.

12

asiaReport Perhaps one of the foremost examples of successful growth in conducted have been of a rather simple character, mainly because service trade is India; where software outsourcing has been the of the high costs related to sending prototypes and equipment driver behind economic growth. India is a pioneer in overseas abroad during development. The reason for the relatively low software outsourcing with its own silicon valley, Bangalore. Lately amount of research and development of more complex software IT services have been booming in China, but there is still a long might be connected to the unwillingness to release products that way to go before China reaches India’s level. However, as India is are close to core business and intellectual property intense into experiencing a rapid increase in wages, outsourcing opportunities the hands of the Chinese. Shenzhen, neighbouring Hong Kong, is are becoming less attractive. This deterrent may present a good the stronghold for China’s telecommunication industry with comopportunity for China to participate in the race, even though the panies such as: Huawei, Utstarcom, and ZTE. These companies artificial stage of the Yuan introduce an uncertainty when discussshow a low willingness to conduct R&D and core business develing prices in China. opment outside the company, resulting in an almost non-existent There are many reasons why outsourcing of software developnative base for these types of services. Another issue is that the ment should be considered. Not only the advantage of gaining acChinese outsourcing companies often are rather small and fragcess to cheaper labour and taking the step into a new market, but mented, making them unable to deal with larger and more comalso other matters, such as speeding up development by concurplex projects. rent development that is conducted around the clock, are inciteManagement has so far not been a real issue in Chinese softments for outsourcing development. ware outsourcing business; this is due to the more repetitive charThe greatest obstacle that China is facing seems to be talent acteristics of the development that has been conducted and the shortage, mostly on the engineering side. Even though Chinese ability to expand without hiring more management staff. Bear in universities are catching up with the outside world and are pushmind that a shortage of senior management staff is very likely to ing talented, hard-working engineers occur as the business expands to a point into the labour market, China lacks an ... every company with a presence where new blood has to be brought in. in China has to take the Chinese One of the reasons for this is the fact experienced workforce.

The sentiment that Chinese man- language into account ... that in contrast to Europe’s MBA proagement has toward its junior engigrams most management personnel neers, young computer engineers in particular, seems to be very trained in Chinese schools has no prior working experience. much the same as management holds worldwide, but even more There are some clear differences in the characteristics that extreme. Michael, a senior manager at Achievo refers to these people expect from a piece of software depending on where they youngsters as “heroes of the system” and claims that they lack live in the world. An easy way to work around this problem when the ability to cooperate, have a low level of communication skills, development is conducted on the opposite side of the earth has and lack maturity. In most cases these engineers can build a small so far been to simply learn from prior experiences and make sure system very well, but when they are brought together in a bigger that the communication between customer and supplier is workproject things deteriorate. Indeed, IBM gave up many opportuniing. Reason for this being possible is as prior mentioned the reties in China by failing to recruit enough outsourcing professionals. petitive character of the tasks.

There is willingness in the industry to deal with these issues; this is Software development in China is mainly worth considering evident in close collaborations with universities, trainee positions for companies with a presence in China. In many cases the more and efforts to bring in foreigners to Chinese outsourcing firms. mature outsourcing market in India is a wiser choice. Instead of Language might be second to talent shortage as China’s bigoutsourcing, many western companies choose to establish a true gest obstacle; however, language difference may also be one of the presence in China. In this process Chinese companies that bring in nation’s greatest assets. Since 1.3 billion people are too many to its main revenue from companies that want to outsource developignore, every company with a presence in China has to take the ment could function as a partner to bring up research centres or Chinese language into account; it is more or less mandatory to to find long-term staff. outsource some parts of software development to native speakers. Another advantage for China is its cultural and geographical Erik Alexandersson majors in Computer Science and Engineering proximity to three other technological powerhouses: Japan, South at Chalmers and is currently studying in Taiwan.

Korea, and Taiwan.

So far the main flow of revenue in the Chinese software outsourcing business has come from back office, simpler IT services, consultant work, and the labour intensive process of testing and debugging. The testing and debugging services that have been

13

asiaReport

Rough Sea in the Pirate Bay

BY MARTIN FRÖJDH Hong Kong has traditionally had a reputation for being a centre of piracy and copyright infringements, may it be clothes, movies, computer software or sports equipment. But today we can see a clear change in policy as well as practice. The authorities decided to do something about it, and it is now getting more and more difficult for consumers to get by any pirated goods.

Hong Kong was first in the world to sentence a man to prison for distributed movies using a normal file sharing program and several other cases are currently in progress, many aimed at similar type of users. The universities of Hong Kong have also implemented efficient measures for reducing file sharing within their own networks – violation can often result in the student being expelled. Finally, Hong Kong has introduced very high fines for importing pirated goods (especially targeted at travellers from China).

The famous Hong Kong district Mong Kok has long been the centre for the trade of pirated goods, but in the recent years the police has made more and more razzias and put pressure on property owners renting store space to traders of pirate goods. In Mong Kok today you can only find a few, more or less hidden, stores that sell pirated software, movies or games – and these stores don’t sell the items over the counter in a normal manner, rather people order what they want and get them delivered an hour later at special meeting points. However, in the so called Ladies Market, pirated copies of brand clothes and equipment are openly sold without any particular reactions from authorities, and at night time you can find street hawkers in most parts of central Hong Kong selling

pirated DVDs. The contrast is striking when you cross the border to China, to the industrial city of Shenzhen. Immediately after the border checkpoint is a shopping mall practically dedicated to selling pirate copies of just about anything, mainly clothing, watches, electronics and DVDs. The difference between policy and practice is apparent when frequently occurring posters in the mentioned mall warn visitors from buying any pirated goods – like there was any choice…

Shenzhen and the area around it is also the centre for manufacturing of pirated goods. Here factory after factory produce cheap electronics or clothing. Some of them are accused of actually producing pirate copies along with legitimate products – a big concern as many of the more famous international electronic manufacturers have offices or factories in Shenzhen.

If you travel further into China, the sale of pirated goods is standard procedure and it is aimed at both tourists and locals alike.

Pirated DVDs are sold in normal record stores alongside legitimate copies and bigger cities have special markets or malls where pirated brand ware of all kinds is sold. However, recently several famous brand companies sued a market in Beijing, and surprisingly won. Similar lawsuits are being processed in other cities and this marks the beginning of a new era in China, which is followed by more and more harsh rhetoric from the government against piracy.

An important factor in China, which does not apply as much in Hong Kong, is that people normally cannot afford regular prices on legitimate brand ware or DVDs. To accommodate to this fact many companies have accepted dramatic price reductions for special Chinese variants of their products, just to avoid losing market shares to pirated copies. Some examples are worth mentioning: Microsoft is selling their software much cheaper in China, international mainstream music and movies can be found in special, cheaper Chinese versions and book publishers produce low-quality versions of their university text books.

To conclude, Hong Kong is nowadays well onto the path towards full protection of copyright and is also getting rid of its bad reputation. China adheres to the same promises as Hong Kong but has much farther left to go. The process might be dramatic if the Chinese government decides to use the police to a greater extent than now to enforce the laws, or maybe the situation will solve itself when companies to a greater extent can go to court to prevent the piracy of their products.

Martin Fröjdh majors in Information Engineering at Chalmers and is now studying in Hong Kong.

14

asiaReport

1997 Before

&

After

BY CLAES WESTERLIND Hong Kong went through a major transition in 1997. On the first of June, after having been a British colony for more than 150 years, Hong Kong was handed over to China and became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong S.A.R.).

In 1984, on the 19th of December the Sino-British Joint declaration was signed by both the Peoples Republic of China and Great Britain. This agreement was the leading document in the handover process of Hong Kong including New Territories back to China in 1997. Some clauses in the agreement were to protect Hong Kong from sudden changes after the handover. Since Hong Kong and China’s political systems differ as much as night and day, many people were afraid that China would enforce a communist system on the strongly liberal Hong Kong system. The phrasing “One country, two systems” is more explicitly saying that Hong Kong S.A.R. is allowed to keep its free trade, a minimum of taxes and rules, its own currency, its own judicial system, and freedom of speech during a minimum of 50 years.

Great Britain put enormous pressure on China to get guarantees that life in Hong Kong would not be changed after 1997 and this seems, officially, to be the case. Disregarding the fact that the economy bubble burst in 1997 due to the Asian crisis and that Hong Kong was affected by SARS during the summer of 2003, the Hong Kong system has not changed much after the turnover.

The question that remains unanswered is: Are there more subtle changes that can’t be measured or regulated by the judicial system? Are there reasons other than the Joint Declaration that Hong Kong has been left alone?

Dr. Ting Wai at The Hong Kong Baptist University says that before 1997 there was an emigration of intellectual people because they were afraid that China would not let them work as freely as they were allowed to under British leadership. This concerned mainly journalists and less so engineers and scientists. At the same time many Chinese people immigrated to Hong Kong S.A.R. to look for “the good life” in one of the world’s most flourishing economies.

A British lady says that she can, returning to Hong Kong after ten years, notice a big difference in the language spoken; the English language has deteriorated. Even though more people speak English, the quality has been getting worse. This is also confirmed

by Dr. Ajay Joneja at the Hong Kong University of Science and

Technology (HKUST) who also adds that the number of people speaking mandarin in Hong Kong has increased. His explanation to this is the increased trade with China, but also that the political leaders in Hong Kong now come from Beijing.

An interesting comment is given by a local post graduate student at HKUST who says that she feels more at home in Hong Kong after the country was handed over to China. This is not because she has anything against Great Britain but because most people in Hong Kong have relatives on the mainland and many people living here originally come from China.

So to the last question, are there any other reasons that Hong Kong has experienced so moderate and gentle changes since the turnover in 1997 than the Joint declaration? Dr. Ajay Joneja thinks that this is not about the Joint declaration or Chinas generosity but more because of Taiwan. China has been looking forward to uniting with Taiwan, which Taiwan has continuously opposed. If Hong Kong is treated with respect and is given help when needed, which happened for example during the economic crisis when China boosted the Hong Kong economy with several millions of dollars, then this will be a good example to Taiwan. In the end China may gain Taiwan’s trust to be united with the Peoples Republic of China.

Claes Westerlind majors in Technology Management and Economics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Hong Kong.

15

asiaReport

Is Asia Backwards?

BY TOR KLINGBERG Many Asian countries have seen a great economic development for the past 50 years. First it was Japan, then it was Taiwan and Korea, and now it’s China, whose fast growth is in the news every other day. But has the economic progress been followed by a social progress, like we have seen in Europe and North America? What are the differences between Asian and Western values, and how much do they explain?

Today, several east Asian countries (most notably Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) have reached material wealth similar to Western countries. But as anyone who has lived in an East Asian country knows, there are a whole lot of differences. Perhaps the most striking part is in the equality between men and women. A married Japanese man still does only 4.5% of the housework on average, compared to 32% in Sweden. Men and women have different kinds of work, and when a woman marries, she is expected to quit her job to become a housewife. Though it is illegal to fire a woman because she is getting married, she will often be taken for a “goodbye tour” around the company.

Also in many other aspects, Japanese social rules are far more traditional than those in European countries. Parents have much more power over their children’s choice of their spouse, and living together before marriage is uncommon. Also in the work environment there is a strong hierarchical structure favouring older employees.

What surprises me is that many people will attribute this to cultural differences between “the East” and “the West”. However, many of these social systems were just the same in European countries 50 or 100 years ago.

Indeed, Christianity has interfered far more with how people live their daily lives than Buddhism and other East Asian religions do.

I think the source of the differences is that Europe and North America have strong social movements that have fought for social progress. In Asia on the other

16

hand, social changes have often come only after pressure from Western countries and as part of a “westernisation” process. In Japan most obviously after the war, when the constitution and government structure were modeled based on that of the United States of America. This has also led to a conflict between maintaining an East Asian identity and social progress. Changes are seen as abandoning national culture in favour of Western culture.

East Asia will surely see great changes in social structures this century. However, social changes do not follow automatically from economic and technological progress.

People will have to find a way to keep the traditions and values which are truly Asian, while improving what is simply remnants from a time long gone. Social progress is not something uniquely Western.

Tor Klingberg majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and is currently studying in Japan.

asiaReport

Inside Taiwan’s Automotive Industry

BY HÅKAN OLSSON Not many people around the world, or even in Taiwan, know that there are, more or less, ten different car manufacturers in Taiwan and an entire department at the government funded Industrial Technology Research Institute dedicated to car development. In spite of these efforts, not a single car is developed in Taiwan, and no cars are produced for export, not even to China where more than 100 new car models are introduced every year. Therefore, let us have a look at the current status and future prospects of Taiwan’s automotive industry.

Every year, approximately 500,000 vehicles are produced in Taiwan. A number, by most analysts, considered to be stable over the foreseeable future. Toyota, which in recent years has been going through considerable stronger market presence all over the world, is also the market leader in Taiwan. Still the company only produces somewhat more than 100,000 vehicles a year here. This can be compared to Volvo Cars production plant in Torslanda, Sweden, where more than 230,000 vehicles are produced every year.

The second largest manufacturer is Nissan-Yulong, a Taiwanese company that is to 40% owned by the Japanese company Nissan. All the 80,000 cars they produce each year are assembled on mission from Nissan. This is a common way to enter the Taiwanese market. Since it is difficult to get governmental permission to start production, foreign producers agree on joint-ventures with local producers in order to assemble their cars in Taiwan. Still, it is only agreements on assembly work, with all technology imported from the mother company.

The Nissan-Yulong joint-venture also made it easier for Nissan to enter the Chinese market. Given that Yulong since long ago had good relations in China, Nissan could invest in Yulong, and in turn Yulong could invest in China. In this way, Nissan could also take advantage of the second largest producer of heavy-duty vehicles in China, Dongfeng. This kind of cooperation is really important, since it has been increasingly difficult to get governmental approval to start foreign production in China.

The rapidly growing Chinese market is now seen as a severe threat to the future of the Taiwanese automotive industry. Especially since the Chinese market has grown from the size of the Taiwan market, with only 500,000 vehicles in 1990, to 5,000,000 vehicles in 2004 and with a forecast of around 9,000,000 vehicles or more in 2010. It is definitely a risk that the automakers in China might overestimate the growth rate, resulting in a gigantic oversupply. This oversupply could result in the shipping of cheaper vehicles to Taiwan and others, thus driving the Taiwanese companies into bankruptcy in just a few years.

Does this mean that there is no future of the Taiwanese automotive industry? At the moment nobody knows. The many manufacturers in Taiwan currently have such small volumes of production, accompanied with very small margins, thus any significant increase in competition would be disastrous. Furthermore, with no vehicle developed within Taiwan, it will be difficult to retain

the foreign investors, especially when the Chinese market can produce the same vehicles at a lower cost, ready to be shipped to Taiwan and abroad.

At TAIFE2005, the first automotive industry forum and exhibition in Taipei, Professor Jamie Hsu, a former Excecutive Director at General Motors, suggests that Taiwan has to focus on what they are really good at in order to survive the severe competition from China. He believes that Taiwan has its chance in the continuously increasing demand for electronics in modern vehicles. Some analysts believe that electronic components share of the vehicle will increase from 19% to 40% in the near future.

To concentrate on electronics in the vehicle industry is a great opportunity for Taiwan, with its huge base of engineers almost entirely dedicated to electrical engineering, and with previous experience from the development of the integrated circuit, flat panel display, and laptop industries. Taiwan’s competitive advantage is markedly clear in this sector when we take into account the formidable research base in Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park with Chiao Tung University as the park’s closest neighbour, constantly churning out more than 4,000 electronics and computer science engineers and doctors every cycle.

an w i a t nside i If the Taiwanese follow Professor Jamie Hsu’s advice, consumers in the future may buy a vehicle basing not only on what brand the car is but instead by what gadgetry is inside Just as many computer consumers today look for what version of Intel is inside, the vehicle consumers, if marketed to appropriately, may also begin to value purchasing a car with select premium “Taiwanese technology inside”.

Håkan Olsson majors in Engineering Physics at Chalmers and is currently writing his master thesis in Taiwan.

17

asiaReport

The Technology Gap in Singapore

BY CARL IVARSSON There is a gap in the R&D capability and more fundamentally in the technological knowledge level of Singaporean small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), which constitute the major part of the country’s industry. Much of Singapore’s industry has been within manufacturing of standard components for e.g. consumer electronics. The SMEs were the local manufacturing partners of large multinational corporations (MNC). They used to rely on these multinationals to provide them with the necessary technology needed for their manufacturing, and thus saw no need for developing R&D capabilities on their own.

However, the companies can no longer rely on this support for a number of reasons. One explanation is that the multinationals have started to source their components from a few centralised suppliers, which makes them unwilling to share technologies with small local manufacturers. Another explanation is that the multinationals don’t even have the technologies themselves because much of their R&D on things not considered core competencies has been outsourced to suppliers. The result is that manufacturers have to differentiate their products in order to compete for orders, but many of them lack the R&D skill and the concerned technological knowledge level needed to do this. This is the situation that is referred to as “the Technology Gap”.

One proposed way of dealing with the situation is to increase the cooperation between academic and industrial fields. Till today this link is not widespread. Below I will foremost discuss the research institutes (RI), which is likely to be a fruitful approach if organized in a proper way. The analysis will however raise the question if Singapore is organizing them in a way that creates the needed bonds, or actually is increasing the gap between local SMEs and centralised RIs.

Singapore should choose a balanced approach Singapore is entering new industries or niches within industries like biotechnology and industrial design. The country invests a lot of money to rapidly become a world leader in these areas. One important policy goal seems to be to bring in multinational companies to make R&D with them. The problem is that this is not benefiting the local SMEs to a large extent, since the research is simply on too high level to be useful for them. Furthermore, much of the research is done on subjects that are most likely to benefit not local needs but preferably Western and Japanese needs. For example the RIs make a lot of research on western type of diseases like cancer but not as much on tropical diseases like dengue.

The reason for this focus of research is that this is what gets published and gives the researchers and the institutes an international reputation which in turn will attract even more multinational companies. The problem is that these companies can go away as easily as they come and what attracts them right now is low cost R&D. The effect is that the results created by the RIs do not benefit the national economy, because the multinationals usually have their

18

Academic Excellence

asiaReport

1 2

each others’ language in less complicated research fields that can rapidly be put into practical use as is illustrated by path 2. Thus the research of the RIs should move in to the lower right corner.

This will build the confidence and bonds needed to develop more advanced technologies further on. The gap to be bridged is sufficiently smaller in path 2 as illustrated in the figure.

What will happen if they don’t?

Singapore has to be careful so that the new industries don’t get into the same situation as with the manufacturing industry today.

If all the research made is benefiting the international companies, then what will happen if these turn their backs on Singapore? The R&D support from the multinationals within the manufacturing Industrial relevance industry is gone, and with it the skills of making high class R&D. R&D headquarters in their home countries.

Thus that industry is waning.

Professor Frans Carpay at National University of Singapore The time for change has come. Singapore has started to atargues that this is creating a fragile business for Singapore. A more tract multinational companies in the new industries. Make use balanced approach suggested by the professor is that the country of their knowledge and share it with the local companies. This has to start developing strong bonds between sharing can be done partly by the high and the RIs and local industry (the SMEs). In order low level research performed by the RIs If all the research to achieve this, he proposes that the research made is benefiting the mentioned earlier; partly through a process of the RIs should be conducted on two levof experienced personnel spreading in the els: One high academic excellence level that international companies, industry which is Carpay’s main argument attracts the multinationals, which will in turn then what will happen in this area, “Singapore should create a vast train the researchers within the RIs and make if these turn their backs pool of capable researchers in the new arethem world-class. The other, which should be as, that can either join new companies from on Singapore? the main focus, is lower academic level R&D abroad when they set up shop here, or, they that can be practiced by the local companies. can form companies on their own in SingaThis will train these companies to become better and better, until pore or change totally the direction in willing local companies they have the technological knowledge level to use the high acaby joining them and by doing related, but much more advanced demic excellence level R&D as well. In time the two parts of R&D activities.” This might not be effective anymore within the existwithin the RIs can be combined. The insight that Carpay offers is ing manufacturing business, where research is already on such a thus that the R&D capabilities of the local industry have to be high level and size of companies and investments are huge, and built up from below. profit margins low. The possibility of developing potential local The SMEs today are in a situation where much of their knowlmultinationals within this area of business is thus rather limited. edge can be placed in the lower right corner of the figure; transTo illustrate how a mature RI organisation in a country lating to “Low academic excellence and high industry relevance”.

Considering this situation, they are unlikely to be able to communicate effectively with a highly academic research partner. This is especially true if the research results/applications are on a much higher level than the companies are used to, and/or with low industry relevance. “Currently the major part of the research performed by the RIs can be placed in the higher and lower left corners,” says Professor Carpay. The current policy is aimed at raising the academic excellence further and from that position move into higher industry relevance illustrated by path 1. This is opposite to the path suggested by Carpay who argues that the RIs and SMEs have to gradually learn how to cooperate with each other and learn

19

asiaReport

might look like, Carpay exemplifies with Germany and Holland.

Here RIs like Frauenhofer and TNO effectively cooperate with the industry. These organisations make both basic and high level research, and are very much focused on creating the link with local industry. These organisations developed together with the companies they are helping; from a situation with low academic, high industry relevance to high academic and high industry relevance.

Then today of course there are RIs that focus on more high level research, like the Max Plank Institute. This works in these countries because they already have a lot of MNCs that can make use of the results created. The problem is that this is the type of RIs that Singapore is trying to mimic, but the difference is that there is no local industry that can use the findings. Professor Carpay identifies that “They try and run too fast, which proves to be ineffective in helping the country’s industry.”

Conclusion Singapore has to educate the SMEs to raise their technological knowledge level step by step, and stimulate them to learn R&D processes. The RIs can play an important role in this process, but it requires them to conduct research on two levels; 1) High academic level to attract multinational companies that can help the researchers develop top level expertise. 2) Lower academic and more pragmatic level, where research results can readily be put into practice by the local SMEs. This will gradually develop a much needed R&D capability in the country. Furthermore, it is worth remembering that this situation is not unique to Singapore.

All countries can benefit from establishing better cooperation between academic/RI research and industry.

Carl Ivarsson majors in Industrial Engineering and Management at Chalmers and is now studying in Singapore.

Implementation of the balanced approach Who should take the initiative to get more cooperation among SMEs, RIs and universities? The local enterprises do not know much about the RIs, and don’t think they produce much of value.

Carpay explains that the RIs have to market themselves. Invite companies, arrange dinners, show them the technologies you have come up with at a yearly basis and simply build bonds. Inform that the cooperation is flexible in the sense that these companies can use already developed technologies from the RIs, or they can give proposals of which technologies they want to have developed. Is the development for free? No, of course not, the researchers cost money, but there are institutes in Singapore like Economic Development Board (EDB), which promote these types of contacts and can provide funds. The RIs know how to apply for these funding and can help the companies fill out the forms, and thus the work can start.

20

About Professor Frans Carpay

Visiting Professor at National University of Singapore, has over 40 years of experience from the industry; among the titles he has held are: Director of Corporate Research Philips HQ in Eindhoven (From 1988). Managing Director of Gintic Institute of Manufacturing Technology (From 1993), where he helped Singapore to put in place R&D to upgrade the local manufacturing industry. As a member of the National Science & Technology Plan Steering Committee as well as the Chairman of the Working Committee on Technology Infrastructure, Dr. Carpay was actively involved in formulating the National Science & Technology Plan for the years 1996, 2000 and beyond. More information can be found at www.eng.nus. edu.sg/cmost/profile/Frans.htm

Diesel on the move

BY JOHAN HEIER Considering both the number of vehicles currently in use in Asia, and the prospect for the continued increase in motorization in China, the need for alternative fuels is rapidly becoming a big issue. With oil prices climbing and pollution becoming more and more of a problem, many different solutions have been presented and one of them includes diesel. Now you might ask yourself, how can this be possible?

Normally the use of diesel as fuel is just as debated as the use of gasoline. However, diesel produced using raw materials other than crude oil contains significantly less polluting components and could change this. The process that realizes this is the FischerTropsch (FT) process.

The FT process is in no way a new one; it has been used since the 1920s but never on a large scale. It is more expensive to obtain fuels through this process than through normal refinery processes and the catalysts for the production of diesel have been in need of improvement. The process is a GTL (Gas to Liquid) process in which carbon monoxide and hydrogen are converted to longer carbon chains. Until now the carbon monoxide and hydrogen mixture, also called syngas, have been obtained through the gasification of coal but they may also be obtained through natural gas or through gasification of biomass, for example black liquor; a sustainable alternative.

The above mentioned process can actually be used to produce gasoline, so why consider diesel? Today most heavy transports use diesel for fuel; further, the efficiency of the diesel engine is 1.3 times higher than that of a gasoline engine. This leads to lower emissions of carbon dioxide when compared against a gasoline engine. However, these advantages apply to normal diesel as well, so what is the benefit in using FT diesel? Due to the nature of the FT process, the produced fuel contains virtually no aromatics

or sulphur; thus, the particle emissions have been eliminated. The produced fuel is actually free of both colour and odour. Moreover, nitrogen oxide emissions are reduced, partly because of the higher cetane number obtained in FT diesel. Another advantage is that it can be used in traditional diesel engines without any modifications or be blended with normal diesel at any ratio and can therefore be used with the vehicles available today.

So what are the prospects for this fuel in the Asian market?

The Japanese government puts a lot of resources into research concerning FT fuels, but FT plants are neither planned in Japan nor China. In the case of Japan, this is because no cost effective means to produce the syngas needed is available. However, a plant is up and running in Malaysia and another one is planned for Indonesia, which proves that the process is now financially viable enough to start using on a large scale. Both these plants use natural gas as raw material, and there may be some time before we see a plant using sustainable alternatives. Seeing how many plants today focus on the usage of natural gas, a plant using sustainable raw materials will most likely see daylight in Europe first.

Johan Heier majors in Chemical Engineering at Chalmers and is currently studying in Japan.

21

asiaReport

Singapore

— Asia’s Next Design Hub?

BY KAJSA BEIJER-OLSON When businesses today want to capture market shares in the commercial battlefield one of the most powerful weapons is design. A strong design in a service or product is necessary to stand out in the crowded market place. This is something that the Singaporean government and the industry in Singapore have realised, and they have taken an active part in trying to promote Singapore as a future international design hub.

DESIGN DEFINES HOW A PRODUCT OR A BRAND is understood and valued by the consumer. Today, design is not only about form and colour; it plays a more decisive role when applied in engineering, selection of materials, R&D, marketing, and distribution. The sensory experience that people get when they interact with a product is the key for success. The consumer experience is the front line where businesses need to be powerful to be able to give the consumer a “wow” feeling. “Focusing on the overall consumer experience is a key when charting a design strategy”, says Brendan Boyle, a principal at IDEO, a global design and innovation firm.

Singapore has a successful history of trading and manufacturing, but is today challenged by the global trend of design. Today it is not about competing with cost alone, but rather enhancing the product to stand out through design in the global market. Singapore’s location and fusion of cultures are factors that increase the country’s possibilities to succeed with their vision, to become an international hub for design.

TO RESPOND TO THE GLOBAL TREND OF DESIGN Singapore’s Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts have set up the DesignSingapore Council with the ambition to make Singapore one of the leading international centres for design creativity. The vision of DesignSingapore is to “establish Singapore as Asia’s leading centre for design excellence, and to develop both a vibrant design service cluster and culture”. The initiative aims to motivate Singaporean companies to work together to make the country a design receptive environment and attract a higher level

of international consultants, which will then in turn allow local designers a chance to compete globally. The goal of the initiative is to double the GDP contribution of the design sector from 3% in 2004 to 6% in 2012.

To achieve the goals, DesignSingapore work together with governmental agencies, the design community, industry, and academic institutions. The council is assisted by the Industry Development Panel (IDP) comprising representatives from design related industries, and the International Advisory Panel (IAP) comprising leaders from international design related business and communities. Dick Powell and Richard Seymour, known for their TV show Better By Design, are two of the members of the IAP. SINGAPORE AND MAJOR PARTS OF ASIA do not have the tradition of being a part of the entire value chain from R&D to marketing. This lack of long term and holistic thinking are not suitable for design. Dick Powell discussed this concern at the IDF (International Design Forum, Singapore, October 2005). He claimed that when it comes to design; one cannot expect great design in short term. He finished with asking an open question; will this fact create big problems in Asia?

THE COMBINATION OF SMALL AREA and a high population density have led Singapore to develop strong human resources. Tradition of management in addition to tradition of being an entrepôt have led the country to develop a custom of attracting global customers for managerial services, enhancing Singapore’s possibilities to attract international companies for design assignments.

To be successful in managing and creating design products and services Singaporean businesses have to apply a design focus on their thinking. There are big differences between the business and design cultures that give rise to both challenges and constraints.

Jez Frampton, CEO at Interbrand Worldwide, a leading global brand consultancy, points out differences in the following areas: work flow, style of work, mode of thinking, source of status, and attitude. Singaporean companies have traditionally a more business way of thinking and need to overcome previously mentioned constraints to create a more creative climate.

22

asiaReport THE MASSIVE INTEREST IN CHINA as a market and manufacturing spot has produced a call for western companies to get access to China. It is important to understand local needs when targeting a new market, which makes the use of local design studios essential. Cultural and language barriers between China and the West cause obstacles for successful communication. Design Exchange, a Singaporean industrial design firm, describes their role as a mediator between China and the West. They design for global companies that have manufacturing in China. Their strategic placement facilitates controlling manufacturers in China and communicating with customers in the West. As Singaporeans they have grown up in a mixture of Chinese and Western culture, which have created useful insights in both cultures. Singapore is a meltingpot of East and West, which makes the country a suitable place for business between the cultures.

TO BE A SUCCESSFUL HUB, professor Teh at National University of Singapore, strongly emphasizes the importance of a country to have both manufacturing and a market. When there is no manufacturing the design knowledge is not tied to a specific site and can easily be moved. Professor Teh does not regard Singapore as a good place to operate from since the country does not have a big enough market and adequate manufacturing resources. He further suggests that Korea, Taiwan, and Japan are more competitive in being design hubs because of their scale of manufacturing. Song Kee Hong at Design Exchange shares this criticism and they both believe that the initiative by DesignSingapore is not an efficient way to promote creativity in Singapore. “The knowledge of design and its importance exists in Singapore but the environment does not support its implementation.”, says Ulrich Schraudolph at PSB, a company with activities in product design in Singapore. The government needs to commit itself to the basic problem, the industry structure, and not just invite international well-known designers to come to Singapore and talk about design. Design creativity is nothing that grows because of money but something that needs to be implemented and educated in an early stage.

DesignSingapore and others with them believe that Singapore can be a successful hub for design without having a big market and extensive manufacturing. They consider Singapore with its mixture of cultures an excellent place to test global design before going global. With a small domestic market the country needs to produce global design to be able to achieve a good result.

more design conscious: “We must not forget that it is not a case of who can produce a better design, but really that everyone can produce good designs and will each have to find niche areas that they are best in. As people become more conscious and appreciate better what design can do for them, the market will grow and that will be good for everybody.”

SINCE THE START OF DSC IN 2003 one can see some returns, such as the setup of established design groups in Singapore, e.g.

BMW Designworks ASIA and Red Dot Singapore. The Council has also hosted design studio projects for local companies where the companies have had the opportunity to meet with international designers. DesignSingapore has also made an effort to increase the level of awareness of Singapore design internationally and domestically, through presentations at Venice Biennale and the World Expo 2005 abroad, as well as Singapore Design Festival at home. This is just a start of building a design culture and as Elaine Khoo at DesignSingapore says, “These are initial efforts towards building up of a design culture in Singapore, which will take time to grow.”

Kajsa Beijer-Olsen majors in Industrial Design and Engineering at Chalmers and is just back from studying in Taiwan.

SINGAPORE IS NOT THE ONLY SPOT that wishes to profile itself as Asia’s design hub. In 2001 the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) was established to serve as a link between business and designers of all disciplines in Hong Kong. Hence, the biggest competitor is probably China. With 10,000 design students graduating every year, with one of the world’s fastest growing markets and as one of the world’s largest manufacturer China has a lot that speaks for it. Elaine Khoo at the Council believes that it is not a zero-sum game when other countries in Asia attempt to become

23

Chalmers in Asia asiaReport

Studying at Chalmers does not limit you to Gothenburg, Sweden. Through many exchange programs Chalmers students are given the opportunity to study at a range of Asian universities. Likewise, students from many different countries are invited to study at Chalmers in Sweden.

Sendai, Japan Tohoku University

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Institute of Technology

Hsinchu, Taiwan National Chiao Tung University

Hong Kong, China The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Singapore Nanyang Technological University The National University of Singapore

24

Chalmers University of Technology SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden Phone +46 31 772 1000 Internet www.chalmers.se

25