Is there an Asian model of technological emergence?

Emerging countries (ECs), and notably Asian ones, are challenging Northern countries in the technological field. Using an application of the Social System of Innovation and Production (SSIP) framework, we carry out a two-step analysis to compare the socio-economic models of technological upgrading of 27 ECs in 2005. Searching for a typical Asian model, we observe that the eight Asian ECs in our panel are dispersed among four of the five types of emerging capitalism. Although Asian ECs belong mainly to the directed model, three exceptions are observed: South Korea has a de-centralized model, Malaysia a finance-led model and the Philippines a cocktail model. This diversity of institutional architectures in Asian ECs does not prove that there is no Asian mode of upgrading but rather that an Asian path towards technological emergence does exist, followed by Asian ECs at different periods and at varying speeds.