Researchers at the University of Sheffield and Aston Business School have found that global investment in research and development is rapidly shifting from North America and Europe to Asian centers such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Beijing.

According to the research the shift was resulting in a small elite club of regions, in both the advanced and developing world, that dominate the global knowledge economy. The companies in advanced regions such as Silicon Valley in the U.S., Cambridge in the U.K., Ottawa in Canada, and Helsinki in Finland are increasingly establishing partnerships and networks with companies and universities in fast-developing Asian regions.

The researchers found that of the U.S. $50 billion invested by multinational companies in R&D projects around the world between 2002 and 2005, Asian economies received 58 percent, while Europe received 22 percent and North America 14 percent. The research has been published in a report titled ‘Competing for Knowledge’.

The major part of the investment in Asia is concentrated in a small number of locations such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai in India and Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai in China.