China and India set to become world leaders for innovation, says AstraZeneca public opinion survey

China is set to become the world’s powerhouse of innovation over the next decade, eclipsing the United States and Japan, according to an international survey released by Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) today. The world’s most populous nation and second largest economy will also be its most inventive by 2020, followed by India, the AstraZeneca Innovation Survey shows. The USA and Japan will be relegated from first and second place to third and fourth, respectively.

The survey of 6,000 respondents across six countries portrays a strong sense of optimism amongst people living in the developing nations of China and India about the ability of their nations to prosper through innovation - in stark contrast to the views of those in developed Western economies.

A marked east-west divide in terms of what people regard as the most important scientific achievements and inventions of the last century also emerges from the survey. For citizens of India, China and Japan, the greatest achievement of the past 100 years has been instant global communication. By contrast, people in Britain and Sweden view the successful combating of serious diseases as the most important breakthrough. The Moon landing, slashing global journey times and increasing average lifespan are seen as much less important than either of these two by all those surveyed.