This chapter offers a brief assessment of the scientific research system and higher education sector in four Asian countries: China, India, Singapore and Taiwan. The chapter provides readers with a brief history of each country and an overview of each country's higher education sector. The chapter then focuses on the state of science and technology in each country, with particular emphasis on the state of bioscience research, before ending with the specific challenges each country faces in trying to boost their standing in the global scientific field. In all four cases, the strong role of the state in channelling immense resources towards the sciences is highlighted. In the case of China and Singapore, the heavy investment made by both countries' governments in transforming many of their national universities into "world-class" research universities is noted. Taiwan's ongoing vulnerability because of its geopolitical position vis-a-vis China is also discussed. India is noted as the country with the least advanced research infrastructure of the four, but also the youngest population with growing numbers of students interested in the sciences. Singapore's small size is discussed as its key weakness.

This concluding chapter outlines the implications of the shifting scientific landscape in Asia for future generations of Asian scientists. The chapter reviews the theoretical implications of the key findings from the book, and revisits the new concepts and ideas introduced throughout the book, which have relevance for the fields of migration studies, science & technology studies and also gender studies. The chapter highlights what is yet to be studied on this topic, and lays out a future research agenda for scholars from these fields. Finally, the chapter highlights the policy implications of these developments for Asian and non-Asian countries, and ends with a set of policy recommendations for government officials and research leaders in these countries as they seek to make themselves attractive destinations for native (and nonnative) research scientists and raise their relative profile in the global scientific field.

This chapter documents the changes that returnees observed in their respective Asian country’s research systems that affected their experience of pursuing scientific research in Asia. Change in five dimensions of scientific research systems in each of the four Asian case countries are identified:

1. 1. Research funding: the volume of funding available, the rate at which a scientist’s grant applications are successful, and the research areas/modalities that are prioritized

2. 2. Research administration: the policies and processes surrounding grant applications, funding disbursement, and the ordering of research supplies, and also more general administrative processes

3. 3. Research networks: the degree of connections returned scientists have, and are able to create, with actual and potential research collaborators within the global scientific field

4. 4. Research staff: the availability of postdoctoral fellows, and graduate and undergraduate students to work in scientists’ labs, and the quality and commitment levels of these support personnel

5. 5. Research infrastructure: the availability and quality of the space, equipment, specimens and supplies available to researchers to conduct their research.