East Asia's clean energy shift: enablers, obstacles, outcomes and lessons.
The Researchers
Elizabeth Thurbon. I am a Professor of International Political Economy and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture (ADA) at UNSW Sydney.
I have previously held an Asia Society Australia-Korea Fellowship (2021-2022) and a UNSW Scientia Fellowship (2019-2022), as well as Visiting Fellowships at Seoul National University (as a Korea Foundation Fellow) and China Foreign Affairs University.
My research examines the state and its strategic role in the processes of national techno-industrial development, adaptation, and transformation. My most significant contributions examine varieties of economic statecraft, the rise and transformation of East Asia's developmental states, the state's strategic role in the clean energy shift, and the political economy of international trade and investment agreements, with a particular focus on the impact of these agreements on states' policy 'room to move'. I have written widely on these topics for academic and popular audiences
I am currently a Chief Investigator on three major collaborative grants: an Australian Research Council Discovery Project examining East Asia’s Clean Energy Transition (with SY Kim, J Mathews and H Tan), an Academy of Korean Studies Laboratory Project Grant examining Korea’s past, present and future development trajectory (with Keun Lee, DJ Kim, Js Shin J Song and C-y Wong), and a Department of Defence Strategic Policy Grant examining Weaponised Trade and its implications for Australia (with Lisa Toohey and Markus Wagner) - under the auspices of the NUW Alliance (University of Newcastle, UNSW Sydney, and the University of Wollongong).
Since 2008, I have served as a Board Member of the Jubilee Australia Research Centre, a NGO dedicated to research-based advocacy on questions of social, economic and environmental justice in the Asia-Pacific, with a particular focus on promoting Australian government and corporate accountability: http://www.jubileeaustralia.org/.
I hold a Ph.D. in Government (International Political Economy) from the University of Sydney. I also completed my Economics (Social Sciences) Degree at Sydney University, where I was awarded first-class Honours and the University Medal for Academic Excellence.
Dr. Sung-Young Kim is a Lecturer in the Department of Modern History, Politics & International Relations at Macquarie University Sydney. He is currently leading a project on 'The Sources of Competitive Advantage in Exporting Green Energy Systems', which examines why, what and how governments and corporations are promoting green energy solutions as a new developmental opportunity. He publishes broadly on the political and economic development of East Asia while pursuing two specific streams of inquiry:
1. The evolution of East Asia’s developmental states as they leapfrog from technological imitation to innovation
2. Greening and the evolution of development strategy in East Asia
His journal articles include 'Hybridized industrial ecosystems and the makings of a new developmental infrastructure in East Asia’s green energy sector' Review of International Political Economy (2019); ‘Korea's Greening Strategy’ The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (2016) (with John A. Mathews); ‘Developmental Environmentalism’ Politics & Society (2015) (with Elizabeth Thurbon); ‘The Rise of East Asia’s Global Companies’ Global Policy (2013); ‘Transitioning from Fast-Follower to Innovator’ Review of International Political Economy (2012); ‘The Politics of Technological Upgrading in South Korea’ New Political Economy (2012).
He has contributed to international media outlets including Project Syndicate, The Korea Times, The Conversation, ABC News Australia, East Asia Forum, Taipei Times, The Japan Times, Eco-Business, The Jordan Times, Times of Oman, The Daily Star Lebanon, The Asset, The News Today, The Times Kuwait, Invest Money UK, Gulf Times, Daily Outlook Afghanistan, and Arabnews.
He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses on International Political Economy and East Asian politics at Macquarie University.
Click here for details of Sung-Young’s publication and grant funding record.
Dr. Sung-Young Kim can be reached via sungyoung.kim@mq.edu.au.
Dr. Hao Tan is Associate Professor with Newcastle Business School in the University of Newcastle Australia. He had worked in other Australian universities including Macquarie U, UTS and U Western Sydney. Prior to coming to Australia, A/Prof Tan had worked in industries in China for a number of years. His research interests are in the energy and resource transitions in China and their global implications from a management research perspective. He has published in Nature (in 2014 and 2016), Foreign Affairs, and other leading journals such as Journal of World Business, Industrial & Corporate Change, California Management Review, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Energy Policy, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Journal of Industrial Ecology. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change, and has acted as a Reviewer for over 30 international journals. He also writes frequently for English and Chinese-language media, such as UK Financial Times’ China website and Australia’s theConversation.com on energy transition-related management and policy issues. He was a visiting professor/visiting fellow in Tsinghua University, Nankai University, National Tsinghua University (Taiwan), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in UC Berkeley, and Institute of Development Studies in the UK.
Click here for details of A/Prof Tan’s publication and grant funding record. Click here to visit A/Prof Tan’s personal website.
Dr. Hao Tan can be reached via haotan@newcastle.edu.au or haotan1@gmail.com
Dr John Mathews, Emeritus Professor of Department of Management at Macquarie University Sydney, received his PhD from the University of London (Imperial College). He is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading scholar of East Asian technological and industrial dynamics for over two decades.
Professor Mathews’ work on Latercomer strategies in International Business was recognized by a conference on “Dragon Multinationals” held at Macquarie University in 2017. He has been awarded a full-time Chair of Competitive Dynamics and Global Strategy at LUISS Guido Carli University, in Rome. He also won the “Best paper award” by Asia-Pacific Journal of Management in 2009 and a highly prestigious Rockefeller Foundation fellowship tenable at the Bellagio Centre at Bellaggio, Italy.
Professor Mathews has pursued a varied career, focusing on the dynamics of technological catch-up by East Asian countries in such high-tech industries as semiconductors, flat panel displays and most recently in alternative energy industries, solar photovoltaics and LEDs. He has developed dynamic strategy frameworks for analyzing these processes, and formulated an original strategic synthesis in terms of the fundamental categories of resources, activities and routines. His most recent work applies this framework to explicating the reasons for success of industrial clusters, particularly those found in Taiwan, China and India.
Professor Mathews’ recent research has focused on the greening of business with an emphasis on the role of China. His articles “Manufacture renewables to build energy security” and “Circular Economy: Lessons from China” (coauthored with Dr Hao Tan) were published in Nature. His book Global Green Shift: When CERES Meets GAIA, won him the 2018 Schumpeter Prize. With more than 4900 citations, his research has contributed to the understanding of the ways in which industry is challenged to drive greening strategies and at the same time to focus on the industrialization of East Asia
Click here for details of Professor Mathews’ research outputs and grant funding. Click here to visit Professor Mathews’ personal website.
Emeritus Professor John Mathews can be reached via john.mathews@mq.edu.au.