The New Geography if Innovation by Mehran Gul

Named a Financial Times Best Book of the Year for 2025 and one of Forbes’ Best Business Books of 2025, THE NEW GEOGRAPHY OF INNOVATION by Mehran Gul was just published in the US. Gul writes about “The Global Contest for Breakthrough Technologies” by sharing anecdotes from eight countries across three regions: China, Singapore, and South Korea in Asia; Switzerland, Germany, and United Kingdom (London) in Europe; and Canada and Silicon Valley in North America. He bases his comments on extensive interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and other researchers.  Gul’s emphasis on cultural and historic factors is particularly interesting and informative. Although he does not appear to argue for specific policies or an overarching theory, he does point to trends like increased efforts to bring products to market more quickly and, according to the Asian Review of Books, to “the various components necessary for large-scale, ongoing technical innovation: a government providing public goods like education and infrastructure, functioning capital markets, investors with a tolerance for failure, a culture that encourages start-ups, openness to immigration, and enough consumers to scale up.” The Wall Street Journal concludes its review by noting that THE NEW GEOGRAPHY OF INNOVATION is “a thoughtful discussion of how economic geography is changing. If you’re concerned that the U.S. is losing its capacity for innovation, Mr. Gul suggests, you shouldn’t worry. But if you’re concerned about maintaining U.S. technological dominance, maybe you should.”  This is an accessible read with a global perspective.