I recently participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Economist Corporate Network in Singapore about innovation in Asia. I started my portion of the discussion by sharing three observations about what I had found unique about innovating in Asia: its unbelievable diversity, both between and within countries (and sometimes even cities); the historical focus of many Asian organizations on replication and cost reduction; and Asia's inconsistent infrastructure (Singapore is amazing, but don't try to schedule more than two meetings a day in Mumbai). But what I really wanted to discuss were the three biggest trends I see affecting innovation in the region.