Although faltering after the global financial collapse of 2008, China has emerged from the recession poised to become a leading developer of high-tech enterprises and innovations.

If anything contextualizes the impact of a globalized economy, it is the financial collapse of 2008 - a catastrophic economic breakdown that rippled across the globe eliminating jobs and impeding growth in sectors from financial consulting to automobile sales to high-tech manufacturing.

Speaking in an interview Wednesday, incoming Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier stressed the importance of technology and innovation in moving the pharmaceutical industry ahead.

Recalling the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite probe which initiated the Space Race, a top U.S. official has cited China's recent emergence as a leader in green tech innovation as a "Sputnik moment" for the United States.

Over the past decade, globalization, mobile technology and the ubiquity of web-based communication have allowed once-troubled countries such as China, India and Brazil to emerge as leaders in global innovation.

A federal jury ruled Tuesday that SAP must pay Oracle $1.3 billion in damages stemming from a copyright infringement suit involving SAP's now defunct subsidiary TomorrowNow. The California jury ruled that TomorrowNow had illegally downloaded hundreds of thousands of programs owned by Oracle in an attempt to steal customers away.

Canada's most populous province may be slacking in innovation, according to a report studying workplace innovation by the Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress.

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation along with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation released its annual rankings of states best equipped to compete in an innovation-based world economy.

At the seventh annual Creative World Forum, four prominent figures in the energy industry discussed how the U.S can forge ahead as a leader in energy innovation, while also promoting new sources such as gas, solar and biofuels.

Growing fears that China may surpass the United States in innovative technologies, especially renewable energy, are grounded in legitimate facts. For one, Chinese patent filings are expected to eclipse the United States by the end of next year, according to Reuters, and the country has already become the second largest contributor to international science journals.