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.

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.

At its annual SmartCamp World Finals in Dublin, Ireland, this week, IBM announced Streetline Inc. as the 2010 Global Entrepreneur of the Year. The firm was among more than 600 worldwide tech-focused startups to participate in the competition.

General Electric announced the first 12 winners of its $200 million Ecomagination innovation competition Monday at a conference in New York City. The winners will receive investments totaling $55 million.

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.

As part of the tech company's ongoing efforts to boost computer innovation worldwide, Intel has announced it will invest $77 million through 18 new investments. The deals span 11 different countries including Brazil, China, Germany, India, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United States.

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.

China's recent emergence as a preeminent innovator in the science and technology sectors has come as a bit of a sting to many of the world's top economies and innovative powers.