Businessweek ran an article recently called Rise of the Asian D-School. (Here "D-school" is short for design school, not to be confused with Standord's "d.school" which is Stanford's catchy name for its Institute for Design.)

Summary: Asian design schools are ramping up to recruit and retain talent, and multinationals are arming themselves with these grads to conquer the Asian market.

Details that caught my eye: I was happy to see that my hometown's Hong Kong Polytechnic University named, and that the school had made Businessweek's top "D-Schools" list two years running. They also mentioned that "Beijing's Tsinghua University recently hosted a sustainable design workshop with Milan Polytechnic University."

Are these signs that design in Asia is on the rise? Or are they false alarms? To answer that question, answer this one: How long are you willing to wait?

Businessweek: Rise of the Asian D-School.