The new emerging economic powers (EEPs) and in particular the Asian Giants are in the process of altering the global geopolitical ecology of investment, production and trade. The cluster will look at the direct impact with a particular emphasis on investment flows. It links to the New Global Actors thematic field of the Global Dynamics research initiative.

It explores how the rise of the new EEPs such as China and India affect the obstacles and opportunities that developing countries face in achieving economic development. In particular, the cluster will study how investment flows and development finance from EEPs affect the possibilities of structural transformation and contribute to a sustainable process of economic transformation (income convergence) that gives a second chance to poorer countries. Structural transformation - and in particular the dynamic growth of productive sectors - has proved crucial for the majority of now emerging and affluent economies.