THE TRANSFORMATION OF WESTERN KNOWLEDGE CENTRALITY AND THE RISE OF ASIA: EDUCATION, INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE HISTORICAL REDISTRIBUTION OF GLOBAL INTELLECTUAL CENTERS

This study analyzes the historical transformation of the global geography of knowledge, education, science, innovation, and technology, focusing on the transition from Islamic intellectual centrality to Western scientific and technological leadership and the contemporary expansion of Asian capabilities. It adopts a qualitative, bibliographic, documentary, historical-comparative, and longitudinal approach, combining specialized literature with indicators from the OECD, UNESCO, WIPO, and the World Bank. The analysis examines the Islamic Golden Age; the circulation and transformation of knowledge between Islamic societies and Europe; the institutional consolidation of Western leadership; and contemporary Asian performance in education, research, and innovation. The findings indicate that scientific centrality is historically dynamic and depends on institutions capable of producing, circulating, criticizing, and applying knowledge. Contemporary evidence shows expanding Asian capabilities, particularly in China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, alongside continuing Western scientific and technological strength. The study therefore interprets current changes as a relative redistribution and diversification of global knowledge and innovation capacity within an increasingly multipolar system, rather than as the replacement of one civilization by another.