For many years, technology firms in Asia were dismissed as merely copycats, with much of the innovation coming from Silicon Valley giants. But at the inaugural Wall Street Journal D.Live Asia conference last week in Hong Kong, more evidence emerged that companies and startups from this region are creating unique products and services that are being emulated in the West. That’s largely due to Asian companies’ intense focus on what consumers want on their mobile devices.

Asia is home to more than 2.5 billion mobile-phone users, with China being the world’s biggest smartphone market, according to researcher eMarketer. Tech startups in the Asia-Pacific region raised more than $100 billion over the past five years through venture-capital funding, according to data from CB Insights, highlighting just how much growth is coming from this region.

The Wall Street Journal convened over 300 tech executives, entrepreneurs and investors to address topics ranging from the future of the internet to technologies that are changing our world such as artificial intelligence, driverless cars and mobile payments. In on-stage interviews, executives discussed how the fintech revolution is unfolding, where venture-capital money is flowing, which companies are winning the AI battle, how Asian internet firms are plotting their future and how Western companies are navigating China’s opaque market. Edited excerpts are presented here. https://www.wsj.com/news/types/journal-reports-leadership

Write to Yun-Hee Kim at yun-hee.kim@wsj.com