Day 1: Governmental mechanisms for priority setting in the areas of science and technology

APEC Symposium on Research and Innovation:
Policy Mechanisms for Science and Technology Planning and Building Public/Private Partnership[1]

10 – 11 September 2008

Fortuna Hotel

Hanoi, Vietnam

This two-day symposium seeks to enhance the ability of economies, particularly developing ones, to foster technological innovation as an engine of economic growth and competitiveness. The symposium will explore key aspects of innovation strategies – government science and technology planning models, supporting an innovation environment, and building public-private partnerships (PPP’s) to connect research and innovation. The symposium is an Industrial Science & Technology Working Group (ISTWG) project, organized by the United States and funded by the APEC Support Fund with in-kind support from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Vietnam.

The program consists of a series of panel sessions on each topic (e.g., planning models, innovative environment, PPP’s for innovation) with Q&A followed by break-out sessions for in-depth participant interaction. The intended audience is senior government managers and policy-makers directly responsible for innovation policy in their economies. A set of checklists are planned in conjunction with the symposium to cover areas such as: how to identify research and development priorities; what methods exist for the assessment of priorities on a regular basis; and how best to create and sustain productive partnerships between governments, academia and industry. The checklists can then be used by individual economies in their own specific contexts for follow-up planning and subsequent evaluation purposes.

For the administrative circular, click here.

September 10

Opening and welcome

- Dr. Tran Quoc Thang, Vice-Minister of MOST, Viet Nam (tbc)

- U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak (tbc)

- Dr. Alan Leshner, CEO, AAAS

Session 1: Supporting an innovation environment

(1) Policy planning and infrastructure (e.g., research portfolio building, cluster analysis, tax and IP regulations) and (2) Evaluation and measuring impact. Presentations by experts followed by concurrent break-out sessions on each topic.

Speakers include2:

- overview: Dr. Susan Hackwood, Executive Director, California Council on Science and Technology

- Dr. Connie K.N. Chang, Director, Ocean Tomo Federal Services, USA (tbc)

- Dr. Yongsuk Jang, Research Fellow, STEPI, Korea

- Dr. Nick Maynard, RAND, USA (tbc)

Session 2: Existing S&T planning models

Examples from diverse economies (developing and “developed”, large and small, etc.); suggested areas to cover include priority setting; evaluating current situation and opportunities (SWOT); identifying and exploiting niches; meeting demands both internally and globally; goal setting and establishing appropriate expectations.

Discussion of planning models from New Zealand, China, Vietnam, Canada, Japan, and/or Finland, followed by Q&A

Speakers include[2]:

- Dr. Ta Doan Trinh, Deputy Director, Finance and Planning Department, MOST, Vietnam (tbc)

- Dr. Heikki Kotilainen, Senior Partner, S&T Balance, former Deputy Director General of TEKES, Finland’s funding agency for technology and innovation

- Helen McNaught, Senior Advisor, International Linkages, MORST, New Zealand

- Dr. Liang Zheng, Assistant Director, China Institute for Science & Technology Policy, Tsinghua University, China

September 11

Session 3: Policies for building public/private partnerships

Overview addressing opportunities and challenges in building strong and sustainable partnerships between the public and the private sector to address areas such as creation of a rich innovation environment, research collaboration, commercialization of new technologies, knowledge transfer, and pre-competitive consortia.

Speakers include2:

- Barbara Harley, International Business Incubators

- Al Watkins, S&T Program Coordinator, World Bank

Discussion of examples from different economies that have been successful in building partnerships, such as Chinese Taipei, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and/or Mexico. Discussion followed by Q&A.

Break-out sessions on public/private partnerships

Moderators for sessions include: Dr. Edward Derrick, Director of Research Competitiveness Program, AAAS; Dr. Tran Ngoc Ca, Deputy Director, NISTPASS; Dr. Mark Milutinovich, Senior Program Associate, Research Competitiveness Program, AAAS; Dr. Anthony “Bud” Rock, Vice President for Global Engagement, Arizona State University.

[1] Sponsored by the United States, Vietnam, New Zealand, and China; organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Vietnam.