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) followed by Q&A 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 full program booklet (warning: large file), click here. For the administrative circular, click here.

Presentations are available for participants by following this link (password protected).

10 September

Opening and Welcome

• Dr. Tran Quoc Thang, Vice-Minister of MOST, Viet Nam
• H.E. Michael Michalak, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam
• Dr. James Kember, New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam
• 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 Q&anp;A. Speakers:

• overview: Dr. Susan Hackwood, Executive Director, California Council on Science and Technology
• Dr. Gerald Hane, Founding General Partner, Q-Paradigm , USA
• Dr. Yongsuk Jang, Research Fellow, STEPI, Korea
• Dr. Nicholas Maynard, RAND , USA
• Rosalie Ruegg, Managing Director, TIA Consulting, USA

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 APEC economies (e.g., New Zealand, China, and Vietnam) and outside APEC (Finland), followed by Q&A. Speakers:

• Dr. Ta Doan Trinh, Deputy Director, Finance and Planning Department, MOST, Vietnam
• Dr. Heikki Kotilainen, Senior Partner, S&T Balance, former Deputy Director General of TEKES, Finland's funding agency for technology and innovation
• Rikutaro Hamada, Official, International S&T Affairs Division, S&T Policy Bureau, MEXT, Japan
• Dr. Liang Zheng, Assistant Director, China Institute for Science & Technology Policy, Tsinghua University , China

11 September

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:

• Barbara Harley, Founder, International Business Incubator
• Norishige Morimoto, Manager, Collaboratory Research Centers , IBM Discussion of examples from APEC economies and outside that have been successful in building partnerships.
• Dr. Yee-Yeen Chu, Professor, National Tsing-Hua University, Chinese Taipei
• Al Watkins, S&T Program Coordinator, World Bank
• Stuart Wilson, Vice President, ISTPCanada
• Preeda Youngsuksathaporn, Department Manager, Thai National Innovation Agency.

Moderators for sessions include: Dr. Edward Derrick, Director of Research Competitiveness Program, AAAS; Dr. Mark Milutinovich, Senior Program Associate, Research Competitiveness Program, AAAS; Dr. Anthony "Bud" Rock, Vice President for Global Engagement, Arizona State University; Mr. Sun Qijun, MOST, China; Dr. Tran Ngoc Ca, Deputy Director, NISTPASS, Vietnam; Dr. Tom Wang, Director for International Cooperation, AAAS.