Promoting Innovative Development In The Asia Pacific Region Through The Internet Economy

ICT and Internet economy development has been one of the main interests of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation from the early stage of APEC and the Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TEL or TELWG) was established in 1990 to promote building the Asia-Pacific Information Society (APIS). The objective of this study is to highlight and analyze the economic benefits ICT development or the Internet economy will offer as a new source of economic growth, promoting innovative development in the Asia-Pacific region. This study begins by briefing the activities of APEC and the APEC Telecommunications and Information Working Group and then overviews the current state of ICT development in the APEC member economies based on the ICT Development Index (IDI) published by ITU, analyzes the potential benefits of further ICT development in terms of economic growth, or in some sense, productivity growth, and finally presents implications and suggestions for ICT development or the Internet economy to facilitate economic growth of the Asia-Pacific region. Some of the findings and implications of this study are as follows. Despite the huge gaps among the APEC member economies, ICT as a whole has been developed significantly in the APEC region and the gaps have also been reduced in general during 2002-2012. The progress seems to be converging rather than diverging among the APEC member economies. However, there are still huge and enlarged gaps between these economies when it comes to ICT utilization. APEC therefore needs to make efforts to bridge the ICT development gaps existing among its member economies, especially regarding ICT utilization, in addition to continued efforts to further close the gaps in ICT infrastructure, which is regarded as a great achievement of the previous decade. ICT development is expected to bring about significant progress in the economic growth of each of the APEC member economies as well as APEC as a whole. APEC can share the experience of member economies with extraordinary progress in ICT development between 2002 and 2012, such as Viet Nam, Russia, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Peru, Malaysia, etc. APEC needs to identify and share their success factors and policy experiences. Executive Summary I. Introduction II. ICT Development and Cooperation in APEC 1. APEC Activities and ICT Cooperation 2. APEC TEL Focus and Targets III. IDI and ICT Development in APEC 1. ICT Development Index (IDI) 2. ICT Development in APEC IV. ICT Development and Economic Growth 1. Reference Studies and Motivation 2. Production Function Approach 3. Endogenous Growth Model Approach 4. ICT Development and Economic Growth in APEC V. Implications for APEC Cooperation References Appendix

This book promotes the creation of advanced knowledge-based economies driven by innovation networks and the continuous development of human capital and capability. It provides valuable insights into the growing emergence of knowledge-based industries of the Asia Pacific, and highlights research on: modes of creativity and innovation; intellectual property; the components of national innovation systems such as firms, education and training; knowledge and technical infrastructure; and public policy. The Asia Pacific region is currently in the process of transforming from being the manufacturing centre of the global economy to a centre of innovation for the knowledge economy, with the successful IPO of Alibaba in 2014 being a prime example of this shift. From a neo-Schumpeterian perspective, the region is increasingly engaged in shortening and intensifying cycles of innovation. The historic agreement at the Beijing APEC meeting between China and the US to radically reduce carbon emissions indicates that one imperative of this innovation is to contribute to sustainability. The fact that the US Government is moving away from this historic commitment, while the Chinese Government is endorsing the commitment, indicates an emerging opportunity for Asia to lead the world technologically in a vital industrial sector of the future.

This book discusses social innovations by cooperatives from the Asia and Pacific region. Social innovations emerge when the state and market in developing countries find it difficult to solve problems such as poverty, hunger, ill health, poor education systems, inadequate drinking water and poor sanitation. These countries also face barriers to economic growth such as climate change, poor governance, unequal opportunities and social exclusion. This volume therefore addresses the following questions. What are the distinctive features of social innovations by cooperatives? How social innovations bring in changes in the process and outcome of development? After presenting theories of social innovation and a critical review of cooperatives and social innovation, the book presents 15 chapters on social innovations by cooperatives in the Asia Pacific region. These social innovations are related to health insurance, community based tourism, disaster response, climate smart agriculture, use of social media for youth empowerment, training for the emergence of second-line leaders in cooperatives, social inclusion through innovative finance, profitable marketing of organic produce to strengthen economic status of small farmers, digital auction and value addition for income security of farmer members, collaboration between cooperative members and workers for the mutual benefit, worker cooperatives, women leadership and participation, building union-cooperative partnership in finance and rating of cooperatives to promote transparency and accountability. A chapter on innovative services of cooperatives during the time of Covid19 is also included. This volume will be quite significant for co-operators, researchers, teachers, practitioners and policy-makers at the global level. The theme is relevant for international development community and national cooperatives with concern for their communities, which is the seventh cooperative principle of International Cooperative Alliance and the Sustainable Development Goal of the UN.

This book systematically summarizes China Internet development over the past 25 years, highlighting its strong impact on China’s economy and society, and discussing the Chinese people’s transition from beneficiaries and participants to builders, contributors and joint maintainers of cyberspace development. It describes the development achievements, status and development and trends in China Internet in 2019, systematically summarizes the main lessons learned during development, and analyzes China’s strategic planning and policy actions. Further, it discusses topics such as development outcomes, future trends in information infrastructure, network information technology, digital economy, e-government, construction and management of network contents, cyberspace security, the legal construction of cyberspace, and international cyberspace governance. In addition, the book suggests improvements to the index system for China Internet development and offers an overall assessment of cyberspace security and informatization work throughout China in order to comprehensively and accurately demonstrate the level of China Internet development.

The COVID-19 pandemic detonated a “digital big bang” that spurred people, governments, and businesses to become “digital by default;” a sea change that generated vast digital dividends. These benefits that have not been distributed equally, however. New development gaps have emerged as digital transformation reinforces a vicious cycle of socioeconomic inequalities, within and across countries. The Asia-Pacific Digital Transformation Report 2022: Shaping our digital future report highlights that bridging digital divide and ensuring that advances in technology can benefit everyone will be a key challenge as the Asia-Pacific region seeks to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable post-pandemic recovery. The report highlighted that digital connectivity infrastructure is a critical “meta-infrastructure” for sustainable development. Three recommended pathways for action, which are not mutually exclusive and are aligned with the ESCAP Action Plan of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway initiative for 2022-2026.

The biennial Digital Review of Asia Pacific is a comprehensive guide to the state-of-practice and trends in information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) in the Asia Pacific region.This fourth edition (2009-2010) features 30 economies and four sub-regional groupings. The chapters provide updated information on ICT infrastructure, industries, content and services, key programs, enabling policies and regulation, education and capacity building, open source, and research and development initiatives, as well as ICTD challenges in each of the economies covered. The common framework that underpins these reports allows readers to undertake a comparative analysis and assess progress across Asia Pacific.In addition, regional overviews provide a synthesis of ICTD trends, regulatory issues, and lessons for managing innovation in the network economy. The thematic chapters focus on issues in ICT in education, a key area in ICTD.The authors are drawn from government, academe, industry and civil society, providing a broad perspective on the use of ICTs for human development.

China’s Digital Presence in the Asia-Pacific explores China’s digital presence in the Asia-Pacific region. Drawing on political economy of the media, industry analysis, platform studies and cultural policy studies, the book shows that China’s commercial digital platforms are increasingly recognized outside China and can disseminate Chinese culture more effectively than government supported media. It illustrates how these platforms are contributing to Chinese cultural influence, their perceived reputation and obstacles in the region while pursuing a combined approach of culture+, industry+, internet+, and platform+. In considering the multi-layered rise of the China argument, the book considers its growing technological status as an innovative nation through four policy approaches: culture+, industry+, Internet+ and platform+. Other + characterizations include intelligent+ and social+. These + characterizations show how China is rejuvenating, drawing technological knowhow from the region and adding to its cultural (and soft) power. The book focuses on six locations: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. The authors analyse Beijing’s changing policies towards the governance of culture, Internet technologies and digital platforms, as well as examining consumer perceptions of China and Chinese products in the Asia-Pacific region. In using the + characterizations, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of how Chinese cultural and creative industries became digital, as well as investigating the key players and the leading platforms including Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, TikTok, Baidu, iQiyi and Meituan.

This book sets out the problems of measuring the effects of technological change on economic progress by using the internet in the Asia-Pacific region as a case study. Corporate and industry experience, including changing business organization and new regulatory issues are explored as well as policy issues such as the digital divide and the approach to e-commerce in the WTO. Using several industry case studies the contributors compare the IT experience in North America with a number of countries in Asia and the Pacific.