The 8th Meeting of APEC Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI) was held in Arequipa of Peru on August 14-17, 2016. More than 100 representatives attended the meeting, including 16 APEC members and Macau, China, APEC ABAC and APRU. Chen Linhao, Deputy Director General of International Cooperation of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology headed the Chinese Delegation and presided over the meeting as Chairman of PPSTI.
The present session features “science, technology and innovation promote quality growth”. The meeting discussed PPSTI internal construction, external cooperation, achievements of key activities and annual reports. Also, the meeting approved “independent assessment report” and “PPSTI Annual Report” and passed, in principle, “PPSTI Center and Long-term Partnership Guideline”. On the afternoon of Aug. 16th, the HRDWG of PPSTI held a group meeting, conducting extensive discussions to reach consensus concerning cross-partnership joint project cooperation, cross-border cooperation on education and technology innovation. On the afternoon of August 17th, the ART of APEC was held and representatives of the economies discussed issues that the society are generally concerned with, including sustainable development goals, climate technology, and food security, contributing their ideas to realizing sustainable development goals through science, technology and innovation (STI).
During the meeting, the 2016 ASPIRE prize was awarded, featuring “technologies for food safety”. Professor Kuang Hua, a young scholar from China’s Jiangnan University, stood out from the candidates of the 21 economies, becoming the first Chinese scholar that won the prize.
A total of 14 representatives attended the meeting, involving Department of International Cooperation of MOST, Shanghai Advanced Institute of CAS, National Institute of Metrology of China, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion of CAS, Zhejiang University of Technology, Beijing Science and Technology Development and Exchange Center and China International Technology Transfer Center Coordination Network. These representatives participated in the report and promotion of China APEC fund projects, covering areas of smart cities, regional development, industry 4.0, SMEs, renewable energy and big data. The participants also enthusiastically discussed issues like energy, climate, and cross-border education during the meeting.
On August 18-19, the fourth APEC Chief Science Advisors and Equivalents (CSAE) was held. The meeting was chaired by Chief Science Advisor of New Zealand’s Prime Minister, with participants from 12 economies - Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Chinese Taipei, the United States, and Vietnam. The science agenda covered natural disaster, development of island economies, and sustainable development, with procedure of discussion for CSAE discussed and adopted.
Background: APEC is an important organization aimed at promoting economic and social development in the Asia-Pacific Region and conducting regional economic and technical cooperation. As a working group under APEC SCE of Economic and Technical Cooperation, PPSTI was formed in August 2012 through renaming the ISTWG. The governing body of PPSTI is the administrative committee composed of 1 Chair, 2 Vice Chairs and 1 Principal Advisor. The Chinese representative is the current Chairman with term being 2015-2106. Every half year, PPSTI holds a routine meeting, discussing agenda of APEC STI cooperation. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the competent domestic department in charge of the cooperation partnership and liaison with other countries.
