The 14th Meeting of the Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI) of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was held in Port Barras, Chile, from August 25 to 27, 2019. More than 100 participants from 15 APEC member economies, including China, the United States, Australia, South Korea and Chile, took part in the meeting. Macao of China participated as an observer economy. The Chinese science and technology delegation was led by Deputy Director-General Chen Linhao of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
With the focus on innovation for sustainable growth, the meeting discussed Digital Transformation and Integration 4.0, enhancing women‘s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) capabilities, monitoring global changes and other topics. At the meeting, discussions were held on the PPSTI Strategic Plan (2016-2020), PPSTI project group recommendations, cross-mechanism cooperation, election of PPSTI chair in 2020 and other mechanism-building issues. Women in STEM Principles and Actions, and PPSTI’s policy recommendations for inclusion in the Leaders’Declaration were adopted. Representatives of the science communities from various member economies reported 16 projects to the plenary session, involving young women‘s innovation and entrepreneurship, agriculture, sustainable development and other fields. During the meeting, the Chinese side held a public-private dialogue on APEC’s science, technology and innovation policy (a Chinese project funded by the APEC Fund).
The Chinese science and technology delegation consisted of 9 representatives from the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China Science and Technology Exchange Center, China Earthquake Networks Center, Zhejiang Normal University, International Technology Transfer Network, Changzhou Ubitech Co., Ltd., Beijing Didi Infinity Technology and Development Co., Ltd. and other organizations. The Chinese delegation actively participated in the discussions of related topics, reported project results and attended new project briefing events. In the first half of 2019, five PPSTI projects received funding from the APEC Fund, two of which were from China.