Innovation creates new demand and enhances productivity, making it central to sustainable growth and development. However, innovation is not an inevitable process. Economists from MIT found evidence that research productivity has fallen rapidly across the public and private sectors, and that innovation is slowing in many advanced economies. Given its centrality to productivity enhancement and growth, governments must work together with enterprises and research institutes to promote innovation. Understanding the range of instruments available and the roles of different stakeholders within national innovation systems (NIS) is critical to enhancing innovation and, ultimately, productivity.

To explore this topic, the APO organized a virtual workshop on Developing National Innovation Systems, 23–25 November, in partnership with the Vietnam National Productivity Institute. Workshop sessions covered best practices from Vietnam in developing NIS, harnessing innovation systems for sustainable development, policies for enhancing innovation systems, entrepreneurship and national innovation in the Republic of Korea, and principles and tools for responsible research and innovation. This project supported the APO Vision 2025 goal of supporting robust innovation ecosystems in member countries.

There were 43 participants from 16 member countries, mostly drawn from the public sector. In addition to one local expert from Sri Lanka, four international resource persons were from Hong Kong, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Vietnam.