APEC EVENTS

The Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a regional economic group that currently has 21 members, each of which has its own separate economy rather than being a state. Its primary goal to create greater prosperity for its member economies and their people by promoting secure, balanced, sustainable, growth and accelerating regional economic integration. Chinese Taipei joined APEC in 1991.

APEC’s Human Resources Development Working Group

APEC set up a Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) in 1990. Its broad mission is to share knowledge, experience and skills to enhance human resource development and promote sustainable economic growth, and its three specific objectives are to:

• Develop 21st century knowledge and skills for all

• Integrate human resources development into the global economy

• Address the social dimensions of globalization

Three networks work to implement associated initiatives:

The Capacity Building Network focuses on skills development, vocational training, and human resource management to enhance employability, and provision of quality employment.

The Education Network (EDNET) focuses on fostering strong and vibrant learning systems, and promoting quality education across APEC member economies to enable people of all ages to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing world.

The Labour and Social Protection Network focuses on fostering strong, flexible labor markets and strengthening social protection and safety nets, through provision of information and analysis, collaboration, and evidence-based interventions, to assist sustainable human resource development

Education plays a fundamental part in achieving APEC’s goals and the Ministry of Education is actively involved in Chinese Taipei’s participation in a wide range of APEC projects and activities. They all have a strong focus on providing participants with useful, practical tools that suit their specific circumstances, presenting examples of best practices, and sharing details of experiences. Some of the projects are outlined below.

APEC Regional Industry-Academia Collaboration for Skill Development

Youth employability is an urgent concern in the APEC region and beyond. At the same time, there’s a critical need for industry and academia to work more closely together to train and educate people with the digital technology and other skills that the industry sector requires. It’s essential to build strategic alliances to narrow the skills gap, and the digital divide and create greater prosperity for the people of the region. Addressing these issues and providing practical solutions—particularly academic-industry collaboration—will strongly support economic stability and growth.

To assist this, Chinese Taipei regularly hosts and takes part in related APEC workshops and other activities. For example, the 2019 APEC Workshop on Regional Industry-Academia Collaboration for Talent Development.

The Ministry of Education also encourages technical and vocational colleges to work with their counterparts in the region and develop customized industry-academia collaborations.

APEC Forum on Digital Innovation & Youth Entrepreneurship 

In October 2019 Chinese Taipei hosted a three-day APEC Forum on Digital Innovation and Youth Entrepreneurship as part of the 2019 APEC Youth Innovation & Entrepreneurship Project. The project goal is to facilitate the transfer and development of knowledge, skills and technical know-how among experienced entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs-to-be from various Asia-Pacific economies.

The most needed and transformative sectors of the digital economy, also offer promise of sustained and sustainable growth and inclusive employment and this was a focus at the forum, and one of the major associated themes of the workshop was female entrepreneurship. The forum included:

• Introduction and best practices of government and academia programs on youth innovative entrepreneurship

• APEC regional startup experience & knowledge sharing

• Startup pitching demo

• Startup Education Achievement Exhibition

• Panel session on Female Entrepreneurship

• Digital industry field visits

APEC STEM-PLUS “Glocalized” Scientific Literacy Workshops

There’s a continuing need in the APEC region for significant numbers of new employees with scientific literacy. This requires member economies to develop innovative curricula and appropriate training to assist teachers to educate a more science-literate generation.

Chinese Taipei proposed the Human Capacity Building for Glocalized Scientific Literacy: Best Practice Models for Innovative STEM-Related Education for Teacher Professional Development project at the 2018 EDNET meeting. In May 2019, we hosted a 3-day workshop in Taipei attended by participants from ten economies.

Phase 2 of this project is now underway. It will engage veteran and new participants in collaboration, exchanges, and shared training and innovation to

• Enhance science teachers’ competencies to nurture the scientific literacy of K-12 students, particularly female learners; and

• Exchange details of STEM-PLUS practice experiences, including STEM-PLUS curriculum design and implementation, and new challenges that arisen when implementing innovative approaches.

A workshop originally scheduled for mid-2020 had to be cancelled because the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be rescheduled or offered online.

APEC Sports Policy Network

The Sports Administration of the Ministry of Education hosted the 2016 APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Education Training and Career Planning for Young Athletes, attended by 189 delegates from fourteen member economies. They discussed related policies, and effective ways for public-private-partnerships (PPP) to strengthen the career development of young athletes. Following the high level policy dialogue, the APEC Sports Policy Network (ASPN) was launched with the consensus of the participating APEC member economies.

The goal of the network is to promote the well-being and ongoing employment of all athletes, and help achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the region through sports. It shares knowledge, experience, and skills to facilitate a comprehensive approach for advancing athletes’ career development.  

The APEC Sports Policy Network Secretariat is located in the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) in Taipei. Its work includes publishing the APEC Sports Newsletter, maintaining an official website, and directory, and organizing annual workshops and summits.