APEC DIGITAL MONTH

Building a Digital Pacific for All

Overview

Through our APEC 2023 host year agenda on the Digital Pacific, the United States is committed to expand secure digital access for APEC economies and working with the private sector to bring underserved individuals and small businesses into the digital economy.  As the centerpiece of this agenda, from July 29 through August 21 during the Third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) in Seattle, the United States hosted a series of events and activities focused on digital innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship, called APEC Digital Month: Building a Digital Pacific for All.

APEC Digital Month convened public and private sector experts for more than 40 technical meetings, workshops, roundtables, and public-private dialogues on a range of digital topics.  These events were sponsored by the United States and other APEC economies.  It also featured events hosted by other stakeholders, including the private sector and included digital discussions at some APEC ministerial meetings.  Many stakeholders, including MSMEs, non-profit entities, think tanks, and civic organizations, joined from Seattle as well as other parts of the United States.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to every participant, sponsor, and volunteer who made APEC Digital Month a resounding success. Your enthusiasm and commitment to driving innovation, shaping digital transformation, and advancing APEC’s work on the digital economy have laid the foundation for an even brighter Digital Pacific for All.

Why Seattle?

Holding APEC Digital Month in Seattle, one of the United States’ most vibrant tech hubs, facilitated opportunities for broader participation from non-government stakeholders, including the private sector, investment and accelerator funds, and civil society.  The private sector also used APEC Digital Month to highlight its own efforts to promote and advance the digital economy.

Policy Topics

Social Media

Check out our LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/usapec2023 for updates on APEC Digital Month activities.  Relevant posts are marked with #APECDigitalMonth.

Videos Showcasing Some of the APEC Digital Month Speakers

Dr Lori Moore, U.S. Fire Administrator

Dr. David Steel, UL Standards & Engagement

Aurelie Jacquet, ISO

Jacquelyn MacCoon, Standards Council of Canada

Jennifer De France, WHO

Josh Jarrett, Wiley

Andrew Mayoc, White House

Brenda Quismorio, The Philippines

Highlights of APEC Digital Month

Ministerial Meetings

Food Security Ministerial Meeting (August 3) – Ministers discussed innovative technologies, including digital agriculture, to aid in the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in agriculture and advance more sustainable, resilient agri-food systems in pursuit of regional food security.  Ministers welcomed the “Principles for Achieving Food Security Through Sustainable Agri-food Systems in the APEC Region”, which recognized digital technologies and a global digital infrastructure, as essential components in the transition towards sustainable, resilient agri-food systems.

• Chair’s Statement: https://www.apec.org/meeting-papers/sectoral-ministerial-meetings/food-security/apec-2023-food-security-ministerial-chair-statement

High-Level Meeting on Health and the Economy (August 6) – Ministers noted the acceleration of the digital economy in the health sector, and the rapid growth in digital health applications, telehealth services and digital technologies.  Ministers noted the potential of this for increased health system resilience and access, while also discussing the importance of health data privacy and security in the digital economy.

• Chair’s Statement: https://www.apec.org/meeting-papers/sectoral-ministerial-meetings/health/chair-s-statement-of-the-13th-apec-high-level-meeting-on-health-and-the-economy

Women and the Economy Forum (August 20) – Ministers committed to developing tools that close the digital gender divide and promote the safe use of digital technologies while strengthening digital literacy and skills to fully access the digital economy. digital inclusion and innovation, addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and creating safe, online spaces for women and girls in all their diversity. Ministers also recognized the importance of digital skills and training for women and education for girls, to connect women-owned/led/managed businesses to international customers through cross-border e-commerce.

• Chair’s Statement: https://www.apec.org/meeting-papers/sectoral-ministerial-meetings/women/chair-s-statement-of-the-apec-2023-women-and-the-economy-forum

Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting (August 21) – Ministers agreed to continue working to empower MSMEs in the global marketplace through the uptake of digital tools, and skills and participation in global value chains, cross-border e-commerce, and digital trade.  Ministers encouraged collaboration with the private sector and academic institutions to develop policies, technology solutions, and capacity building measures that address key barriers that MSMEs face when conducting digitally-enabled trade, including barriers related to gender equality. Ministers encouraged the development of cost-effective products and solutions that help MSMEs accelerate their digital transformation, including through digital and business skills programs.

• Chair’s Statement: https://www.apec.org/meeting-papers/sectoral-ministerial-meetings/small-and-medium-enterprise/chair-s-statement-of-the-29th-apec-small-and-medium-enterprises-ministerial-meeting

Workshops and Public-Private Dialogues

Workshop on Digital Assets (July 29)

As the first event of APEC Digital Month, the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process hosted a workshop that addressed the potential benefits and risks of digital assets, including unbacked-crypto assets, stablecoins, and CBDCs; APEC members’ experiences with regulation and oversight; and approaches to maintaining high regulatory standards, minimizing regulatory gaps, and promoting financial stability.

APEC Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity (A2C2) (August 1)

The United States hosted the 15th meeting of the A2C2 to discuss operationalizing APEC’s Supply Chain Connectivity Framework Action Plan (SCFAP III) endorsed in August 2022.  A speaker from the APEC Policy Support Unit provided an overview of SCFAP III and efforts to identify metrics, data sources, and champion economies related to specific chokepoints.  The remainder of the session consisted of panels on the SCFAP III’s five targeted supply chain chokepoints:  digitalization, infrastructure and multi-modal connectivity, data flows and cross-border payments, green supply chain management practices, and MSME access and integration into supply chains.  Panels featured speakers from government and the private sector, including trade ministries, port authorities, industry associations, large corporates, and MSMEs.

Public-Private Roundtable on Telehealth Solutions and Digital Health Integration (August 2)

The Roundtable (under APEC’s Health Working Group) focused how telehealth and digital health technologies and solutions are transforming the way patients receive care.  Moreover, the Roundtable was designed to build a digital health-focused toolbox for every APEC economy to realize the promise of this technological revolution.  Session one focused on affordable and sustainable approaches in expanding access through remote patient care.  Singapore reviewed its concept of “regulatory sandboxes”- a system to create a safe space to test innovative approaches in a live but controlled environment.  The University of Washington discussed its experience with providers’ use of telemedicine to expand patient access and the policy levers that provide an enabling telehealth environment.  Chinese Taipei presented three case studies on how telehealth increases access to health care for rural communities.  The second session titled “Implementing Telehealth: A Complementary Approach to Health Service Delivery” included a presentation from Peru on accelerating the implementation of telehealth at the start of COVID-19 by adapting to population needs, and targeted support from the U.S. Government to expand telehealth across the country.  The third session, “Telehealth in Building Digital Health Ecosystems” featured a presentation from Pfizer on maximizing the benefits of virtual options and large data sets.  Key points underscored by multiple speakers were patient-centered care, issues of equity and increased access, 5G networks, and software that is functional for both patients and providers.

Workshop on Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Technology Alternatives to Increase Connectivity for Rural and Remote Communities (August 4)

This workshop explored how new and emerging low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems can advance the objective of extending connectivity to everyone in the APEC region.  U.S. FCC Space Bureau Chief Julie Kearney’s keynote address explained how the FCC is preparing for the expected vast increase in numbers of communications satellites in order to ensure effective and efficient use of spectrum and orbital space.  The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology described use cases of LEO satellite communications services bringing educational, economic, and social benefits to remote villages, as well as providing communications links in areas damaged by typhoons.  A private sector panel (Amazon’s Project Kuiper, AST Space Mobile, and Bell Canada) introduced delegates to business models for LEO constellations to provide consumer broadband, backhaul for wireless phone service in remote areas, or even direct to handset mobile phone service.  Panel and audience discussion reflected keen interest in APEC undertaking further activities on LEO technologies, to facilitate regulators and operators in identifying and disseminating effective models for authorization, regulation, and implementation of LEO satellite communication services.

Roundtable and Site Visit: How Standards are Developing for Emerging Technologies and their Application to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Measurement (August 4)

This roundtable discussion and site visit sought to identify how the APEC region can help address a global concern through standardization and emerging technologies related to GHG emissions measurement.  The morning roundtable highlighted economies’ standards-related activities, approaches, and best practices surrounding GHG measurement, reporting, and verification along with tools and technologies, such as satellites and other remote sensing technologies and digital tracking and assessment software, used in quantifying and mapping data.  In the afternoon, participants traveled to Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington campus to learn about how they are using data-driven approaches and standards to measure, monitor, and reduce emission impacts.  The roundtable and site visit followed the GHG workshop during SOM1 in Palm Springs where economies identified a need for more capacity building and sharing of information on available technologies and standards.  Participants identified areas for further work along with opportunities for APEC to promote more data sharing, such as an inventory of adopted standards used to support emissions measurement and monitoring goals, continued engagement with private sector leaders to share experiences, and ensuring information useful for developing GHG measurement solutions is comparable and shared inclusively across economies to maximize impact.

Workshop on Cybersecurity Considerations in Critical Infrastructure (August 5)

Speakers from multiple APEC economies presented case studies and best practices for applying standards-based cybersecurity approaches to infrastructure systems.  Panelists discussed the evolving threat landscape and the benefits of aligning cybersecurity approaches within APEC.  The workshop also featured a session on how supply chain considerations – both hardware and software – impact overall infrastructure security and the importance of the issue with respect to the highly complex value chains in Asia-Pacific.  Takeaways included the potential benefits of risk-based policy harmonization both within and among economies and the utility of shared language on cyber threat and critical infrastructure across public and private sectors in APEC.

Workshop on Supporting AI at Scale in the APEC Region Through International Standards (August 5-6)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has enormous potential to advance economic and societal well-being and enable improved environmental outcomes. Its full potential, however, is untapped as public and private trust remains low, and complexities and risks impact uptake in APEC economies alike. This workshop (under APEC’s Sub-Committee on Standards and Conformance) aimed to increase public and private trust and address risks in artificial intelligence by investigating and making recommendations on how international standards can be used and implemented to practically help businesses and government in the APEC region to safely adopt AI.

Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Public-Private Dialogue (August 6)

The Global CBPR Forum Members participated in a public-private dialogue, hosted by the United States as part of APEC Digital Month to discuss the development of the Global CBPR System and Global Privacy Recognition for Processors (PRP) Systems with the private sector.  Industry representatives provided feedback on promotion of the Global System with industry and the biannual Global CBPR Forum workshops. The Forum discussed the significant growth in interest in the Global CBPR and the need to conduct further outreach next year.

Second Workshop in Support of Regional Cloud Transformation (August 6)

This second workshop on Regional Cloud Transformation (following a SOM1 workshop in Palm Springs) gathered participants from 13 economies, including private sector cloud service providers and businesses that use cloud for delivery of products and data management.  Sessions examined good regulatory practices to manage data flows and considered workforce development requirements, energy needs and utilization, and cybersecurity policies to facilitate effective cloud adoption.  Leaders of innovative SMEs from APEC economies that built their business models and platforms on cloud resources described the impact of regulatory practices on business growth.  Participants were eager to discuss the “Recommendations for Cloud Transformation” that were endorsed by the APEC Telecommunications Working Group and used the Recommendations to make proposals for further activities under the Smart Cloud workstream.  Priorities for further engagement and exchanges included workforce skills development, mapping of different economies’ standards and certification requirements for cloud services, and legislative and regulatory models to address data and service portability and cloud competitiveness.

Joint Public-Private Dialogue for APEC’s Digital Economy Steering Group and Telecommunications and Information Working Group (August 9)

The DESG and TEL held a combined public-private dialogue (PPD) with digital economy and civil society representatives, focused on implementing the APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap (AIDER) to “Enhance the Inclusiveness of the Internet and Digital Economy.” The private sector representatives encouraged economy policymakers and regulators to take full advantage of innovation and technology to address accessibility for differently-abled populations, language barriers, and other impediments to the full participation in the economy of marginalized communities. They shared examples of technology enabling prosperity through overcoming these barriers, and urged policymakers to recognize that some communities may need additional resources to understand and adopt technological innovations fully.

Asia-Pacific Services Coalition Public-Private Dialogue (August 9)

The Asia-Pacific Services Coalition, a coalition representing services industries from APEC economies, held a public-private dialogue to present the concerns and suggestions of the private sector regarding how to reinvigorate the services economy leading up to the conclusion of the APEC Services Competitiveness Roadmap in 2025.  The PPD was opened by scene-setters from representatives of the State Department and U.S. Trade Representative.  Panels of industry representatives addressed themes of: enhancing high-standard service’s commitments; addressing rising services and digital protectionism; tackling regulatory fragmentation; filing the gaps in services rules holding back job growth and economic opportunities; and creating better logistics for better connectivity.

Workshop on Digital Licensing and Permitting Measures (August 10)

The Digital Economy Steering Group’s Digital Licensing Workshop facilitated discussions on existing initiatives to promote digital inclusion by APEC member economies.  The digital transformation of government services is a critical component of an economy’s journey towards enhancing digital inclusion. Participants provided examples of initiatives within their economies to facilitate the digital transformation of government services, and expanded upon their successes and challenges.  The workshop featured several panels of experts featuring speakers from Chile, the Philippines, and Peru as well as interactive breakout sessions which encouraged participants to discuss their personal experiences related to public adoption of digital services, its challenges and potential solutions which may be implemented in partnership with external stakeholders.

16th Conference on Good Regulatory Practices (August 10-11)

APEC’s 16th Conference on Good Regulatory Practices featured speakers and moderators representing 11 economies, three universities, and international organizations that included the OECD, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Economic Forum.  Conference themes tracked with US host year priorities, including the importance of inclusive public consultation practices when developing regulations; being interconnected through economy use of good regulatory practices to build regulatory alignment in the region and enable regulatory cooperation; and innovating by adopting more agile regulatory approaches to regulation of the digital and green economies.  The audience also engaged in an interactive exercise to evaluate the benefits and costs of a simulated digital regulation, reinforcing the conference’s inclusion in APEC Digital Month activities.  APEC published an article on the conference which can be found here:  Good Regulatory Practices for Better Policies, Greater Benefits for the Public | APEC 

Digital Trade Policy Dialogue (August 12)

The keynote speaker of the Digital Trade Policy Dialogue under APEC’s Committee on Trade and Investment, Stephanie Bell of the Partnership on AI, focused on building a worker-centric digital trade agenda across the APEC region.  She noted the need for a coordinated and integrated approach, including creating robust mechanisms for worker voices, as well as how to take advantage of emerging technologies to make the best use of peoples’ time rather than purely cutting costs.  The presentation was followed by a panel that discussed the digital trade and future of work, examining how emerging technologies are supporting trade and impacting the skills needed to take advantage of digital trade and how those are shifting for both business and government.  The subsequent panel discussed digital trade and measurement, which focused on what effective measurement looks like in the context of trade agreements, including how economies can begin to measure effectiveness in the implementation of digital trade provisions.

Workshop on Closing the Digital Skills Gap: Promoting an Inclusive Digitally Skilled Workforce for Sustainable Growth (August 14-15)

More than 65 participants from 14 APEC economies attended the two-day APEC workshop, Closing the Digital Skills Gap Forum: Promoting an Inclusive Digitally-Skilled Workforce, on August 14 and August 15.  Among the key takeaways from the forum was a shared recognition of the urgency to close the digital skills gap, the importance of human-centered design as a key component of successful digital skilling programs, and the need to focus on the person (versus the technology) and meet individuals where they are.  Subject-matter experts from industry, academia, and government discussed the need for skills building around ethical considerations, specifically when working with technologies like Artificial Intelligence.  The meeting concluded with participants noting that AI has the potential to further unleash human potential and create new jobs in AI auditors and managers, bias detection, source verification, and prompt engineers, and well as help identify those who are most vulnerable for disruption and in need of reskilling.

The Seattle Forum builds upon the APEC Roadmap to Closing the Digital Skills Gap by 2030 . The Roadmap lays out a common definition of digital skills, sets aspirational targets, and details APEC-wide actions on a multistakeholder basis to closing the digital skills gap and achieving lifelong employability.

The Closing the Digital Skills Gap Initiative under APEC’s Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG) is overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor and co-chaired by Wiley and the Business Higher Education Forum (BHEF), and since 2017 has brought together over 550 stakeholders from 18 Asia-Pacific economies to collaboratively work towards closing the digital skills gap.

Initiative Website: APEC Closing the Digital Skills Gap Initiative – Upskilling and reskilling at scale. 

Women and E-Commerce Conference (August 18)

E-commerce is a gateway for women entrepreneurs to establish and grow businesses, and it became an even more important economic lifeline during the pandemic.  This event included policy discussions to address e-commerce and digital trade barriers that uniquely impact women, and it will also highlight best practices from the APEC region to deliver impactful capacity building programs to equip women with the tools and knowledge necessary to establish and grow a business through cross-border e-commerce.  This conference was jointly organized between the Small and Medium Enterprise Working Group (SMEWG) and the Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE), and it delivers on APEC’s La Serena Roadmap commitment to mainstream gender across APEC sub-fora.

AI’s Impact on Women: Understanding Occupational Segregation (August 18)

To complement the Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy’s digital-focused block of sessions and highlight the synergies between the issues discussed at the APEC Women and the Economy Forum and those faced by women in Washington State and in the United States more broadly, the Washington State Women’s Commission (WSWC) hosted a virtual event on “AI’s Impact on Women” on August 18.  The event explored the impact of occupational segregation on women and the potential implications of emerging technologies such as AI on women’s economic opportunity and security.  WSWC Executive Director Grace Yoo and Washington Technology Industry Association Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Kelly Fukai engaged in a podcast-style conversation highlighting the importance of STEM education and apprenticeships, remote work flexibilities and technologies that enable more women to stay and thrive in the workforce, and the importance of digital inclusivity.

MSME Technology and Innovation Showcase (August 20)

This dynamic program explored the innovation landscape across the APEC region and showcased the startups and small businesses at the front edge of technological development.  APEC policymakers, innovators, and ecosystem partners engaged in a dialogue to identify challenges and opportunities when operating in the technology sector and collaborate on solutions to foster entrepreneurs’ global growth.

APEC App Challenge (August 19 and 21)

The APEC App Challenge brought teams of developers from APEC economies together in competition to build an app to solve a problem related to APEC policy priorities. This year, five groups of finalists presented their pitch according to the 2023 theme: How can we help MSMEs and other groups with untapped economic potential participate in global digitally-enabled trade and the international marketplace?  The winner, second place and third place were announced at the SME Ministerial Meeting.  Their profiles are available here : [https://www.apec.org/press/news-releases/2023/apec-app-challenge-unveils-winners-transforming-the-digital-landscape-for-small-business-owners] 

Full List of APEC Digital Month Meetings

APEC Working Group Acronyms