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ANNEX A - Towards Innovative Growth

Innovations permeate all areas of the economy and society. In order to promote innovation, to create new and unique combinations of inputs and to implement advanced technological, organizational and other solutions, we need to effectively combine the potential of all economies.

 

The APEC Leaders' Growth Strategy in 2010 recognized innovation development as one of the key factors of economic growth and prosperity. The 2011 Honolulu Declaration emphasized that open and non-discriminatory trade and investment policies that foster competition and encourage the creation of innovations and the capacity to innovate are critical aspects of innovation strategy.

 

To take this work forward and intensify regional cooperation, we, the APEC Leaders, agree to:

 

  • Strengthen cooperation among innovators of APEC economies to boost the accumulated innovative potential and improve innovation capacity of the APEC region;
  • Increase and formalize opportunities for the private sector to provide input into APEC’s ongoing work on innovation to ensure that our work is responsive to the needs of business;
  • Continue cooperation among government, scientists, and business to promote innovation and address issues that impact specific innovative technologies, including through the newly established APEC Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and Innovation, future Innovation Technology Dialogues, and continued work in the APEC Life Sciences Innovation Forum;
  • Organize a meeting of APEC Chief Science Advisors, bringing together APEC economies' most senior science advisers with the goal of reinforcing senior science and innovation relations across the Asia-Pacific;
  • Promote innovation through increased trade and investment and broader implementation of information and communication technologies, including by supporting regulatory coherence and cooperation in the field of e-commerce;
  • Consistent with the 2011 Leaders’ commitments in this area continue work to implement policies that will promote effective, non-discriminatory, and market-driven domestic innovation policies by producing innovation practices in 2013 that will assist economies in integrating these commitments into their domestic policy frameworks;
  • Promote an innovation-friendly environment and stimulate jobs and economic growth in APEC economies by strengthening intellectual property protection and enforcement that provide for and protect the incentives that encourage creativity and innovation and provide the tools for successful management and utilization of intellectual property;
  • Enhance SMMEs development as a source of innovative ideas and expand their capacity to innovate;
  • Support start-ups and young entrepreneurs through various mechanisms, including by rewarding the efforts of young scientists through the APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education (ASPIRE);
  • Facilitate women’s participation and empowerment in the innovative economy by enhancing business opportunities, fostering engagement in innovation and promoting investment in human capital;

 

We direct Ministers and officials to develop activities that will assist economies to effectively implement these steps, identify and address the challenges of innovative growth, and promote long-term innovative development in the Asia-Pacific.