Enabling the sharing of knowledge across organizations and borders

Innovation – that is, transformation of ideas into products or services - is gathering greater attention in the Asia-Pacific region. Policy-makers and SMEs increasingly recognise that innovation enables their countries and firms to successfully participate in and benefit from the global, and increasingly knowledge-based, economy. In the contemporary global setting, knowledge of and access to technologies hold the keys to international competition. To be able to compete, businesses can develop technological capacities through both indigenous efforts as well as by acquiring and adapting technologies from outside.

A wide range of policy actions can support technology transfer, from the development of absorptive capacities on firms, to incentives that encourage collaboration between private firms and research institutions, the building of public-private partnerships, and the careful design of trade, investment and intellectual property policies. Policymakers seeking to support the transfer of technologies and knowledge need access to adequate research and knowledge to develop effective policy instruments.

Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT): A regional institution of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) that promotes transfer of technology to and from small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) in Asia and the Pacific. Visit the APCTT website