The project aims to establish a regular monitoring of the Asia-Pacific Region (APRA) to support future evidence-based policy-making in the field of science and technology. The study is intended to provide scientifically sound information on trends and structures in the APRA to German and European STI policy makers as well as decision-makers from science and industry.
The recent dynamic changes in the science and innovation policy landscape of this region require that this key region receives specific analytical attention. On the one hand, this is necessary to timely recognise growing strengths of competitors while, on the other hand, it is at least equally important to identify and evaluate partners so that one's own political action can be adequately coordinated with them.
As a first central objective, the APRA-Monitor project establishes a regular reporting system to document the scientific, technological and innovation-oriented performance of APRA countries and compare it to the performance of the European Research Area (ERA) and the North American Research Area (USA/CAN) over time. Comparisons with benchmark regions should make it possible to assess performance and development trends. In addition, the project establishes a monitoring of bilateral exchange relations in the scientific, innovation and educational domain.
Overall, structures and trends within the APRA and its exchange with other important countries will be analysed from two main perspectives in order to identify relevant implications for Germany as a location for knowledge and innovation. First, it is of interest to find out how the Asia-Pacific region interacts in bilateral exchange with Germany and the benchmark countries USA, France, Great Britain and North America (USA/CAN). This bilateral perspective help reveal which effect the development of the APRA countries has had on Germany as a location for knowledge and innovation. In doing so, the APRA-PM deals with the particularities of different subject areas among which the topics of the High-Tech Strategy will be given special consideration. In addition, particularly relevant institutions in APRA countries are to be identified. Second, cooperation and exchanges will be considered among the APRA countries themselves. This second approach should help to address further relevant questions concerning overall cohesion in the Asia-Pacific region and the opportunities and challenges that result from it not only for Germany but also for the European Research Area.
In summary, the project's main objective is to evaluate the development of the APRA as an emerging and already crucially important knowledge- and innovation-oriented region. It seeks to establish the effects of this game-changing development on the worldwide structure of knowledge and innovation production and its implication for Germany's and Europe's role as key locations for science, technology and innovation.
Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI