New York, 18-22 July 2023: The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and South East Asia (ERIA) took part when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held a number of side events at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum 2023, under the OECD Platform for Entrepreneurship Education Collaboration and Engagement Network (EECOLE). The theme was how higher education institutions play a key role in innovation ecosystems and are actively contributing to the sustainable development agenda, through training and education, capacity building, research and innovation.

The first event took place on 18 July, co-organised by the OECD and the Lumina Foundation. A second event took place on 20-21 July, co-organised by the OECD, Cornell Tech and the University of Naples Federico II.

As education and research institutions are explicitly mentioned in ASEAN's 2030 Agenda, higher education institutions (HEIs) hold a direct role in the achievement of the goals. HEIs have often been early adopters of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have inspired their strategic documents and initiatives. Most importantly, many HEIs have been providing scientific and technical support to policy makers in their cities and regions to adopt digital technologies and scientific methods to monitor and reduce their environmental footprint. Purpose-driven entrepreneurship has also become central in HEIs, which are innovating in their teaching, research, and collaboration missions.

Dr Giulia Ajmone Marsan, ERIA Director for Strategy and Partnership and a member of the OECD EECOLE steering group, gave a presentation on entrepreneurship and innovation trends across Asia, discussing the active participation of Asian universities in the OECD initiative. She spoke of the active role several Asian universities are playing to advance the SDG agenda, and how the contribution of ASEAN’s universities to local entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems is tightly related to the level of maturity of such ecosystems and their different geographical contexts.

The events gathered international experts from leading academic institutions, think tanks, UN initiatives and the business sector.