Jakarta/Paris, 28 October 2024: ERIA and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held the first webinar of a mini-series leading up to the Entrepreneurship Education, Collaboration, and Engagement (EECOLE) Network Roundtable in Jakarta.

This first session, titled Generative AI, Startups & Public Policy, featured Hiroshi Ishikawa, Special Advisor to the Minister at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), who is also Special Advisor to the President of ERIA on Digital Innovation. He highlighted the importance of balancing innovation and public interest through robust governance and ethical frameworks in AI policy.

Ishikawa also shared valuable insights from the ERIA One ASEAN Start-up White Paper 2024, which explores how AI adoption can boost productivity and drive sustainability across Southeast Asia. The region’s recovery from the pandemic presents a crucial opportunity to harness digital technologies, including generative AI, to fuel economic growth and promote social inclusion. By investing in research and development, fostering innovative business models, and mobilising innovation facilitators such as incubators, accelerators, and digital innovation hubs, policymakers can create resilient entrepreneurial ecosystems. This approach, in turn, strengthens economic development and improves production processes, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Such a strategy can help ASEAN countries break free from the middle-income trap and transition towards knowledge-based economies.

The webinar was co-hosted by Dr Giulia Ajmone Marsan from ERIA and Dr Raffaele Trapasso from the OECD.

The next webinar, scheduled for 11 November 2024, will dive into AI and Places and feature Professor Andrés Rodriguez Pose from the London School of Economics.