Bangkok, 22 May 2024: ERIA is honoured to have attended the Second Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials for the Fifty-Fifth Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Economic Ministers (SEOM 2/55) and related meetings. These included the SEOM – Dialogue Partners’ Consultations, held in Bangkok, Thailand, and chaired by Mr Saysana Sayakhone, Director General of the Department of Trade Negotiation and International Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) of Lao PDR.

Koji Hachiyama, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of ERIA, led a delegation and introduced ERIA’s work on the Masterplan of the Next-Generation Automotive Industry and the ongoing activities of the Digital Innovation and Sustainable Economy Centre (E-DISC) during the SEOM-METI consultation. In his presentation, Hachiyama highlighted the current challenges in the automotive industry and the digital innovation sector, aiming to enhance ASEAN’s regional economic integration. He explained that ERIA’s work on the Masterplan of the Next-Generation Automotive Industry is part of the ASEAN–Japan Co-Creation Initiative, stemming from the Commemorative Summit of the 50th Year of ASEAN–Japan Friendship and Cooperation last December. Responding to the mandate from the Summit, ERIA is conducting this study with the objective of strengthening the competitiveness of the ASEAN automotive industry amidst decarbonisation and electrification. The study seeks to assess and analyse the current global and ASEAN automobile markets, examine external trends, and consider the key drivers in the automotive industry. Progress on this initiative will be reported at future ASEAN meetings.

Hachiyama also took the opportunity to inform officials about ERIA’s Digital Innovation and Sustainable Economy (E-DISC) work plan for this year. This includes two ongoing efforts: the establishment of the ASEAN Technology University Network, which aims to foster robust collaboration between ERIA, selected universities across the ASEAN region, Japanese academia, and the business sector in driving development in digital innovation and sustainable economy programmes, and the One ASEAN Startup Award, E-DISC’s flagship initiative designed to cultivate the startup ecosystem throughout ASEAN. There are two award categories, namely digital/AI startups and impact startups, featuring three pre-events: the Philippines Round in April, the Malaysia Round in June, and the Cambodia Round in August. The final event, where the Best One ASEAN Startup will be awarded, will take place in Vientiane, Lao PDR, in October, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit 2024. The winners of the first pre-event are FathomX in the AI Category and Rezbin Waste Technology in the Impact Startup Category. These efforts aim to foster a closer and more harmonious relationship between ASEAN and East Asia and address the most pressing challenges of the day.