Capacity Building Workshop Towards Establishing Open Science Consortia for APEC

The Academy of Sciences Malaysia has put forward a proposal for the establishment of an Open Science Consortia to tackle global challenges at a Capacity Building Workshop on 12 August 2018 during the the 12th APEC Policy Partnership in Science, Technology and Innovation (PPSTI) Meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

The proposal was created in response to the decentralised nature of government-led response to global challenges; the West African Ebola outbreak was highlighted as an example, where the involvement of multiple international organisations have resulted in a massive pool of data but it was scattered globally when said organisations left the region after the outbreak subsided.

Therefore, the Open Science Consortia was proposed to create a regional point of reference for scientific data sharing in the APEC region.

The Open Science Consortia could tap into digital technologies towards finding solutions for regional and global challenges for inclusive and sustainable development.

In addition, it could encourage responsible conduct of research whereby transparency and prevention of redundant duplicate researches can be promoted; it also works to remove barriers to the free flow of knowledge by enabling preservation, accessibility and reusability of data.

Furthermore, the Open Science Consortia could form a network to build capabilities across the APEC region through community building and data sharing.

To fortify the case for an Open Science Consortia, the Academy of Sciences Malaysia related it to the APEC/PPSTI Priorities. This is a joint proposal between ASM and the International Science Council-Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ISC ROAP), led by Professor Emerita Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman FASc.

The Open Science Consortia could serve APEC Priorities better by deepening regional economic integration via improvements in digital connectivity, as well as promoting inclusive and sustainable growth.

The Open Science Consortia could also drive PPSTI 2018 Priorities forward by building science capacity; it could promote an enabling environment for innovation; plus, it potentially enhances regional science and technology connectivity.

Papua New Guinea stands to benefit from the establishment of the Open Science Consortia as well, by promoting the harnessing of inclusive opportunities and embracing a digital future.