APEC Business Advisory Committee’s (ABAC) Micro, Small to Medium Entrepreneur and Innovation Summit is aimed at addressing critical contributions, highlighting partnership and addressing shortfalls within this sector.
The Summit was conducted on September 10-11 at the International Convention Centre in Port Moresby.
ABAC PNG Alternate and Chair of MSME Summit Committee, Stan Joyce, during his address to delegates, said digital innovation and platform developed at present is a stepping-stone for APEC economies to embrace and use to expand their opportunities.
Joyce said: “ICT infrastructure is key to digital inclusion. In many economies, digital infrastructure is concentrated only in urban areas. What is required is all ways of thinking to deliver infrastructure to everybody in our economies.
“It is clear that if we stick to traditional methods of delivering infrastructure we will simply be left behind. Time waits for no person and if we are to participate in the fourth industrial revolution, we need to take action today and prepare the future workforce.”
There are a number of recommendations by ABAC Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) report, which are relevant for economies to take on board.
‘’Recommendations such as regional bench mark and internet speed and minimum internet penetration must be integrated into the national broadband plans of individual economies,” he said.
“There is also a need to identify issues and progress solutions for emerging economies, and APEC governments should provide education and skills acquisitions for the upcoming generations for digital entrepreneurship.”
Joyce said the report also highlighted the potential of more than 50 million jobs been created across all APEC economies through mobile technology.
He added that platforms which facilitate MSME access to finance and market and addressing issues and harnessing opportunities in e-commerce, digitisation, regulation and capacity building will enable budding entrepreneurs to participate more in this sector.
Participants from the public and private sectors shared in a participatory discussion with MSME policy makers from the APEC region, the development of MSME programs that have an interest in agriculture, tourism, E-commerce, fisheries and the role of women in the economy, among other topics, which sets a bench mark for the future of the sector.