Outputs: The capacity building project will target at policy makers and entrepreneurs to map the key elements of IRB, share best practices of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives by digital businesses and enhance public-private dialogue facilitating IRB and reaping the benefits of digital technology for economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. The project will deliver following outputs: 

1)  Research work. External contractors will be selected to conduct research study throughout the project with a purpose to focus the shared cases and discussion on key concerns of CTI and forge consensus among member economies, by collecting background materials, details and additional information not thoroughly addressed at the events and making analysis based on the requirements of PO team. One expert nominated by the external contractor will participate all project events as well as gather needed information through literature study, video interviews and focus group discussions targeted at policy makers, academicians and entrepreneurs from co-sponsoring economies. An ex-ante survey will be conducted before the workshop on the basic understanding of IRB among participants, including concept, characteristics, policy in home economy and challenges. An end survey will take place after the workshop to compare how the event build on capacity of participants. The research study results will be presented at the workshop and contribute to the Summary Report.

To maintain sustainability of the project, the research study will also include follow-up interviews to participants on feedbacks of project implementation so as to develop suggestions on ways to improve workshop of the same kind in the future. 

2)  IRB Webinar. As a number of enterprises have developed IRB activities to counter the negative impact of COVID-19 across the APEC region, a 3-hour webinar will be held in November, 2020 to share best practices of IRB activities assisting the fight over COVID-19. Topics for discussion will include success stories, lessons learned, challenges and the role of public-private partnership. Six speakers from business community will be nominated by CTI and member economies to present over effective IRB activities supporting government’s efforts addressing the outbreak. After collecting the practices through webinar, analysis and study will be conducted through research work, so that the cases could be presented more comprehensively to participants at the workshop for review and reflection. 

3)  Capacity Building Workshop. A 2-day capacity building capacity building workshop will be held in Beijing in March 2021. 8 speakers, 4 from public and 4 from private sectors will be selected to address the following topics:

a.  Key elements of IRB;

b.  Case studies on IRB activities which enable industry recovery and secure people’s lives during and after the pandemic. The cases will be based on practices collected at the webinar and research study by external contractor. Background information and details of cases will be collected through research work.

c.  Public-private partnership facilitating IRB. A special session of the workshop, such as a roundtable, will be designed to discuss how public-private partnership could be better formulated to promote more effective responsible business conducts.

The research study outcomes on definition of IRB, policies and activities among member economies will provide basic contents for discussion at the workshop. 

Intended speakers include:

-  officials from the commerce department of China and Malaysia (TBD),

-  Eli Liu, Agency Head of Customer Solutions, Google (TBD)

-  Kevin Huang, Business Director of E-commerce, Facebook (TBD)

-  academic expert from Association of Pacific Rim Universities (TBD).

As the project relates to digital economy, one of the speakers will focus the presentation on digital gender divide and how IRB activities may help mitigate the gap. 

4)  Summary Report. A 25-page summary report will be drafted with the assistance of external contractors, including content-based summary of presentations delivered at both webinar and workshop, results of project surveys, best practices collected, conclusion and recommendations for policy makers and entrepreneurs. The summary report will seek endorsement of CTI and APEC Secretariat and put on APEC publication website to be accessible not only to member economies, but also a wider audience, as a useful reference for formulating IRB-friendly policies as well as developing IRB activities and capacity building initiatives. 

Outcomes:  

The capacity building workshop is designed to:

1)  Enhance knowledge of inclusive and responsible business among participants in the APEC region by exploring a full range of IRB related issue, including key elements, policy, initiatives and challenges, etc. It can be helpful for member economies to understand the definition and characteristics of IRB activities.

2)  Enable a better acknowledgment of the role played by IRB activities in fighting COVID-19 pandemic by sharing practices by digital businesses amid the outbreak, and facilitate the initiation of similar activities for economic revitalization in the region.

3)  Foster closer public-private partnership to enable IRB activities. Recommendations will be made to promote favorable policy framework for IRB so government, businesses and non-profit institutions are enabled to work together to promote IRB activities. 

The project also, as the first capacity building program under CTI focusing on IRB, provide basis for future joint work on cross-fora knowledge, data, and experiences sharing and partnership with international organizations and non-APEC experts in terms of IRB. 

Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries are the speakers, participants and audience of both webinar and workshop. 

The speakers of the webinar will be nominated by member economies, mainly business leaders from digital economy who have initiated IRB activities amid the COVID-19 outbreak, whereas speakers of the workshop will be extended to include government officials from commerce department, experts from international organizations and academic institutions studying IRB to provide targeted and in-depth knowledge to the participants. By communicating with each other and with the participants, the speakers will be updated on IRB activities during the pandemic and current challenges in conducting IRB activities in the region. 

The participants of the webinar will mainly be representatives from the business community; and participants of the workshop will be nominated by participating APEC economies, preferably two members from CTI in each participating APEC member economy, who could be government officials from central banks, economics and trade ministries, or experts from relevant academics or organizations. They must currently work in the field that is directly relevant to business and investment facilitation or IRB activities. 

Government policy makers in the field of sharing economy and digital technology, particularly from APEC developing member economies, are primary target beneficiaries of the capacity building program. PO team will invite CTI members to disseminate the project report, after improved and endorsed, to policy makers of their economy. The document will be a useful reference in policy making and enable policy makers to access broader opinions from private sector.