Eco-tone

“Seeking for Asia-Europe’s sustainable development”

 - ASEIC held the “Workshop on ASEM SMEs Eco-Innovation Competence 2015” -

Experts from ASEM member states have gathered in Korea to draw an agenda for the diffusion of technology cooperation on eco-innovation between Asia and Europe.

With the support of the Small and Medium Business Administration of Korea, the Science and Technology Policy Institute of Korea and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, the workshop was composed of two sections; the opening ceremony, keynote speech and country session of Europe and Asia on the first day, and the experts’ discussion session on technology and non-technology business related to eco-innovation competence on the following day.

Michał Mieidzinski, the co-founder of the European Union Eco-Innovation Observatory (EIO), delivered the keynote speech with the theme, “Eco-Innovation Pathways towards a Sustainable Future: Capturing Quick and Slow Wins for SMEs”.

Afterwards, various eco-innovation cases were presented by representatives from Europe and Asia.
 

For Europe, ▲ Paola Bellabona, Project Manager of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Korea, presented a business cooperation project and eco-innovation support that the European Commission is pursuing and providing; ▲ Lars Nybom, Project Manager of the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, presented Sweden’s best practices in supporting and promoting the eco-innovation of SMEs; ▲ Kristjan Tiik, Project Manager of the Estonian Institute for Sustainable Development, introduced the Green Innovation Estonia program and other projects; and ▲ Lars Alo Olesen of the Danish Ministry of Education presented green entrepreneurship and vocational capacity building and the Danish perspectives on competence development and sustainable growth of SMEs.

And as for Asia, ▲ Akhmad Junaidi, Senior Researcher of the Ministry of Cooperative and SME of Indonesia, presented SMEs cluster development based on coconut commodity in Indonesia; ▲ Toulakham Phomsensavanh, Deputy General Director of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Laos, introduced policies in Laos to promote technology and innovation; and ▲ Sangjoon An, Project Manager of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology of Korea, gave a presentation on Korean eco-innovation projects for SMEs.

Detailed research results and supporting business proposals were also shared.

An ASEIC representative commented “Through this workshop, we are expecting to discover a common agenda of the ASEM member states in order to materialize joint research and cooperation business for the eco-innovation of ASEM member states’ SMEs.”

ASEIC is an international organization whose establishment was endorsed during the 8^th ASEM Summit Meeting in 2010 to promote and support the eco-innovation of SMEs of the 53 ASEM member states. It has been in operation since its establishment in 2011. Currently, its secretariat is located in Pangyo, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. ASEIC implements supporting programs for SMEs of the ASEM member states such as Eco-Innovation Consulting, eco-friendly appropriate technology transfer to developing countries and etc.