The U.S. State Department launched the "American Innovation Roadshow" with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in March, 2016. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the Roadshow during his speech on “America and the Asia-Pacific: Partners in Prosperity" in Singapore on August 4, 2015.
Bitcoin Magazine reported that senior members of Kerry's economic team led business delegations from financial investors, U.S. multinational and startup companies.
Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State, Ambassador David H. Thorne, led the Roadshow to Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. It is one of the first activities under U.S.-ASEAN Connect and the first in a series of Roadshows to the Asia.
U.S.-ASEAN Connect is a new U.S. government initiative announced by President Obama at the February U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Sunnylands, CA. It aims to support the growth and development of an ASEAN economic system that benefits the whole ASEAN economic community and prepares ASEAN for the rapid technological and economic changes of the 21st century.
Thorne gave speeches at both the March 3 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Presentations at Pacific Place in Jakarta, Indonesia and the March 7 Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology Innovation Conference in Hanoi.
He said that the roadshow aims to promote innovation and entrepreneurship as an engine for economic growth and job creation. In addition, it will also highlight the importance of the policy elements of healthy entrepreneurial ecosystems.
He said that preparing for technological and economic changes is “urgent” if Indonesia wants compete successfully for the jobs of tomorrow, and to be able to contribute to the “Shared Prosperity” that everyone looks forward to. For Vietnam, he said that they would like to see the economy reap the benefits from relentless innovation and entrepreneurship, adding that the Vietnam Silicon Valley program and the establishment of technology incubators in universities is a step in the right direction.
In both the speeches, Thorne encouraged the development of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. He said:
“We would like to encourage improved intellectual property protection and encourage better transfer of key technologies from the university to the private sector. Furthermore, we would like to encourage the development of new financial technology “or FinTech” innovations – blockchain and distributed ledgers, mobile banking, etc - which will provide a backbone to the e-commerce activity we spoke of already. These kinds of tools naturally encourage fiscal and business transparency, not just for start-ups but for everyone, which is a key for reducing corruption and improving efficiency.”
