Each year the East-West Center invites rising young leaders from the United States and Asia Pacific to participate in The New Generation Seminar (NGS), a two-week intensive educational, dialogue and study tour travel program. The program is developed around a thematic focus and provides participants with an opportunity to strengthen their understanding of Asia Pacific-U.S. developments and challenges, build a regional network and to become leaders with a more international perspective. The first week of the program is held in Hawaii. In discussions with East-West Center researchers, other experts in the Hawaii community and one another, participants are introduced to key regional policy issues such as international relations, security, economics, population, health and environment. The second week involves field travel to either the United States or Asia Pacific for exploration of the program theme. The program is supported by funding from the Freeman Foundation.

Theme:  The Future of Jobs: Innovation and Industrial Policy for Economic Growth

Program Dates: October 2-16, 2011

Study Tour Destinations: Honolulu, Hawaii; Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts; Washington, DC

Program Agenda

The New Generation Seminar program provides an avenue for dialogue and interaction among the participants through formal meetings as well as informal after-hour activities. The first week of the New Generation Seminar is held at the East-West Center (EWC) in Honolulu and consists of briefings by EWC research staff on key issues in the region such as security, international relations, economics, energy resources, population, health and environment, as well as sessions directly related to the seminar theme. The Honolulu program also includes relevant field visits, a half island Oahu tour and an opportunity for each of the participants to share with the group a topic of interest/importance to him or her. Each participant is asked to give a short presentation on a topic from his or her country as a means for participants to learn from one another about the region and to stimulate discussion. The second week of the program involves field travel to either the Asia Pacific region or the United States mainland to enhance participants’ knowledge of a specific theme.

21st NGS Theme: The Future of Jobs: Innovation and Industrial Policy for Economic Growth 

The Obama administration has listed education, innovation and infrastructure as the keys to America's future global competitiveness. Many Asian countries have also targeted innovation as a key direction—Singapore is investing heavily in education and incentives to lure innovation to its shores and “indigenous innovation” has become a central focus of China's industrial policy. Countries across the Asia Pacific region are recognizing the need to create and own ideas as well as to manufacture products. But what is the right formula for stimulating innovation and converting new ideas into economic growth? The U.S. still leads the world in innovative capacity, but as it emerges from its worst recession in decades, the U.S. has fears of challenges to its competitive advantage, especially from a rising Asia. The U.S. also is focused on maintaining and creating jobs, both in the short and long term. Policymakers are reassessing the country’s industrial policy, exploring the need to maintain manufacturing capacity and to find the right balance of government and market roles to spur innovation and to translate that into economic growth and high quality jobs.

This program provided Asia Pacific and U.S. leaders and policymakers an opportunity to explore innovation, economic growth and the role of policy in facilitating this process through study tour travel to Lowell, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the industrial revolution and a city that has successfully reinvented itself to adapt to the global economy; Boston, home of many of America’s top universities which are leading the way as catalysts of industrial upgrading through innovation and of Silicon Valley's rival 128 Corridor; and finally to Washington, DC to examine the U.S. strategy for and the role of policymakers in maintaining U.S. competitiveness in innovation, upgrading American industry and creating new jobs. As many countries try to replicate the success of the U.S., this program explored the different ways that countries are trying to develop R&D and innovation centers and what factors have been important for success in the United States and elsewhere.

For full information about the program, please see the 21st_NGS_Background_Summary.

Congratulations to the Participants of the 21st New Generation Seminar:

• Chad Anthony CAMPBELL, Minority Leader, Arizona House of Representatives, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
• David S. CHANG, Chairman and CEO, Chang Holding Company, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
• James Allen GOODRICH, Director, Government Affairs & Technology Policy, CISCO Systems, Beijing/United States
• LEE Yoeu Chek, Investment Promotion Executive, INVEST-IN-PENANG BERHAD, Penang, Malaysia
• Yau-Jr (Tristan) LIU, Deputy Director of Division II, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, Taipei, Taiwan
• Rama Arcintaka MAMUAYA, Founder and CEO, PT Digital Startup Nusantara, Jakarta Barat, Indonesia
• Hyoungkun PARK, Commissioned Expert, Presidential Committee on Green Growth, Seoul, Korea
• Jacqueline ROBINSON, Councilmember, City of Pasadena, California, United States
• Nicole SEAH, Member, Central Executive Committee, National Solidarity Party, and Executive, Starcomm Media Group, Singapore
• Poonam YADAV, Senior Consultant, Center for Market Research & Social Development (CMSD), New Delhi, India
• ZHONG Ming, Chief of Economic Cooperation, Economy & Trade, Nansha Development Zone, Guangzhou, China

PROGRAM HISTORY

The first New Generation Seminar was held in 1988, and since then a total of 302 participants from 26 Asia Pacific countries and the United States have participated in 20 seminars. The continuity of the program has been made possible by generous grants from the Freeman Foundation, which has funded the program for the past 15 years.

2010 NEW GENERATION SEMINAR

Theme:  Asia Pacific Security and the U.S. Role

Program Dates: September 26-October 10, 2010

Study Tour Destinations: Honolulu, Hawaii; Okinawa and Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, Korea

20th NGS Program: Asia Pacific Security and the U.S. Role

The 20th New Generation Seminar provided 12 Asia Pacific and U.S. leaders with an opportunity to better understand security dynamics in the Asia Pacific region, and to discuss the future of the U.S. role. The U.S. has long played a significant role in Asia Pacific security including the basing of U.S. military forces in Japan and Korea. Five of the U.S.’s seven mutual defense treaty relationships are in Asia and U.S. naval forces contribute to regional security across the Pacific. There are many security tensions across the region, especially in Northeast Asia, where North Korea continues to be an international security challenge, new tensions have emerged between the U.S. and China over a number of issues including arms sales to Taiwan, and a new government in Tokyo has reopened negotiations about the U.S. military presence in Japan. Events such as the bombing of the Cheonan, the Japan-China row over the Chinese fishing vessel in the Senkaku Islands, and renewed conflicts over resources in the South China Sea underscored the relevance of the theme. With China’s rise and in an increasingly integrated, interdependent and economically important Asia Pacific region, regional political and security dynamics are changing. Given this, what should and will be the role of the U.S.?

Leaders and policymakers in the 20^th New Generation Seminar explored these issues through discussion sessions in Honolulu and visits to Okinawa, Tokyo, and Seoul for discussions with experts and policymakers and by exploring on-the-ground attitudes and circumstances. Participants learned about the sensitivities surrounding the physical presence of U.S. troops in Okinawa and the challenges facing the U.S. and Japan as they seek to renew and update their 50-year old alliance. They talked with senior policy makers in both Japan and Korea about the changing regional security needs and relationships and how they see the role of the United States and China. Another highlight was a visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the buffer surrounding the armistice line drawn between North and South Korea, to better understand the realities of sharing a border with a country while technically still at war. Participants also appreciated learning more about the complexities of possible reunification.

2010 participants meeting with Jung-Ro, Kim, Chief of Policy Cooperation Division of Unification Ministry, Seoul, Korea.