The marathon session, an APEC initiative by the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), the Asia Foundation, and Google, will be held as one of the activities towards the 23rd Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting (MRT23) to take place on May 20-21 in Hanoi. This setting will encourage interactions and learning between APEC policymakers and App Challenge participants from the Asia-Pacific region and provide a creative class for young software entrepreneurs.

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Photo for illustration. Source: apec.org 
On May 17, teams will travel to Hanoi to commence a marathon overnight coding session, where each of the coders and designers across APEC attempts to build a new mobile or web solution to one or more key challenges faced by MSME owners who are interested in expanding their businesses through cross-border trade. The jury panel of experts will announce the winner of the app challenge on the morning of May 19. The Ministers Responsible for Trade will present the first prize to the winning team in an official awarding ceremony at the APEC Symposium on Trade and Innovation in the afternoon.

The topic of the APEC App Challenge is particularly important for the Asia-Pacific region, where MSMEs make up roughly 98% of all businesses and employ two-thirds of the region’s labor force. Whereas the Internet has dramatically cut down the exporting costs for MSMEs, especially in developed economies, businesses in the region are facing a number of challenges, and the benefits from international trade remain elusive. For example, even though Indonesia’s SMEs contribute nearly 60% to the country’s GDP, their share of total exports is only 16%. 

Small-sized enterprise owners in Asia-Pacific developing economies face a number of challenges so as to access cross-border trade both in terms of physical/financial infrastructure and local regulations (i.e. non-tariff barriers). As a result, exports so far have yet to be an option for MSMEs. Meanwhile, digital platforms have dramatically lowered the costs of exporting. This means that it is the first time for MSMEs to consider accessing export markets and taking advantage of global value chains.

This APEC App Challenge is a unique effort to generate learning and share new ideas across APEC, concurrently building potential solutions to help small enterprises overcome existing barriers. Ultimately, the goal of the app challenge is to highlight new ways of promoting inclusive, innovative, and sustainable growth in Asia-Pacific economies and stipulate policies that will promote more innovation to address trade issues.

Reported by Chung Anh