Keynote address by Masato Kanda, Head Of State, Asian Growth Financial Institution, at the Science and Innovation in Society (STS) Forum, 24 July 2025, Jakarta, Indonesia
Greetings, distinguished associates and close friends:
Thanks for gathering right here in Jakarta for this crucial discussion regarding scientific research, innovation, and our shared future. I quite intend to thank our gracious hosts– the Science and Modern Technology in Culture (STS) Discussion Forum, the National Research and Advancement Firm (BRIN), and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)– for bringing us with each other in this lively city that symbolizes the dynamism and possibility of ASEAN.
Standing below today, I’m advised of a basic reality: nations that introduce are countries that prosper. Our research at ADB shows us this. Financial growth is quicker, much more comprehensive, and extra lasting when countries buy scientific research and innovation.
Yet, we also stay in times of uncertainty, with trade stress, geopolitical changes, and quick technological adjustment improving our world.
What gives me hope is that ASEAN sits at the center of an amazing possibility. Its nations are positioned to harness technology at unmatched speed and range to solve the challenges that issue most. This implies producing modern energy systems, building resistant food systems, and designing cities where people can absolutely thrive.
The development landscape
Over the past 50 years, Asia and the Pacific has transformed right into a worldwide advancement powerhouse. The area’s share of international R&D investment has actually progressively expanded, from 22 % in 1966 to 33 % today. It’s likewise home to several of the world’s most innovative economic situations, including Japan, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore.
But we likewise need to recognize that many nations in the area drag. Nations in developing Asia spend just 0. 74 % of their GDP in R&D, much much less than the 2 92 % spent by the region’s developed countries. That space represents enormous missed out on possibilities– for tasks, for growth, and for the sort of future our individuals should have.
To shut this divide, we need to resolve several critical problems which are acting as barriers to prosperity.
Too often our national research agencies operate in silos, separated from real development priorities. At the exact same time, we’re underinvesting in universities and used study, leaving dazzling concepts caught in labs instead of reaching markets.
In addition, our research doesn’t constantly have the worldwide relevance and quality it needs to compete. At the same time, weak intellectual property systems are choking off personal financial investment and modern technology transfer.
Maybe most concerning, there is a propensity for us to buy yesterday’s priorities rather than tomorrow’s opportunities.
Three frontiers for our future
Science and modern technology have the possible to transform ASEAN’s trajectory. Allow me share with you 3 crucial locations that can be developing blocks for our common prosperity.
The initial is power that powers development.
By 2050, ASEAN will certainly need 3 times much more energy than today. That’s not simply a figure. It’s 650 million people relying on us to obtain this right.
We require contemporary, interconnected power systems to maintain financial growth and give energy safety and durability. This suggests investing at the very least $ 100 billion in sophisticated capabilities: smart grids that respond in real-time, innovative solar and wind modern technologies, energy storage space systems that operate at scale, and AI-driven solutions that enhance whatever from generation to intake.
This stands for more than just fulfilling our power needs. It’s about creating completely brand-new sectors and millions of brand-new work.
The second is food systems that nurture and maintain the area’s growing populace.
Environment modification is currently damaging our food systems. In some ASEAN countries, we’re losing 30 % of crops after harvest. That’s food that could feed millions, lost since we do not have the best technologies. Meanwhile, 40 % of Asia and the Pacific’s workforce relies on agriculture, while the market inhabits fifty percent of all habitable land across the region.
Scientific research and innovation provide us a different course. Picture AI systems that predict weather patterns and optimize growing timetables. Cold-chain advancements that lower post-harvest losses. Microbial modern technologies that bring back soil health. And climate-resilient seeds that prosper regardless of dry spells and floodings.
These innovations are already confirmed and readily available. We simply need to scale them and make them available to the farmers who require them most.
The 3rd is cities that work for every person.
By 2050, two-thirds of Southeast Asians will certainly stay in cities. Done right, cities are engines of opportunity. Done wrong, they become choking, crowded places where individuals struggle to survive.
The option is ours. Allow’s build cities that make use of clever modern technologies to reduce travelling time, enhance health-care distribution, and develop numerous work. Cities that map their carbon impacts and construct environment resilience right into every street and structure. And cities that do not just house people, but assist them grow.
Transforming vision into fact
Associates and close friends: The numbers inform a compelling story about what is possible.
The benefits of transitioning to net-zero might be 5 times more than the prices. We’re discussing conserving 350, 000 lives every year by 2030 with cleaner air, while producing 1 5 million power industry work by 2050
Science-driven food systems could improve nutrition for 200 million individuals throughout ASEAN while producing 30 million– 50 million new tasks in agri-tech and lasting farming, specifically for youths and females in backwoods.
And wise, environment-friendly cities can save 8 million person-years of commuting time each year while adding 12 million years of good health and total life expectancy through better health-care technology.
These aren’t simply forecasts. They are opportunities within our grasp.
At ADB, we purchase solutions. We are committing up to $ 10 billion for the ASEAN Power Grid, which will attach countries, increase eco-friendly capacity, and construct power safety and security with each other.
We are likewise providing $ 40 billion across Asia and the Pacific for food systems improvement by 2030, supporting everything from dirt restoration to provide chain technology.
And we are sustaining eco-friendly city action strategies. In Malaysia, we have actually aided 20 cities establish strategies with assistance from Japan, and strategy to aid up to 20 additional cities through 2030
Crucial to our job is the economic sector and its capacity to bridge financing spaces. At ADB, we are boosting complete economic sector financing fourfold to $ 13 billion each year by 2030 Of that, $ 5 billion will be invested in Southeast Asia to increase the advancement of lasting facilities, electronic connectivity, tidy energy services, and resistant supply chains.
The roadway in advance
It is my strong sentence that ASEAN is home to extraordinary potential. I see it in the start-ups emerging from university labs, in the farmers embracing data-driven farming, and in the cities experimenting with clever remedies.
But possible alone isn’t enough. We require platforms like this STS Forum to link concepts and sources, researchers and entrepreneurs, and troubles with remedies.
The future we’re constructing with each other isn’t almost science and innovation. It has to do with developing opportunities for every person in the region to develop a better life. And it has to do with making certain that the benefits of technology reach not just the capitals, yet the countryside.
The discussions we’ll have today– from strengthening research financing and advancement ecosystems, to advancing tactical collaboration throughout self-controls, to fostering city advancement and start-up communities– aren’t just scholastic conversations. They are the plans for our common future.
I urge you to engage deeply in today’s sessions, to create brand-new partnerships during our networking reception, and to leave Jakarta not simply with concepts, however with commitments for activity.
Thank you significantly.