Chinese Taipei

Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Chinese Taipei work hand-in-hand with Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion, Thailand to co-host "APEC O2O Forum: MSMEs Servitization in the Context of O2O" on 1st August in Bangkok, Thailand. The forum not only sustains the momentum of digital innovation in APEC, but echoes the 2019 APEC priorities "Digital Society" and "Women, SMEs and Inclusive Growth".

Empower Woman Entrepreneurs and MSMEs in the O2O Business Model Innovation and O2O as Springboard for MSMEs in Creative Economy will be focused on in the forum. Through this cross-border platform, mentoring session, and the best practice showcasing, SMEs could catch the trend of digital economy. Besides, Chinese Taipei and Thailand reinforced in-depth cooperation via this forum, promoting APEC SMEs to achieve the inclusive and sustainable growth in the digital economy era.

Given the importance of digital transformation for SMEs, Chinese Taipei has proposed the APEC O2O Initiative with 4-year framework since 2016. This year, Chinese Taipei co-implement the "4th APEC O2O Initiative: Empower SMEs to Embrace Digital Transformation" with Thailand, Malaysia, Chile, and the Philippines. 5 O2O serial events will be held in different APEC economies, and this event in Bangkok is the third one.

Mr. Shee-Chien Lei, Director of Management Consulting Division, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Chinese Taipei and Dr. Wimonkan Kosumas, Deputy Director General, Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion, Thailand gave opening remarks at the APEC O2O Forum. Mr. Shee-Chien Lei appreciated Thailand's support for the 4th O2O Initiative. Continuing the O2O Forum and Digital Resilience Workshop held last year, we keep on promoting SME digital transformation and servitization.

Officials from APEC member economies, representatives from multinational enterprises and the best practices of startups attended this forum. With the event theme of "MSMEs Servitization in the Context of O2O", two topics "Empower Woman Entrepreneurs and MSMEs in the O2O Business Model Innovation" and "O2O as Springboard for MSMEs in Creative Economy" were discussed. Via mentors' advices, not only potential of startups from APEC member economies can be released, but also competitiveness can be increased.

In order to deepen the cooperation with APEC member economies, SMEA takes advantage of APEC arena by coworking with Chile to hold an O2O Forum during 25th APEC Ministerial Meeting week in September. Shortly after the event in Chile, the last forum will be held in October in the Philippines, marking the perfect end of four-year O2O Initiative.

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For further details, or to arrange possible media interviews, please contact:
Ms. Pei-Ti Hu
Deputy Director General, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, MOEA
02-2366-2202
bdhu@moea.gov.tw

Ms. Hsin-Yi Tseng
Section Chief, Policy Planning Division, Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, MOEA
02-2366-2251
thy@moea.gov.tw