The Asian Productivity Organization (APO), in collaboration with the China Productivity Center (CPC), marked the start of its largest publication project to date with a launch ceremony and experts’ coordination meeting in Taipei on 6 to 8 September 2011.

The “APO 50th Anniversary Special Publication Launch Ceremony, held 6 September 2011 in the International Reception Hall of the Grand Hotel was entitled “Sustainable Socioeconomic Development of the Asia-Pacific Region by Enhancing Productivity and Promoting Innovation” also celebrated the partnership between APO and the ROC Government. It was attended by over 150 guests from the public and private sectors of ROC, diplomatic community representing APO’s member economies, and academia.

Keynote speaker at the launch ceremony was Executive Yuan Premier Den-Yih Wu of the ROC. Other high-ranking officials speaking at the event were: from the ROC Government, Mr. Thomas Ping-Fu Hou, Vice-Minister of the MOFA, Mr. Francis Kuo-Hsin Liang, Vice-Minister of the MOEA, and Dr. Pao Cheng Chang, President of the CPC; from the APO, APO Chair Somdy Inmyxai and Secretary-General Ryuichiro Yamazaki; from the academia: Dr. Shin Kim of The Korea Institute of Public Administration; and from the ROC’s private sector, Mr. Arthur Yu-Cheng, President and Chairman of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers and Mr. Jackson Lin, President of Taiwan Mirror Glass Enterprise Ltd. After the launch ceremony, the APO tendered a dinner in honor of all guests, led by CPC Managing Director and Chief Consultant Dr. Kuo Ming-Wang and Ms. Lily L. W. Hsu, Director General of MOFA Department of International Organizations.

The APO started its publication program in the early 1960s as a complementary strategy to its capacity-building activities. To date, the APO has produced over 800 publications in various forms (books, manuals, reports, working papers, e-books), many of which are now freely available on http://www.apo-tokyo.org/publications.htm and used as references in activities in member economies and by other productivity practitioners worldwide.

The 50th anniversary publication involves more than 30 distinguished international and national experts in various disciplines who will cover the key themes of innovation, productivity, and sustainability. It is made possible by a special grant from the Republic of China (ROC), with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA). The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo facilitated the grant arrangements early this year. This publication project is a joint effort of the APO Secretariat and CPC through early 2012 and will be the main feature of an international productivity conference to be held in Taipei next year.

The details of the publication project were finalized in the 2-day coordination meeting after the launch ceremony. Chief Expert for the publication Dr. Tsu-Tan Fu, Research Fellow and Professor of the ROC Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, led the discussions. The as-yet untitled anniversary publication will take a closer look at the relationship between productivity and socioeconomic development. In the last 50 years, the APO and its network of NPOs, including the CPC, have jointly promoted the productivity movement in the Asia-Pacific region and, in the last two decades, have incorporated the principles of environmental conservation and quality management to carve a unique niche in the promotion of productivity. The ROC grant provides an opportunity to capture the achievements of the APO and more importantly, map out its future role in the development of its members.

The planned book will be in three parts written by different international experts: Part 1 will chronicle the 50 years (1961–2011) of the productivity movement in the Asia-Pacific region from a macroeconomic performance perspective; Part 2 will cover specific themes that the APO has focused on or started to work on, including Green Productivity and economic development, demographics and productivity in aging societies, SME competitiveness in a globalized economy, climate change and agricultural productivity, and public-sector productivity; and Part 3 will feature predictions and insights of various authors on what will shape the future of the Asia-Pacific region through unleashing new sources of productivity in the next 20 years.