Book fair event fostering innovation and collaboration in open science

The first STM APAC Conference was held during the 31st Beijing International Book Fair last week, attracting over 300 representatives from publishing groups, research institutions, universities, and international organizations across China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, India, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries.

With the theme of "Open Driven by Innovation", the conference focused on the development strategies and innovative practices of open science in the Asia-Pacific region, or APAC.

In his opening remarks, Wu Shangzhi, president of the China Periodicals Association, said that open science has become a core driving force for global scientific innovation. As a committed advocate for it, China is contributing Eastern wisdom to global open science through institutional innovation and practical exploration, he said.

It is important for publishing institutions in APAC to cooperate closely with each other, enhance academic resource interconnection and promote global academic resource sharing, so as to make greater contributions to global technological innovation.

In the keynote speech, Yang Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, elaborated on the "Global-Local" collaborative strategy for advancing global open access. He said that creating affordable open access for the Global South is key to building an equitable and open academic publishing ecosystem.

He called on countries to establish local publishing platforms to preserve cultural diversity and unite the academic community in safeguarding scientific integrity.

Caroline Sutton, chief-executive-officer of STM, analyzed the differences in open access policies between Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. She highlighted the critical role of transformative agreements in advancing open access and encouraged the Asia-Pacific region to develop an open science pathway tailored to its regional characteristics, with an emphasis on technological innovation and international cooperation.

Liu Xiwen, director of the National Science Library at the CAS, introduced the "Open for Science10" program initiated by China. This program aims to establish new pathways for global knowledge sharing and data interconnection by collaborating with other countries to build open science infrastructure through innovative models.

At the two panels, "Open Science Development Strategies in APAC" and "Open Science Practices Driven by Innovation", experts shared insights into the development and practices of open science in the APAC region, agreeing that the region's balanced and sustainable development of open science will depend on enhanced regional cooperation, policy coordination, and the strategic application of technological innovations.