• Launched by Access Partnership on 22 September 2022, the new coalition features 6 founding members in the digital industry
• A New DPA-commissioned report analysing the digital economy in 11 Asia-Pacific (APAC) countries found the region is performing at only 30% of its full potential
• The new coalition aims to find solutions to realise the full potential of the region’s digital economy

Digital Prosperity for Asia (DPA)

The DPA was formed to better tap into the region’s potential for growth. The Asia-centric organisation was established by a group of innovative home-grown digital companies promoting the democratisation of digital technologies across all sectors. Its mission is to support national governments and policymakers in APAC to grow their digital economies and reap the benefit of digital technologies.

Prosperous APAC: Digital Economy Enablers Report

Commissioned by DPA, AlphaBeta—a part of Access Partnership—prepared the report focusing on APAC. The report was developed to quantify the digital economy’s unrealised potential, explain the gap behind it, and suggest an approach to fully capture the benefits of the digital economy.

While Southeast Asia’s digital economy has emerged stronger after the COVID-19 pandemic, the report found that the APAC-11 (representing 11 of APAC’s largest economies Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam) total digital economy, which is currently valued at US$586 billion, is only performing at 30%. In other words, there is a total potential of more than US$2.2 trillion at stake.

The report advocates for a new approach called ‘digital prosperity,’ where the benefits of flexible regulations, widespread access to global technologies, and domestic capabilities and skills can be attained.

“This new approach aims to foster a more open digital economy with minimal impediments to cross-border data flows, while building up the local industry to ensure adequate and appropriate data management safeguards. We hope that this will enable businesses and consumers to access the latest digital products and services, all while striving to protect national security and local citizens”, said Michael Khoo, Secretariat of DPA.

Currently, the coalition consists of founding members Accredify, AppMedia, Doctor2U, Kinobi, Opn, and ShareChat. DPA is looking for more like-minded APAC companies that recognise the importance of growing the digital economy for local value creation and for shared prosperity across Asia to join the coalition.

“Kinobi is excited to be part of this new initiative as we look forward to more exciting and collaborative opportunities to work with other home-grown Asia companies, as well as national governments to drive the use of digital technologies and allow everyone to benefit. We are already seeing thousands of users benefit from our digital solutions and tools as they improve their ability to find the right employment, and we truly believe that governments can play a more enabling role in nurturing digital ecosystems throughout Asia.” Benjamin Wong, CEO, and Co-founder, Kinobi.

In addition, DPA will work towards its goal of partnering with policymakers and broader business stakeholders to better understand the challenges and work towards a solution. The coalition hopes to see more countries focus their efforts on promoting policies that enable cross-border digital trade and data; competition between businesses to strive for better quality and cost of services; building capability in digital skills and talents, and enhancement of digital infrastructure.

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Media Contacts

Digital Prosperity for Asia is an organization consisting of a growing group of innovative home-grown Asian digital companies promoting the democratization of digital technologies across all sectors. Its mission is to support national governments and policymakers in APAC to grow their digital economies and reap the benefit of digital technologies. The coalition is looking for more like-minded APAC companies in the digital space that recognise the importance of growing the digital economy for local value creation and for shared prosperity across Asia.

Interested companies can get in touch with them via any of their digital touchpoints. Visit their website at www.digitalprosperity.asia, email them at secretariat@digitalprosperity.asia, or reach out to them via LinkedIn.

About Access Partnership

Access Partnership is the world’s leading public policy firm that provides market access for technology. We monitor and analyse global trends for the risks and opportunities they create for technology businesses, and identify strategies to mitigate those risks and drive the opportunities to our client’s advantage. Our team uniquely mixes policy and technical expertise to optimize outcomes for companies operating at the intersection of technology, data, and connectivity.

Our global team of 130 staff work in London, Brussels, Washington, Dakar, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and Australia. Our clients include some of the world’s largest governments, manufacturers, services companies, telecommunications network operators, and international organizations. Staff members are drawn from industry, public affairs agencies, government agencies, private legal practice, and technical assistance programs. We have extensive expertise working with governments and multilateral organizations and have done so across six continents.

About The 6 Founding Members of Digital Prosperity for Asia

Accredify

Accredify is pioneering the world’s transition to verifiable data. Headquartered in Singapore and founded in 2019, Accredify is Asia Pacific’s leading service provider for the issuance of verifiable documents and has processed over 12 million verifications on 1.7 million issued documents, known as “Accredified documents” to date. By enabling automation and secure information exchange, Accredify has empowered nearly 600 users in nine markets to simplify complex processes and discover new frontiers of efficiency. With a dedicated team that embraces the highest standards of customer service, security, and privacy, Accredify’s mission is to be the foremost verification solutions provider for moments when trust matters most.

AppMedia

AppMedia Inc. is the only company in Korea that produces and supplies appbooks. Before COVID-19, we were producing and supplying appbooks of domestic public institution newsletters. AppMedia produced and supplied newsletters for the Supreme court, the Ministry of Education, and the Board of Audit and Inspection.

After COVID-19, there was an explosive demand for non-face-to-face content services. With this opportunity, AppMedia is expanding our business to education, publishing, and MICE.AppMedia wants to grow into a global brand as a leader in the new e-book market.

Doctor2U

Doctor2U is the leading telehealth provider that provides on-demand healthcare services across Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and soon Australia. Currently, there are four services that are being offered to customers – Doctor Home visit, Medication Delivery, Live Chat, Video Consultation, Ambulance and many more exciting features.

Kinobi

Kinobi is a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company in Southeast Asia that use Artificial Intelligence and multinational connection to help students in Southeast Asia to get their dream job by creating a Digital Career Platform for Universities. The career platform has helped over 500,000 students and works with over 60 universities across Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Opn

Opn, which was rebranded from SYNQA, is a company founded in 2013 in Japan and Asia. Opn specializes in one-stop online payment solutions and digital transformation solutions. Opn connects people, businesses, and society in innovative ways to provide fair and open access to a growing economic ecosystem under its vision of enabling access to the digital economy for everyone. Its services are used by thousands of merchants and businesses around the world.

Sharechat

ShareChat is India’s leading social media platform that operates exclusively in Indic languages. ShareChat empowers our 160 million strong monthly active user community to share their opinions, record their lives and make new friends – all within the comfort of their language of choice. Their short video platform, Moj, is today India’s preferred short video destination with tens of millions of users from across the world. The platform has been designed for artists and creators to create innovative short video content and display their creativity to millions, globally.