About
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at the National University of Singapore convened the second annual Next STEP Global Conference on November 9-11, 2022, in Singapore. Next STEP is about finding the global Solutions to Economic Problems in a collaborative invitation-only community that spans generations, nations, and professions. This conference focused on the economic implications of techno-nationalism—the increasingly widespread idea that a country's prosperity and security depend on gaining dominance or self-reliance in technology and that other countries' technological progress is a threat.
To address this challenge to the global economy and technological innovation, LKYSPP and PIIE invited a select group of top policymakers, tech investors and leaders, and economic experts to define the issues, and examine how policies in specific sectors will shape business and innovation prospects and how techno-nationalism will influence global efforts to address decarbonization, public investment, and economic opportunity.
Small-group invitation-only sessions followed, covering economic security and innovation, bifurcation in information technology and fintech, Asian economic integration, the future of multinational industries, global value chains, tech investment, services trade, decarbonization efforts, and more.
The techno-nationalistic worldview is starting to dominate economic and foreign policy making in major economies, notably in China and the United States. The spread of COVID-19, supply chain disruptions, geopolitical conflict, and nationalist dissatisfaction with globalization all fuel this movement. The United States and China are racing to secure and develop the global flows of critical technologies through increasing control over trade, investment, and digital commerce—independent third countries, meanwhile, are trying to find their way between openness and alliances, all while navigating geopolitical, environmental, and private business interests.
While combining both justified and ill-founded concerns, unchecked techno-nationalism could stifle innovation globally, increase risk of armed conflict, disrupt economic and political freedom, and impede policies to address global health and climate change. Techno-nationalism is already transforming the global business and investment environment, not just supply chains, in other profound but overlooked ways. Improved resilience may be necessary, but pursuing it through nationalization of commerce and innovation will be costly and may be self-defeating.
Watch
Discussion Topics
- Techno-nationalism saving positive-sum technology from the zero-sum challenge
- Is bifurcation in emerging technology inevitable?
- Is bifurcation in fintech inevitable?
- What is the future of multinational industries and global value chains caught between the Chinese and US governments? What happens to services as well as manufactures?
- What is the future for network and information technologies when caught between demands for data localization and patriotic R&D or access rules? Can a global internet survive techno-nationalism?
- Asian economic integration in a widening Pacific
- Global tech investment in a divided world
- The Green Great Game: Techno-nationalism, critical minerals, and decarbonization
- Is it techno-nationalism or techno-resilience?
- How techno-nationalism can become techno-internationalism
Speaker List
Opening keynote speaker:
Vivian Balakrishnan
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Singapore
Hosts:
Adam Posen
President, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Danny Quah
Dean and Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at the National University of Singapore
Speakers:
Muhamad Chatib Basri
Former Minister of Finance of Indonesia
Emily Blanchard
Chief Economist, US Department of State
Chad P. Bown
Reginald Jones Senior Fellow, PIIE
Richard Cantor
Vice Chairman, Moody's Investors Service
Antonio Fatás
Professor of Economics, INSEAD
Akio Fujii
Chair of the Editorial Board, Nikkei
Indermit Gill
Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics, World Bank Group
Anabel González
Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization
Lorin Gu
Founding Partner, Recharge Capital
Yeo Han-koo
Former Trade Minister of the Republic of Korea
Cullen S. Hendrix
Senior Fellow, PIIE
Eunice Huang
Head of Asia-Pacific Trade Policy, Google
Kazumasa Iwata
President, Japan Center for Economic Research
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard
Nonresident Senior Fellow, PIIE
Nicholas R. Lardy
Nonresident Senior Fellow, PIIE
Ignatius Lim
Senior International Adviser, Shell
Mary E. Lovely
Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow, PIIE
Cecilia Malmström
Nonresident Senior Fellow, PIIE, and former European Commissioner for Trade
Amanda Murphy
Head of Commercial Banking, South and South East Asia, HSBC
Dave Ramsden
Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking, Bank of England
Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Temasek
Jeffrey J. Schott
Senior Fellow, PIIE
Wern-Yuen Tan
CEO for Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and China, PepsiCo
Simon Tay
Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs
Beatrice Weder di Mauro
President, Centre for Economic Policy Research
George Yeo
Visiting Scholar, LKYSPP at the National University of Singapore; former Singapore Cabinet Minister
Bernard Yeung
Stephen Riady Distinguished Professor in Finance and Strategic Management, National University of Singapore Business School
Tao Zhang
Chief Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Bank for International Settlements