The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance Online Course on Fintech & Regulatory Innovation built knowledge and capacity in technology-enabled financial and regulatory innovation for the policymaking and regulatory community. Topics covered foundational technologies in fintech, banking regulatory reform, payment innovation offices, alternative capital raising regulatory sandboxes, fintech credit regtech/suptech, cryptoassets and distributed ledger technology, and international and regulatory cooperation.

In 2022, the Think20 (T20), the Group of 20s (G20) think tank engagement group, is being led by top Indonesian research institutions as part of the country’s G20 presidency. T20 Indonesia highlighted innovative policy solutions for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts and other shared challenges under the theme Recover Together, Recover Stronger.

Public procurement is commonly used by governments in developed countries to promote innovation and socio-economic policy objectives, including small and medium-sized enterprise development and green growth. However, the strategic use of public procurement as a public policy instrument for innovation is still uncommon in Asia and requires a strong enabling environment to overcome associated challenges.

SDCD held a virtual Resilience Learning Month 2021 capacity development course in November and December which targeted national staff from ADB resident missions and country offices in the South and Southeast Asia Departments. The course is comprised of six short, highly interactive workshops that integrate training on climate and disaster resilience, climate finance, climate change mitigation, and disaster risk financing.

ADBI and the Stanford University Leadership Academy for Development (LAD) held a 4-day workshop on case study writing and public policy for government officials from Asia and the Pacific. The workshop discussed how to create and utilize case studies to enhance policy development in the region, consisting of teaching, writing, and small group sessions.

The current take-make-waste extractive industrial model has had far-reaching negative implications for the global climate, scarce natural resources, and biodiversity. Revised economic models could help transform consumption and make it more sustainable. In a circular economy, production and consumption encompass sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling materials and products as long as possible, extending product life cycles and keeping materials within the economy wherever possible.