Outputs
1) Workshop
A one-day workshop will be held in Taipei around 2025Q3 for participants from APEC member economies and non-APEC experts (expected participants: around 100) to exchange viewpoints on identifying challenges and opportunities of PETs and share the best practices of PETs. To this end, participants will include policy makers, government officials, legal experts, privacy enforcement authorities, and stakeholders with applicable scenarios of PETs.
The preliminary agenda is as follows and will be updated on a rolling basis: Session 1: Keynote Speeches by 3 Experts on Global Trends in PETs, followed by Q&A
Session 2: Panel or Breakout Discussions on Familiarizing with PETs Use Scenarios
Session 3: Keynote Speeches by 3 Experts on Domain Applications of PETs, followed by Q&A
Session 4: Panel or Breakout Discussions on PET Applications.
Session 5: Recap & Key Takeaways (Distribute and Collect Post-Workshop Survey)
Post-workshop survey: All presenters and participants will be asked about the current progress and experiences in promoting or adopting PETs within their economies, as well as their perspectives on how PETs facilitate data utilization and collaboration across multiple parties. Additionally, the survey will assess participants' understanding and satisfaction with the event. The survey will be conducted using online questionnaires, which will be distributed and collected immediately after the presentations.
2) Project Summary Report
A Project Summary Report will be provided. The content of this project summary report will include cover page, table of contents, introduction, topic-based summaries of presentation, discussion through or after each session, conclusions, and recommendations for policy settings as well as capacity building activities on PETs adoption and promotion. Besides, with the purpose of dissemination, this report will be published by APEC through public access and the target audiences include but are not limited to researchers, scholars, policymakers, representatives of the relative industries, and the public. The expected length of the document will be a minimum of 20 pages, excluding annexes.
Outcomes
1) Increasing Awareness and Knowledge about PETs:
The workshop will introduce and discuss what PETs are, their benefits, the scenarios in which PETs can be applied, and their limitations. It is expected to increase awareness and knowledge about PETs among participants and diversify the tools available for balancing data privacy protection and data utilization. This might also encourage APEC member economies to engage in the research and development of PETs, further promoting the knowledge cycle.
2) Use Case Replication and Dissemination:
The sharing of experiences and best practices by APEC member economies and experts, along with recommendations on relevant policy settings, will enable APEC member economies to further replicate and disseminate these insights within their own economies.
3) Facilitating Collaboration
The benefits of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) lie in their ability to promote multi-party data exchange and collaboration, thereby facilitating cooperation between public and private sectors within APEC economies at a regional level. The beneficiaries of this project may include the public sector, businesses, academic and research institutions, data owners, and data users. This project is expected to encourage various entities to focus on balancing data privacy protection and data utilization issues, establishing more dialogue and cooperation opportunities. This includes initiatives from more research institutions, assessments by the public sector and businesses on adopting PETs, and the establishment of supportive policy environments by the public sector for developing PETs.
Beneficiaries
Generally, all APEC member economies will be beneficiaries of the workshop on PETs which include:
(i) APEC government officials at the policy-making level and technicians with experience in the adoption of PETs:
Agencies holding sensitive or personal data need to develop and implement data privacy protection mechanisms. Through the outputs of this project, they can understand the opportunities and challenges brought by emerging PETs. They can also apply user cases shared by other economies or experts to their own fields, developing tailored responses for their economies.
Additionally, for personal data protection regulatory agencies, participating in the workshop will provide insights into the trends in privacy protection technologies and policies across different economies. This will help them assess the similarities and differences between their own privacy protection regulations and those of other regions. Furthermore, for economies already implementing PETs, technicians can gain valuable insights through discussions with experts.
(ii) Private Sector Representatives at strategic level /Business Organizations Needing Both Privacy Protection and Data Utilization:
The private sector, including NGOs/NPOs and businesses undergoing digital transformation and embracing data-driven approaches, will benefit from emerging PETs, which have the potential to better balance privacy protection and data utilization.
Through case studies shared by economies and experts in the workshop, these organizations can gain new insights, aiding in the development of innovative solutions. To better identify these participants, the meeting invitation information will specify that it should be forwarded to the units responsible for digital empowerment in the private sector when sent to each economy.
(iii) Stakeholders from APEC economies (including businesses, academic and research institutions, as well as female participants, based on the state of stakeholder participation on the APEC website), along with APEC observers and ABAC, especially the ones involved and whose work is related to data privacy protection. Given that privacy protection is a significant concern across various sectors and that related technologies are rapidly evolving, these stakeholders and fora can extend their research and development efforts based on the interim results of this project. This will enable them to stay updated with the latest advancements and continue contributing effectively to the field of data privacy protection. It is recommended that researchers and scholars specializing in PETs or exploring solutions for privacy issues, as well as businesses offering PETs solutions and industries that are significant adopters of PETs, such as those in the financial and healthcare sectors, participate in this project event.
As the workshop will produce a Project Summary Report, non-attendees (referring to the potential audience for the project event who are unable to participate for various reasons) will also have the opportunity to learn from the best practices and other information discussed at the workshop. 
