SciDev.Net

ASM advises the Malaysian government on issues of science and technology to upgrade the capabilities of the nation. The academy prepares relevant policy reports and publishes the ASM Journal for the dissemination of significant research. The site acts as a forum, linking the scientific community with policy makers.

APBioNet is a non-profit, nongovernmental organisation that focuses on the promotion of bioinformatics in the Asia Pacific region. Since 1998, it has helped develop a bioinformatics network infrastructure, facilitated the exchange of data and information, run training programs, workshops and symposia, and encouraged collaborations in the field of bioinformatics with an Asia Pacific focus.

The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is an inter-governmental network whose primary purposes are to foster global environmental change research in the Asia-Pacific region, increase developing country participation in that research, and to strengthen links between the science community and policy makers. It promotes, encourages and supports research activities on long-term global changes in climate, ocean and terrestrial systems, and on related physical, chemical, biological and socio-economic processes.

Located in Thailand, AIT provides education in technology, engineering, science, planning and management. Its mission is to promote technology for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region through education, research and outreach. The institute also has a centre in Viet Nam.

The Beijing Genomics Institute is the largest non-profit genomics research institute in China. Founded in July 1999 by a group of overseas Chinese scientists, BGI has been growing rapidly with the support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. China was the only developing country member of the International Human Genome Project Consortium, and BGI played a leading role in the sequencing of chromosome 3. [Click here for Chinese version.]

The Chinese National Human Genome Centre in Beijing was established in 1998 and played a key role in the Human Genome Project. It aims to strengthen international collaboration and attract more foreign researchers - especially overseas Chinese scientists - to genomic research in China, and has departments for genomic sequencing, disease genomics, functional genomic and bioinformatics. The Centre is supported by the national Ministry of Science and Technology, the municipal government and the Chinese Academy of Science.

The SCA was created in 2000 through the reorganisation of the annual Asian Conference on Scientific Cooperation (ACSC), hosted since 1993 by the Science Council of Japan. The conference helps promote collaboration between sceintists in Asia. There are ten council member nations: China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.