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This.is.Asia

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/issue/2018.02

Connecting Asia with One Domain.

Young Asians Setting Out to Change the World

The Youth Mobility Index (YMI) aspires to provide a robust set of tools to measure, understand and cultivate ... (more below)

Travel in .Asia

The Asia Pacific travel industry is worth close to US$370 billion and this figure is expected to rise ... (more below)

APrIGF.asia reaches Geneva, Switzerland

Closing out the Internet Governance year with the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva ... (more below)

Young Asians Setting Out to Change the World - the Youth Mobility Index

Technology, especially with the convergent and viral force of the Internet, has accelerated not only the speed of communications, but with it, the ferocity of outbound and inbound travel for work, study and leisure. What was seen as transient before, is now seen as a choice: people choose to move and remain mobile.

Photo: Youth Mobility Index 2018 (YMI.asia)

Increasingly, the younger generation is less inclined towards the amassment of property and tangible assets, especially those that would tie them down. Millennials are redefining value systems and breaking free. The youth are investing into life experiences: travel, adventures, knowledge, starting social enterprises, etc. Remaining mobile financially and geographically is replacing property ownership as a sign of success.

The Youth Mobility Index (YMI) framework aspires to provide a robust set of tools to measure, understand and cultivate mobility relevant for the younger generation, and thus the future of the socio-economic environment for a locality. The YMI framework hopes to also inspire enhanced regional collaboration, government policies, and corporate behaviours to support mobility as a competitive advantage shared across Asia in a brain-sharing paradigm.

The high correlation rate between YMI and the other widely cited indices, such as the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) and the Human Development Index (HDI) confirms a solid basis for comparative studies. In the inaugural YMI 2018 rankings, 20 localities across Asia are looked at, the Asian tiger and tiger cub economies, the Tiger-range countries as well as other groupings. Further areas of study and in depth qualitative analysis have been identified to inform improvements for the upcoming years.

To commemorate the first decade of .Asia, and building on our decade long dedication and knowledge in supporting youth engagement and development in Asia, a special taskforce was commissioned to look into an initiative that could become a beacon for DotAsia into the future. We have great aspirations for YMI to become a tool that could support young innovators in Asia – to help young Asians setting out to change the world!

DotAsia believes that a collaborative Asia means a peaceful and prosperous Asia. We are in the Asian Century. The mission of DotAsia is to operate a global Internet infrastructure (the .Asia TLD) with regional significance to support Internet development and adoption across Asia. The vision of DotAsia is that through the cultivation of a collaborative Internet community in Asia, we could inspire a collaborative Asia. Mobility enhances understanding, encourages interchange and promotes tolerance across the diverse socio-cultural landscape of Asia, enabling a platform conducive to collaboration.

News in Asia

Asia's hottest game 'Tabi Kaeru' has been downloaded more than 30 million times!
http://i.go.asia/2EvL3SM

Philippines to See More eCommerce Businesses in Coming Decades, Reveals Youth Mobility Index
http://i.go.asia/2H46B7s

Japan still dominates infrastructure investment across Southeast Asia race
http://i.go.asia/2G2gxNt

ComicCon Asia ™ showcased the best of comics, movies, series, manga, anime, toys, gaming, and cosplay annually in March.
website screen capture: comiccon.asia.asia

comiccon.asia

Disruptive.Asia covers the current state of digital disruption in the Asia-Pacific telecommunications industry.
Website screen capture: disruptive.asia

disruptive.asia

Public Holidays Global provided accurate dates for upcoming public holidays and travel guide of most of the key Asian destinations.
Website screen capture: publicholidays.asia

publicholidays.asia

Tiger Frame
We tigers need digital mobility too!

Tiger Frame: We tigers need digital mobility too!
I am excited to learn that India, home to the biggest tiger population, is now going digital for their 4th tiger census this year! Now I can have a better picture of where my brother tigers are and if their population is growing well.

Although my fellow tiger mates cannot surf on the net like me, they can roam around Asia freely on their paws and leaving us only their pugmarks to trace. Yet it's not always reliable without the help of technology especially where there is difficult terrain out of human reach. Thanks to new applications of technology, forest guards can be equipped with a mobile application to track their routes while collecting the pugmarks and to upload the geo-tagged photos instantly. The data will then be compared with the photos collected from the camera traps providing comprehensive information on tiger movements.

... Continue reading below

.Asia Domain and Asia's Youth Mobility Index (YMI)

This year, the DotAsia Organisation is celebrating our 10 year anniversary of launching the .Asia Top-Level-Domain. To commemorate the first decade of .Asia, and building on our dedication and knowledge in supporting youth engagement and development in the region, a special taskforce was commissioned to look into an initiative that could become a guiding beacon for DotAsia into the future.

Youth Mobility Index 2018 (YMI.asia) - Top 5 ranking locales

The comprehensive Youth Mobility Index (YMI) report was created with one premise: to empower young Asians setting out to change the world. It is our hope that young Asians can use YMI.Asia to make informed decisions as to where is best suited for them, be they young entrepreneurs looking to kickstart their idea (perhaps on a .Asia domain), or students searching for higher education opportunities, or where to land their first job.

Driven by an Asia-wide vision, the YMI framework hopes to further enhance regional collaboration. Here at DotAsia, we believe the attractiveness of the .Asia domain is built on the connectivity of the region and the mobility of its future generations. And as such, the culmination of the YMI.Asia report ties back to the success of .Asia, and highlights the diverse yet interconnected markets that define it.

Next time you are thinking of starting something from Asia or for Asia, think of making it happen on a .Asia domain name!

Photo: Clarke Quay, Singapore with .asia hashtag #RiseWithAsia

Travel in .Asia

The Asia Pacific travel industry is worth close to US$370 billion at present and this figure is expected to rise even higher in the years to come. The region currently accounts for 25% of the world's arrivals and 30% of the world's tourism receipts. Traveling within and from the region is at an all time high, driven by increasing number of travel routes, budget airlines and a variety of accommodations. As more people in the region connect to the Internet to book their next destination, it has becoming paramount for any business related to travel to garner a meaningful domain to represent itself online in Asia.

According to New World Wealth, 5 out of the world's top 10 countries in terms of wealth growth come from Asia Pacific with Vietnam leading the way. Its economy grew by 210% from 2007 to 2017 and is expected to grow 200% more in the coming 10 years. China comes in second, with India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia claiming the other top spots. In 2017 more than 3 million Chinese nationals visited Singapore, a number that is more than 50% of the actual resident population of Singapore itself. The region's new wealth combined with growing population mobility and purchasing power mean there will be even more travelers, consumption and tourism related businesses across the region.

In January 2018, DotAsia worked with .Asia registrants in the travel industry (kiteboardtour.asia, butterflytours.asia and aroundthailand.asia) to share some of their experiences of the travel industry in Asia and why they've selected .Asia as a virtual representation of their business . All of them shared the same main pull factor for choosing .Asia - to visibly serve or represent the region online. With more people able to travel and access the Internet, we believe it is essential to have an online presence that speaks to your customers. Stay tuned to the .Asia Facebook page for more updates on the travel industry in Asia with more showcases of our registrants.

APrIGF.asia reaches Geneva, Switzerland

Closing out the Internet Governance year with the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Geneva, Switzerland (Dec 2017) was a highlight for the Asia Pacific Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) community as this was the first time the APrIGF presented a workshop for global stakeholders (http://igf.asia/2GPORM1). Using the APrIGF Synthesis Document process as a springboard, the workshop highlighted the value of an output document and how this can enhance the IGF process and ecosystem and in turn inspire similar endeavors amongst the ever-growing circle of National and Regional Initiatives (NRIs).

Along with the APrIGF team, DotAsia also brought Netmission alumni and the HKYIGF winning team to hold, moderate, and participate at the week-long forum in Geneva. And our ever energetic Ajitora also made the trip to spread his mission of the Tx2 goals and sustainability.

Looking forward for this year, the upcoming IG events will be ICANN 61 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the WSIS Forum in Geneva in March. Later this summer, APrIGF Vanuatu will be held at Port Vila from 13-16 August. The call for workshops are now open, please visit APrIGF.asia for more details. Send in your proposals and hope to see you there!

Original photo by: UN Geneva [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0] via Flickr

Go.Asia presents its "Young Asian Leaders" Series featuring entrepreneurs from the top 10 Asian localities on the Youth Mobility Index which lead the Top 10 localities of Youth Mobility in Asia

Aligning with the launch of the Youth Mobility Index by DotAsia in 2018, GoAsia launches its "Asian Young Leaders" series featuring 8 outstanding entrepreneurs who are pioneers in starting up social innovation and social enterprises in their region over the past 10 years. As selected from the top 10 YMI localities, with their visionary business ambitions, this series aims to provide insights & inspirations for youth who are seeking objectives and motivations in their life path, and to create a ripple effect / driving force of making change themselves. Cover stories include 3 founders of Singapore-based startup Carosell: Siu Rui Quek, Lucas Ngoo and Marcus Tan; Taiwanese Sunny Lin, founder of the first Mandarin-based online information portal about social entrepreneurship and social innovation Social Enterprise Insights (www.seinsights.asia); as well as Yuki Shimahara, founder of LPixel (applied artificial intelligence cloud based platform to accurately interpret and catalogue medical images); and Sunbeom Gwon , Founder of Ecube Labs (Smart Waste Management Solution) etc.

Over the next 2 months, www.go.asia will continue introducing meaningful social & sponsorship program ideas from across the globe for young adults to pursue their dreams.

Photo Credit: Seinsight Asia & Carosell

NetMission.Asia 2018 kicks off with training camp

What an encouraging start to 2018! After the training camp (see details of the training camp at netmission.asia!) and the first training session in January, more capacity building opportunities for NetMission Ambassadors follow!

This year, our ambassadors have self-initiated 3 working teams, namely the Learning and Development team, Global Outreach team, and Public Engagement team. The three teams aim to complement and collaborate with each other to bring the NetMission initiative to new heights. Understanding the lack of up-to-date teaching materials on the implications between Internet and society, their current undertaking is to develop a set of Internet Governance activities and toolkits for the use in secondary schools. From inception to delivery, this ambitious project will require the coordination of all three working groups and in doing so test and build their abilities!

In February, we met with a local youth-orientated think tank – MingWai's youth office, formerly attached to the Commission on Youth, introducing our initiative and discussing youth issues. A group of passionate researchers, their work covered a variety of youth-related topics such as social media usage, Hong Kong's competitiveness to youth etc. The dialogue was helped along by the casual and relaxed environment in their office.

Touching on various issues of Internet Governance, our ambassadors introduced the NetMission programme's aims and past achievements. Particularly concerning issues were that of cyberbullying, and its solutions in relation to cybersecurity and privacy. Also discussed was the growing problem of misinformation and fake news. We concluded that today's youth needed to be more aware and take a more proactive role on civic issues that concerned them. As a result of the meeting we agreed that there should be further discussion in a 2nd round, this time on the issue of youth's mobility and their options in an evolving economy.

We tigers need digital mobility too!

I am excited to learn that India, home to the biggest tiger population, is now going digital for their 4th tiger census this year! Now I can have a better picture of where my brother tigers are and if their population is growing well.

Although my fellow tiger mates cannot surf on the net like me, they can roam around Asia freely on their paws and leaving us only their pugmarks to trace. Yet it's not always reliable without the help of technology especially where there is difficult terrain out of human reach. Thanks to new applications of technology, forest guards can be equipped with a mobile application to track their routes while collecting the pugmarks and to upload the geo-tagged photos instantly. The data will then be compared with the photos collected from the camera traps providing comprehensive information on tiger movements. This is the advantage of having digital mobility for our forest guards and helps me keep up with my other tiger friends' locations no matter where they go!

There is certainly more to do to enable the Internet advantage for these rural areas. Although not every tiger needs to be online, ensuring the WiFi connection in the vicinity is definitely an important leap to facilitate the wildlife conservation effort.

News source: http://i.go.asia/2CL41jn

Original photo by: Gowri Subramanya (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons