The digital economy is guiding cross-border business connectivity, market mechanisms, investments, business incubation, and digital public infrastructure cooperation. In the digital economy ecology, developing economies in the Indo-Pacific need to exchange and cooperate, and synergise their human resource capacities and infrastructure. ERIA and Leiden University have collaborated in a curated study on the inclusive and cooperative digital economy in the Indo-Pacific, Asia, and Europe. This study focuses on two questions: What are the challenges facing the developing and emerging economies of the Indo-Pacific? What preparation are they making for participating in the supply chains of the digital economy?

 The digital economy has arrived rather abruptly for most developing regions, including Asia and Africa, even before these regions could fully participate in the value chains of manufacturing and industries. These economies have a mixed corps of education, innovation, technology, and regulatory capacities, and investments in supply chain infrastructure. For example, India has created successful digital public infrastructure for fintech and payments and is home to several unicorns. ASEAN has a thriving start-up ecosystem in many member countries and is now working on its Digital Economy Framework Agreement. Several countries in Europe have a thriving digital economy ecology and the European Union is advancing the rules and governance of digital economy and artificial intelligence. India has a robust digital public infrastructure ecosystem. Singapore leads in the cooperation framework through Digital Economy Framework Agreements.

Yet, the future of work in developing economies will be determined by the rules of cooperation and by investments in infrastructure and the capacity of the digital economy. The emerging cooperation with, and the role of, the G7 and non-G7 countries will be important for the development of services, human capital, regulations for data protection, e-commerce, and taxation. This will secure the quality, resilience, and longevity of supply chains of the digital economy. This study identifies the conditions under which emerging and developing countries in the Indo-Pacific, especially developing Asia, can be better integrated into the global value chains of the digital economy. It also explains the challenges involved and addresses the conditions under which digital infrastructure and institutional capacities can be carried out in a plurilateral framework amongst partners in Asia, and between Asia and Europe, under the Asia–Europe connectivity plans. ERIA and Leiden University, in cooperation with other team members from the City University of Hong Kong, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Singapore Management University, the University of Macau, and Otaru University of Commerce have contributed these chapters for this curated study on an inclusive and cooperative digital economy in the Indo-Pacific and amongst Asia and Europe.