On March 20, 2025, the Mission of Canada to ASEAN and Pijar Foundation co-hosted a public seminar titled “Shaping the Future Together: Biosafety and Biosecurity Innovation in the ASEAN Region.” The event convened regional health experts, government officials, and digital innovators to explore how Southeast Asia can strengthen its biosafety and biosecurity systems amid evolving biological risks.

The seminar surfaced key insights around digital surveillance, governance, and data protection. It also outlined opportunities for multi-sector collaboration and AI integration to future-proof health security across ASEAN.

Reimagining Surveillance with AI and Data

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into biosecurity infrastructure emerged as a central theme. Companies like BlueDot, which analyzes over 50 million articles each month, are reshaping early warning systems for infectious disease detection. Their collaboration with the ASEAN Biodiaspora Virtual Centre (ABVC) reflects a growing movement to build real-time intelligence platforms.

ABVC, managed by Indonesia since 2023, monitors 25 diseases and synthesizes inputs from WHO, national health ministries, and open-source data. Yet, gaps in data quality, timeliness, and cross-border protocols still pose challenges—especially in genomic data protection, where regulatory diversity remains a hurdle.

Leadership Insights: ASEAN, Canada, and Pijar

The seminar’s middle segment featured key voices that highlighted ASEAN’s regional momentum and the growing importance of international collaboration.

Mr. Kongsada Detvongsone, Chargé d'Affaires of the Lao PDR Mission to ASEAN, emphasized that biosafety and biosecurity have emerged as long-term strategic priorities for the region. He noted how ASEAN’s collective pandemic response—through emergency meetings and national-level coordination—has laid a strong foundation. Under Lao PDR’s recent ASEAN Chairship, health security remained a central agenda, supported by cross-ministerial collaboration involving the health, science, defense, and cultural sectors. The Collaborative Action Plan with Malaysia was spotlighted as a model for strengthening regional response capabilities.

Ambassador Vicky Singmin of Canada highlighted her country’s enduring support through the USD 36.6 million Mitigation of Biological Threats (MBT) program. She stressed the need for global cooperation and capacity-building to prevent biological risks and dual-use threats, reaffirming Canada’s role as a long-standing ASEAN partner.

From the regional innovation side, Cazadira Fediva Tamzil, Interim Executive Director of Pijar Foundation, underscored that ASEAN’s health strategy must transition toward anticipatory action. She advocated for precision-based prevention systems and regional knowledge-sharing, citing Pijar’s regional fellowship in 2023 as a platform that fostered cross-country collaboration and long-term policy thinking.

Image 1. From left to right : Mr. Kongsada Detvongsone, Cazadira Fediva Tamzil, Ambassador Vicky Singmin

Aligning for a Post-2025 ASEAN Vision

The ASEAN Secretariat presented key directions for ASEAN’s post-2025 biosafety agenda. With support from the MBT program, regional initiatives are being strengthened to ensure that oversight of dual-use research, real-time disease tracking, and genomic integration are embedded in ASEAN’s broader health security strategy.

To operationalize these efforts, ASEAN is advancing a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society” approach. This includes coordination with defense and science sectors through mechanisms like the ASEAN Emergency Operations Center Network (AEOCN), and active engagement with international partners.

Key Takeaways and Recommendations

Participants and panelists converged on three priorities:

1. Develop regional frameworks for genomic data governance that emphasize trust and ethical data sharing

2. Enhance AI-powered monitoring systems by deepening ABVC-BlueDot collaboration

3. Expand multisectoral cooperation, including biodiversity and defense sectors, in future biosafety efforts

In the spirit of ASEAN-Canada collaboration, the seminar closed with a shared conviction: building resilient health systems requires more than innovation—it demands trust, transparency, and togetherness.

This article is written by Cazadira Fediva Tamzil