Asia-Pacific countries differ greatly with respect to their economic power, research potential and potential for innovation. This means that cooperation activities funded by the Federal Research Ministry (BMBF) have to be adapted to the individual country's framework conditions. These funding measures are aimed at, for example, generating new research findings in central fields of research, bringing together young researchers, consolidating structures for scientific cooperation, tapping potential for innovation as well as new markets, and tackling global challenges.

The BMBF has made targeted efforts in recent years to encourage networking with the Asia-Pacific by strengthening international and multilateral cooperation projects of German universities and research institutions. The Federal Research Ministry is cooperating with a large number of countries in this region, including China and India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.