The Forum was organised in cooperation with the National STI Policy Office of Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Royal Thai Government, Thailand and the Research and Information System for Developing countries (RIS), a think tank funded by the Government of India. The Third NIS Forum offered opportunity for 12 Asia Pacific countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand), including three LDCs to exchange experiences among national institutions who studied national STI policies, diagnose NIS, and advise on STI strategies in the context of national development goals thus supporting the policy makers to make evidence based policy decisions. In addition to the 12 experts from participating member states, resource persons from UNESCO Paris Office, RIS, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in India and APCTT staff made presentations, participated in the panel discussions and shared their views on the emerging concepts of NIS diagnosis, STI strategy development, mainstreaming of gender and open innovation in STI, and south-south and regional cooperation. An expert from Slovenia also joined the Forum and made a presentation through Skype. The Forum deliberated on the critical issues and gaps in NIS diagnosis and suggested strategies and approaches to address them at national and regional levels in the Asia-Pacific region.