The development and adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies can help economies upgrade their participation in global value chains (GVCs) by improving production efficiency, creating new and better products and services, and enabling technological upgrading. This policy brief discusses the intersection between technology and GVC participation and upgrading in APEC economies. It looks at the 4IR technologies and the innovation landscape in the APEC region and provides insights into the GVC participation of APEC economies, that is, their backward and forward integration, before probing into the role of technology in facilitating productive GVC participation and upgrading.