SciREX Summer Camp-2021(a provisional translation of the article in the SciREX Quarterly No. 16)

The SciREX Summer Camp, launched in2012, held its 10th version ONLINE fromFriday, September 3 to Sunday, September
5, 2021. The 105 participants were thestudents and faculty plus staff members
from the SciREX core center universities(Graduate Institute for Policy StudiesGRIPS, University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi
University, Osaka University, Kyoto University, and Kyushu University), government
officials (mostly from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology-MEXT), and the SciREX program member organizations.

Innovation System in the Post-pandemic Era
The theme of the 2021 version was “Innovation System after the Pandemic.” How the COVID19 has changed the society, research and education? What kind of system should beestablished in the future? These were discussed under the following 9 sub-themes (groups) by
the students of different nationalities and backgrounds from the 6 universities.

Nine Groups (sub-themes):
1. Implementation of Sustainable Carbon-free Society through life-style innovation in the post-pandemic era
2. Researchers' Involvement in Policies in Post-pandemic era
3. Space applications in the COVID era (in English)
4. Road Mapping for Mission-oriented Innovation Policymaking
5. Countermeasures for Future Infectious Diseases based on the COVID-19 Experience
6. Science, Technology and Innovation Viewed from Data
7. Education in the Post-pandemic Era

8. International Relations and International Communications after Experiencing COVID-19
9. The Wealth of Nations: Pandemics, Industrial Revolutions, and Economic Growth (in English)
Based on their discussions, all the 9 groups
made presentations on Day 3 resulting someof them to win the Best Prize, Outstanding
Prize, and the Students’ award.
Reviewers:
ARIMOTO Tateo, SHIROYAMA Hideaki
HISHIYAMA Yutaka, ANDO Nika

the Most Important is “Trust”
The first day: Dr. SUMIKURA Koichi, GRIPS professor, made an opening remark at theorientation, wishing the following 3 days to be an opportunity to virtually interact with otherparticipants and “create knowledge.”
It was followed by a remark by Mr. NAKATA Eisuke, Director of the MEXT Science Policy
Promotion Office. He talked about why the camp is held and the outline of the SciREX
program. He said “As we do not have enough funds to be invested in solving social issues thesedays, it is expected to make policies by use of effective methods and based on evidences;
policymaking can be accomplished not by the government officials’ listening to theresearchers, but by co-working with researchers; the important in co-working is ‘trust’
between them.”
Remarks by the directors of the SciREX core centers followed. Dr. NAGATA Akiｙa, Director ofCSTIPS at Kyushu University wished a strong network among the participants be born throughthe camp, despite many restrictions caused by the pandemic.

Well-being & 6th STI Basic Plan
The orientation was followed by 2 lectures. The first lecturer was Mr. NAKAZAWA Keita, Directorof Specialized Education Division, Higher Education Bureau, MEXT. He talked how Japan has
promoted Society 5.0 and established the STI Basic Plans.

The goal of making innovation policies has so far meant to make“Economic Growth.” However, due to the longevity, people canenjoy more time in margin; we can easily access to sufficient
information these days; and the SDGs have widely been
accepted. These factors made us recognize that the importantis to care individuals’ well-being rather than just pursuing economic growth.
He then showed the market capitalization ranking and mentioned that those companies that arecapable to store and actively use data are dramatically growing; we are in the era of “datacreates value”; the 6th S&T Basic Plan includes “safety” and “security” because of the fear of“surveillance society”; and “social disparity” may develop with the progress of digitaltransformation.
The next lecturer was Dr. KAWATO Mitsuo, Director of ATR’s Brain Information Communication
Research Laboratory Group who talked “Overcome mental disorders with brain science:
Experience in my startup company.”
The number of mentally disordered in Japan has been increasing. Japan is among the top
countries viewed from the number of people suffering from this disease. The treatment method
is prototyped and subjective. As it is a field full of problems to be solved, the potential is big. By
adopting an objective diagnosis and tailored-made treatment, we could decrease the treatment
period, medical costs, and social burden.
The Q&A session included a question of “what Dr. Kawano expects when a student wishes tomanage a startup company like the XNet (startup) run by Dr. Kawato. Prof. AOSHIMA Yaichi of
Hitotsubashi University replied that one can see only a part of a company if its size is big, but if
you experience a venture company while you are a student, you can have the advantage ofseeing the whole picture of a company or business.

Technologies not easy to develop into businesses
The second day began with the lectures of “How policymaking should be – An example ofquantum technology innovation strategy” by Mr. OKU Atsushi, Director, Personnel Planning
Division, Minister’s Secretariat, MEXT.

He talked about how he was involved in establishing quantum technology innovation strategy
and the government’s 4th science and technology basic plan. He wrapped up the following 6
points in making policies.
1. To collect information as much as possible on domestic and international trends, clear theissues to make new policies, and implement the policies
2. To the request for making policies, to react by speedy discussions across ministries andagencies together with specialists
3. Through data collection and analyses and hearing from specialists, to ensure evidences,and prove and review the hypotheses to solve the issues
4. Based on 3. above, to make systematic policies (make clear the goal, details, evaluationindexes)
5. To implement the policies, secure measures (budget, tax, legal, and organizational factors)
and establish the system (ministries and agencies, industries, academia, and politics)
6. Periodical follow-up (to be systemized) and review

Among these, he emphasized that 1. is the most important. He warned that after
identifying the issue and just going through 1. to 4. above may end up just a pie in thesky. Establishing a system mentioned in 5. would be a milestone to actually implement
the policy.
The Q&A session had such a question that a private company has 90% of its staff overseas, andthe staff is distributed worldwide depending on the field; when a company is globalized, itwould be important for the government to support Japanese technologies as a nationalstrategy.
Mr. Oku replied to the question by saying that the meaning for a government to establish
strategies is to draw a blueprint so that the companies can put their hands on, and to prepare
an environment and measures to make the technology develop to businesses. The coretechnologies for the quantum sensor and quantum computer were originally from Japan.
However, the companies could not make it develop into business. This has made MEXT notice
the importance of preparing the environment for making the research at a small laboratory todevelop into business by presenting a roadmap in the investment plan. As to the businesscrossing the country borderlines, he said that the government support would be necessary incooperation with such foreign countries that share the common value with Japan.

When an issue is correctly defined, the problem is almost solved
Dr. ANDO Nika, SciREX Center specialist, who has experienced
launching, managing, and evaluating funding programs that aim
to solve social issues, talked “Explaining Policies in Logic.”

She introduced a logic model as a measure for making apolicy. “Think about the ideal and the realty. The gap between
them becomes an issue.” She warned that seeing only the current status without thinking
about the ideal would end up with just a symptomatic treatment. She encouraged theparticipants to think whether the proposal can be attained in the already existing system;
whether the proposal represents the bottleneck; and why the proposal is most effective
among various possible approaches and options.

Presentations and Prizes
The third day was filled with the final presentations. The 9 groups made their presentations
that were reviewed by the following criteria.
1. Identification of the issue: appropriateness and uniqueness2. Policymaking process: good use of evidence, objectivity, discussion process
3. Policy proposal: concreteness, excellence of policy design, feasibility, novelty
4. Presentation: easy to understand, appropriateness in answering questionsFirst, the participants’ vote made Group 9 to receive
the Student’s Award. This group submitted, after theCamp, their output to the Ministry of Economy, Tradeand Industry (METI)’s public comment page, and METI
accepted it (photo at the right).
The Group 9’s theme was “the Wealth of Nations:
Pandemics, Industrial Revolutions, and (Necessity of AI Governance for) Economic Growth.”
They recommended legality of governmental guidelines; understandable AI for stakeholders;clarification of problematic issues and specific terms; definition for positive and negative
impacts of AI; measures to mitigate negative impacts of AI; and enhancement of model andprocess transparency of AI.

Then, the announcement of the Outstanding Prize followed. The Prize was planned to be given
to two groups, but ended to be awarded to three groups, as it was difficult for the reviewers toselect only two out of all the excellent presentations. As a result, the Outstanding Prize wasgiven to Groups 1, 2, and 7.
Group 1 focused on “Implementation of
Sustainable Carbon-free Society through lifestyle innovation in the post-pandemic era.”
They proposed the following policies:1. Tax to be added when disposing food
2. Preferential treatment for optimum
food producers and providers
3. Active use and support for technology development for eliminating food loss。
Group 2 focused on “Researchers' Involvement
in Policies in Post-pandemic Era.”
This group presented the insufficiency of suchpeople or organizations that can identify andadjust the difference of views (language andstance to policies) between the actors in policy
formation process, and can bridge the academia and administrators. They proposed securing
such median people or organizations.
Group 7 focused on “School education in postpandemic era.” Education field is full of issues,
including busier teachers and more diverse needs
for schools. To cope with these, the groupproposed using outside resources and digitizationof the teaching materials so that the teachers canhave more time with each student, which encourages the students to enjoy their school.

The last announcement was for the Best Prize. It
was given to Group 4 whose theme was “Road
Mapping for Mission-oriented Innovation
Policymaking.”
Making clear the group’s mission, they presented“Resilience in big cities as surfaced by thepandemic” and proposed a working style that does not rely on the location and time in 10years as follows
Location: 2 million people relocate from Tokyo area to local areas
Commutation: a society of zero commuting time and no delay in train schedule
Tool: tools to contribute to the new work style both in scope and content
Besides the above prize winners, Group 3 focused on the death toll of the dementia individuals
in Japan that increased although not by the pandemic. The group proposed the use of space
applications to locate earlystage dementia individuals
through Michibiki (quasi-zenithsatellite system).
Group 5 focused on“Countermeasures for Future Infectious Diseases based on the COVID-19 Experience.”
Presenting the burden on the local governments and health centers that carry epidemiologicalinvestigation, the group proposed (1) strengthening the exam at the airport as a bordersecurity measure; and (2) strengthening contact confirming applications to cope withinsufficient epidemiological investigation.
Group 6 focused on “Science, Technology and Innovation Viewed from Data.” Each groupmember had his/her own theme and analyzed the data on the theme. One of the themes wason the “national space exploration plan and research productivity.” It evaluated and analyzed
the number of papers and citation per space exploration plan and used the analysis result tomake a policy proposal.
Group 8 focused on “Japanese food foranybody, anytime and anywhere.” They
reviewed the traditional Japanese branding strategy and inbound strategy that were based oninteraction of people. Face-to-face interaction is not possible due to the pandemic, but “thingsand information can move around.” The group proposed spreading the Japanese food culture
through standardizing Japanese food and advancing the image of Japanese food.
Finally, the 4 reviewers wrapped up the presentation session, commending all the groups’
excellent work.
ClosingTo close the Summer Camp2021, Dr. SUMIKURA Koichi,GRIPS, and Dr. AOSHIMA
Yaichi, Hitotsubashi University,
thanked all who participatedin and helped to make the event a success and wished the 3-day camp has brought all of themawareness and would develop a network among them.