Summary of the 2nd International Symposium on Strategies for Regionaland International Collaboration in Science and Technology
1. Summary
The 2nd International Symposium on Strategies for Regional and InternationalCollaboration in Science and Technology was held at Soukairo-Hall at theNational Graduate Institute of Policy Studies on the 16th of December, 2010, The
meeting was held in order to introduce the challenges and importance of the East
Asian Science & Innovation Area, which the Japanese government has beenpromoting, and various activities of entrepreneurs and social-entrepreneurs who
have been working in Asian countries to create innovations for people. Thesymposium was co-organized by the Takeda Foundation, the Graduate Institutefor Policy Studies (GRIPS), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), theJapan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Engineering Academy ofJapan, and supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andtechnology (MEXT), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), theCabinet Office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOF).

Keynote Speech
The keynote speech was given by Dr. Takashi Shiraishi, the Executive Memberof CSTP. He explained the kinds of roles the East Asian Science & Innovation Area
will be expected to play in the development of the East Asian Community. He
described how the international presence of Japan will relatively decrease in termsof the number of researchers and the amount of investment in science andtechnology as the population of Japan decreases, and how once developing
countries such as Singapore, China and Korea are becoming rivals or partners
instead of followers as they rapidly increase the amount of investment in scienceand technology and expand their research and development activities. He also
stated that the restriction of resources, such as environment and energy, water, andfoods, will be a significant problem for Asian countries in the future, and Japan’sexperience and knowledge in these areas represent a high potential to produce
business chances. He also stated that 10 or 20 years from now it will not be a1

practical choice for Japan to conduct research by itself in fields where large-scale
research facilities and equipment are required. He said that the East Asian Science& Innovation Area is expected to provide a common platform to which participating
countries bring together their expertise and resources to tackle the above
challenges and develop human resources, thus leading to innovation.

Panel Discussion 1 East Asian Science & Innovation Area: its Horizon andHopes
The first panel discussion, “East Asian Science & Innovation Area: its Horizonand Hopes” was moderated by Dr. Atsushi Sunami, Associate Professor of GRIPS.
The panelists included Mr. Masaharu Nakagawa, a member of the House ofRepresentatives from the Democratic Party of Japan and Chair of the ResearchCommission on Diplomacy and National Security, Mr. Koichi Kato, a member of theHouse of Representatives from the Liberal Democratic Party, Dr. Mitiko Go,
External Executive Director of the Research Organization of Information andSystems, Mr. Yoshio Matsumi, Director of ITOCHU Research Institute of Innovative
Technology, and Mr. Tateo Arimoto, Director General of the Research Institute ofScience and Technology for Society, JST.
Mr. Nakagawa pointed out that there exists a sensitive problem of harmonizationof competition and cooperation even in collaborative research between public
institutions of two countries, and stated that in the areas of environment or life
sciences, it is important to develop total approaches combining social sciences andtechnology, since it is necessary to incorporate systems for technological solutions
into society as well as develop the technological solutions, and formulate rules thatwill enable the society to manage the technological solutions.
Mr. Kato recalled that Dr. Osamu Shimomura, an economic advisor to the LDP,
said that there was a technology gap between Japan and the US, and that thistechnology gap pulled the Japanese economy. In the late 1990s, Japan wascatching up with the US, and was experiencing low economic growth. Mr. Kato
made an effort to establish the Basic Law for Science and Technology in 1997 inorder to overcome the low economic growth at that time. He pointed out that Japan2

is still suffering from problems derived from the loss of catchup targets, and said
that Japan should rather become a country with the best scientific concepts rather
than a country whose only strength is manufacturing industry.
Dr. Go took the example of the Biophysical Society of Japan, to which she belongs,
and explained that the center of gravity in science is now moving toward Asia
because the number of Asian members is now growing, both the quality andquantity of research results are increasing, and academic exchange is quite activein Asia. She thinks it is necessary to develop a society in which women scientists
can play active roles in research activities of science and technology because thepopulation of young Japanese men is decreasing, and the percentage of men
among science majors is also decreasing. It is almost of waste of human resources
if society does not use women with higher educations.
Mr. Matsumi stated that it is essential to achieve the following matters to promote
integrated science diplomacy in Asia.
1) Developing young human resources with a high capacity for international
collaboration
2) Strengthening human networks with Asian youths who can understand Japanand become friends with Japanese
3) Promoting science diplomacy in Asia through Japan-US cooperation
4) Building cooperative relations between the private sector and governments
when promoting international cooperation in areas of social infrastructure andclean energy5) Helping and nurturing ventures and small and medium size enterprises (SMEs)
from the point of promoting innovation and entrepreneurship
Mr. Arimoto from JST pointed out that international collaboration by Japanese is
like independently selling a unit item loose or by the piece, whether it is a scientificproduct or business activities. There is no systematic approach to international
collaboration by Japanese. He stressed that it is essential to develop a conceptual
power that enables the systemization of individual collaborative activities and build
networks. He also stated that Japanese need the power to create new visions andconcepts, and that discussions about the Asia Research Area will provide a great3

opportunity to change the mindset of Japan.

Panel Discussion 2 Toward the co-creation of regional innovation in Asia
The panelists included Mr. Tran Minh Quang, a graduate student of Shibaura
Institute of Technology, Mr. Deven Arora, President of ICONASIA, Ltd., Ms. ChanuriKahaduwaarachchi Perera, Director of the Global Business Development Divisionof A-Wing International Company, Ltd., Dr. Makoto Murase, Director of People forRainwater, an NPO, and Mr. Katsuhiro Harada, a senior staff writer in the Economic
Commentary Department, Editorial Bureau, of Nikkei Incorporated. The moderator
was Professor Takashi Watanabe from the Shibaura Institute of Technology.
Mr. Quang pointed out that traffic jams can be a serious problem in developing
countries as well as in developed countries. Monitoring systems with cameras havebeen used in developed countries, but they are expensive. Instead of camera
monitoring systems, he proposes a new system for monitoring traffic jams using thecellular phones of drivers. In his system, traffic information is collected with the GPSfunction of each cellular phone and sent to a traffic control center where thecollected information is processed, and fed back to drivers.
Mr. Arora pointed out that Japan’s SMEs have very high levels of technology andexpertise, but they have a problem with continuing their technologies to the next
generation because of a lack of successors. He also pointed out that thetechnologies of Japan’s SMEs have a high possibility of playing vital roles in Asia,
especially in Thailand and India. He is hoping that he can help to transfer thetechnologies of Japan’s SMEs to India.
Ms. Chanuri of A-Wing International explained that the majority of people who do
not have access to electricity or to stable energy sources live in Asia, andenvironmentally friendly and sustainably available wind turbines can be an effective
solution for the problem. A-Wing International follows four basic rules whenintroducing wind turbines into local communities.
1) Products and technologies should be simple and easy to handle.
2) They should be environmentally friendly.
3) They should pose no threat to the local culture.
44) Products should be able to be manufactured locally using local materials andlocal labor.
Dr. Murase explained that the majority of rainfall in Japan during the rainy season
comes from India or the western Pacific area, and, ironically, those are areas where
there is little access to drinking water. One of the major reasons for the lack ofdrinking water is that the local wells are contaminated with Arsenic from groundwater. Dr. Murase has been promoting the use of rainwater stored in water tanks fordrinking. He stressed that it is important to incorporate rainwater systems into local
society in cooperation with local NPOs and the use of microcredit. One-sided aid
does not work in a sustainable way.
The fifth speaker was Mr. Harada from Nikkei Shimbun. He described four casesof international cooperation and made the following comments: all four cases
involved combinations of technology, knowledge, design and passion; all activities
were border-less; they worked together with various partners including NGOs,
governments, and private enterprises. He also introduced his experience on thestudy tour of social entrepreneurs in China and Korea, and stated that the activities
of social entrepreneurs in both countries extend to areas of population, food,gender, disparities, education, and security, as well as economic and environmental
issues.
Comments
As a review of the symposium, Professor Kiyoshi Kurokawa of GRIPS, also aCouncil Member of the Takeda Foundation, made some comments. He stated thatthe past era dominated by the Cold War, the Japan-US Security Treaty, and themass production of goods on the supply side, has ended. The world is now aone-market economy. Everybody is concerned with poverty, and consider BOP(bottom of pyramid, vast majority of low income layer) businesses. In this new era,
it is impossible to know what local people want without living in local societies.
Young people should go abroad and live in local communities. The parent
generation should invest in their offspring and encourage them to go into thegreater world.
2. Evaluation of the Symposium
2.1 Participants
The symposium participants included 24 officers from the government andrelevant ministries (14.1%), 42 people from universities, research institutes and5

non-profits organizations (24.7%), 60 individuals and business people from private
enterprises (35.3%), 8 officials from foreign embassies (4.7%), and 6 reporters fromthe media (3.5%). The total number of participants was 170 including 30 people
from the organizing institutions. The total number of participants decreased by 21
as compared with the former symposium held last May, but the number ofnon-government participants increased both in number and ratio, which satisfies
the original purpose of appealing to the general people of society.

2.2 Results of questionnaire analysis
Questionnaires about the symposium were delivered to participants and 66
answered copies were collected, which accounts for 47% of participants excluding
people from organizing institutions. The questionnaire asked participants if theyagreed with a scientific collaboration with Asia as explained in the keynote speech
by Dr. Shiraishi and discussed in Panel discussion 1, “East Asian Science &Innovation Area: its Horizon and Hopes”. Seventy-three percent of the respondents
answered favorably, and 22 % generally favorably, indicating that 95 % ofrespondents felt more or less favorably about scientific collaboration with Asia.
Comments from those who are against scientific collaboration with Asia included
that Japan’s technological know-how would be stolen, and that there is a deep
technological disparity between Japan and Asia, and Japan should not collaborate
6with Asia but with the US and European countries.

Collaboration with Asia
Generally
not favorable3%

Not favorable
2%

Generallyfavorable
22%

Favorable
73%

Sixty-seven percent of the respondents answered favorable concerning thecreation of the East Asian Science & Innovation Area, and 25% were generally
favorable, resulting in 92 % of respondents being favorable concerning the creationof the Area.

Comments from those who are against the creation of the Area are as follows.
1) Japan does not have to offer its own technology, since Japan has been
financially supporting developing countries.
72) Democracy is not well developed in Asia.
3) Japan should nurture diplomatic professionals before promoting scientificcollaboration with Asia.
Most of the respondents felt favorably about collaboration with Asia and thecreation of the Area, and the following are their comments.
1) Japan can not achieve economic growth without help from Asian humanresources, because the population of Japan is decreasing.
2) Japan alone can not drive technological development in all areas.
3) Collaboration with Asia will strengthen Japan’s presence in the internationalsociety.

As for the co-creation of regional innovation in Asia, 67 % of the respondents werefavorable, and 29% were generally favorable, resulting that 96% of the respondents
were more or less favorable.

Generallynot favorable
2%Co-creation of the regionalinnovationNot favorable
2%

Generallyfavorable
29%
Favorable
67%

As the analysis of the questionnaires shows, most of the respondents werefavorable about collaboration with Asia and the creation of the East Asian Science& Innovation Area, and the purpose of the symposium to promote the importance ofthe collaboration with Asia to Japanese society has been largely achieved.
However, the challenge of increasing the number of participants, especially young
participants, remains for the next symposium.

8Norio Ohto, Ph.DDirector
The Takeda Foundation9