Abe Fellows Global Forum: Japanese and American Innovation in a Global Age

Both the United States and Japan have long taken pride in their robust scientific research communities’ contributions to economic growth and human welfare. But the slowing pace and rising costs of research, along with strong competition from China and India, have challenged both governments to rethink their approaches to science and technology policy and set agendas that encourage innovation towards solving big social problems.

The Abe Fellows Global Forum will bring together experts to discuss how the United States and Japan are responding to these challenges, as well as the rapidly rising innovation hubs in China, India and Singapore. Panelists will consider institutional factors that encourage or discourage innovation; the impact of big data and AI on innovation policies and strategies; cultures of innovation in Japan, the US and other Asian countries; conflicts between the interests of companies, national populations, and global welfare; and challenges for the future of scientific innovation.

The speakers include scholars of economics, political science, political economy, engineering and public policy, and organizational sociology.

Agenda 

14:00-14:50: Session 1

• Chair: Kaye Husbands Fealing
  Chair, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

Opening remarks (3 minutes each x 3 people)

• The Honorable Takashi Shinozuka, Consul-General of Japan in Atlanta
• Jacqueline Royster, Dean, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Junichi Chano, Executive Director, Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)

Keynote Address (25 minutes)

• Takahiro Ueyama, Ph.D.
  Full-time Member of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation,
  Cabinet Office, the Government of Japan; Vice President, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
  Title: “Innovationalizing” Government Investment: Japan’s new STI Policies

Q&As (10 minutes)

14:50-15:00: Break

15:00-16:45:  Session 2:

• Chair: Brian Woodall (1992 Abe Fellow)
  Sam Nunn School of International Studies

Presentations: (15 minutes each)

• Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Ph.D.
  Vincent de Paul Professor of Political Science and Director of the Global Asian Studies Program
  DePaul University
  Title: “Asia’s New Networked Technonationalism: Competitive Advantage, or Disadvantage for Japan and the United States?”
• Masaru Yarime, Ph.D.
  Associate Professor, Division of Public Policy
  Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  Title: “Governing Data-Driven Innovation: Policy and Strategic Implications in Global Competition and Collaboration”
• John P. Walsh, Ph.D.
  Georgia Institute of Technology
  Professor, School of Public Policy
  Title: “The organization of science and innovation in Japan and the US”

15:50-16:15 Q&As (30 minutes)

Joined by Takahiro Ueyama

16:15-16:40 Panel discussion (20 minutes)

16:45 Closing remarks: Linda Grove, Consulting Director, Social Science Research Council (SSRC)

17:00-18:30:   Cocktail Reception