September 27, 2007

EA-RTM (Engineering Academy Round Table Meeting) Symposium on Innovation

On 27 September, JSPS hosted an East Asian symposium among the Engineering Academy of Japan (EAJ), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK).

This annual "East Asia Round Table Meeting" has been held by the three academies over the past ten years. With a view to expanding their tri-national network to forming a network covering more countries of the Asia-Pacific, the participants in this year's meeting discussed issues shared by the region's countries with particular emphasis on innovation and human resource development.

The first day featured an open symposium on "innovation," kicked off by remarks from representatives of the three academies and a keynote address by CAE vice-president Prof. Hequan Wu. They were followed by four presentation-cum-reporting sessions: (1) Cultivating Engineering Talent, (2) Innovation Cooperation, (3) Innovation Design, and (4) Technology Management. An impressive introduction was made of steps being taken to spur innovation in Japan, while the present state and future direction of innovation creation in China and Korea were illuminated. The discussion also clarified differences in the situation on the ground and ways of thinking among the three countries regarding human resource development, particularly the education, training and employment of young researchers and engineers.

The symposium provided a good platform for strengthening innovation-related exchange between academic and industrial sectors of the three countries, while expected to stimulate an increase in the number of young researchers and technicians in the region.