ストックホルム研究連絡センター開所式会長挨拶
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Good evening.
It is both a great honor and privilege for me to be here in this beautiful city of Stockholm and to welcome you to this reception held to celebrate the opening of JSPS's liaison office. I sincerely wish to thank you for taking valuable time out of your busy schedules to be with us here this evening.
One of the primary functions of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science is to advance scientific research through international cooperation. In pursuing this objective, we place special importance on our bilateral relationship with Sweden-a country known for its vigor in internationalizing many aspects of its society, including higher education and research; a country which has contemporarily as well as historically given birth to eminently creative scientists and scholars, including Carl von Linne and Alfred Nobel, just to mention a couple.
We are proud of the fruitful collaboration achieved through our long-standing researcher exchange programs with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences over the past some twenty years. I am most pleased to tell you that JSPS has now launched new cooperative programs with the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education and with the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems. We are, furthermore, examining the possibility of initiating collaborative schemes with the Swedish Foundation of Strategic Research as well. Finally, there is our good relationship with the Karolinska Institute, which has so kindly offered us the space for our liaison office. I am very pleased to witness this steady development in our collaborative relationship with Sweden, and would like to take this occasion to express my sincere appreciation to the scientists and staffs on both sides for their strong support and earnest efforts.
Given the importance of scientific cooperation between our two nations, JSPS is committed to even stronger ties and greater collaborative achievements. Last December, we held an international conference entitled "JSPS Millennium Forum: Toward Establishing a New Global Academic Network." It was our honor to invite Professor Erling Norrby, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, as one of the guest lecturers. In concluding his presentation, he said: "Science does not have borders. Countries such as Sweden and Japan need to provide students with high quality intellectual and personal leadership, and should develop scientists with unique, individual creative power so that they have non-authoritarian characteristics." Clearly, Sweden and Japan share challenges and, accordingly, have mutual interests in academic collaboration. We look forward to the establishment of this office in Sweden serving to advance interests and agendas that we hold in common.
In this view, I believe the office will have two particularly vital missions. The first will be to assist Swedish researchers in obtaining a better understanding of Japan's research environment. I regret to say that Japan's research activities are not necessarily acknowledged sufficiently among the world's academic communities, including Sweden's. As a result, we have not been able to attract as many Swedish researchers as we would like to Japan to conduct cooperative work. Of course, we will need to do what is needed to make doing research in Japan more attractive to Swedish researchers. At the same time, through this office we will make a strong effort to let Swedish researchers know the kinds of opportunities available to them in Japan.
The second of the office's important missions will be to develop more structured forms of research cooperation based on prevailing needs among researchers in the two countries. In 1997, JSPS launched the Japan-Europe Research Cooperative Program for the purpose of promoting collaboration with counterpart academic institutions in Europe. And in January 1999, a science and technology research agreement was signed between the Swedish and Japanese governments. I believe this background provides considerable latitude for our liaison office here in Stockholm to operate and make contributions.
Commensurate with the high expectation we are placing in this liaison office, we have asked Professor Yoshiro Shimura to head it during the initial period. It is my great pleasure to introduce Professor Shimura to you. He is a professor emeritus of Kyoto University and the director of the Biomolecular Engineering Research Institute. Through his pioneering and leading research works in molecular genetics, he has made significant contributions to that field. He has held key positions on various panels and advisory boards, including science advisor to the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture; member of Japan's Science Council; and president of the RNA Society of Japan.
Now, I would like to introduce Mr. Takaaki Iwasa, who is the deputy director of the Stockholm Office. Mr. Iwasa is from the International Science and Technology Affairs Division of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. This will be his second time to be involved in the establishment a JSPS overseas liaison office. Seven years ago, he also served as the deputy director of our liaison office in London.
I am certain that Professor Shimura and Mr. Iwasa will provide the kind of quality operations and programs that will make the office a highly effective medium for advancing cooperation and exchange between our academic communities. May I request that you extend your cordial support to them as they go about their task of accomplishing the new office's objectives.
Again, thank you all for joining us at this reception this evening. |