Objectives

Recently, big social changes have been accelerated, as political and economic situations are being advanced and complexed as well as the advancement of science and technology (S&T). Thus this influences uncertainty of the whole society much higher. Under the social conditions, with finding out global trends as earlier as possible, it should be indispensable for governments and private firms to develop foreseeable strategic activities which respond to social changes and future industry creation.

“Foresight” should be a helpful tool in order to draw social images to be aimed and to make strategic planning under such circumstances. It is important for foresight activities to share visions regarding the social images to be aimed and the directions toward its realization; therefore, participation of various stakeholders should be definitive conditions for consensus building.

Meanwhile, regarding prompt response to the uncertainty, there are many interests in application of new analytic tools such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and preparation of data infrastructure under the advancement of information technology (IT). Thus, various efforts related to the foresight activities have been promoted world widely, such as development of analytical tools to extract indications of social changes or development of promising S&T based on the big data.

In this international conference, based on showcasing examples of various efforts from overseas, possible foresight activities in future which enable strategic planning of government and private firms will be discussed with international experts.

Symposium

Date: Wednesday 29 November 2017, 10:00-17:45 (The Hall opens at 9:30.)
Venues: Sokairo Hall, 1st Floor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (7-22-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-8677, Japan)[access]
Organizer: National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP)
Co-organizer: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
Language: English/Japanese (simultaneous interpretation)
Capacity: 200 seats
Admission fee: Free (Open to the public)

Program

10:00-11:00 Opening remark and Keynote Speeches
Opening remark Hideki NIIZUMA, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Keynote Speech 1: “Foreseeing the Future of Foresight?” Yuko HARAYAMA, Executive Member, Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), Cabinet Office, Government of Japan（Japan）
Keynote Speech 2: “Japan’s Policy Making Process and Science Forecasting” Takashi SHIRAISHI, Director, The Science for RE-designing Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Innovation (SciREX) Center, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies(GRIPS) （Japan）

11:00-12:30 Session 1: Strategy and Foresight toward the future

“Strategy and Foresight in a Private Company” Haruo TAKEDA, Corporate Chief Engineer, Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd.（Japan）
“Foresight for Smart Science Technology and Innovation Policy: Insights from Russia” Alexander CHULOK, Deputy Director, Foresight Centre, Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK), Higher School of Economics(HSE) (Russia)
“Building a foresight system in government” Peter PADBURY, Chief Futurist, Policy Horizons Canada, Government of Canada (Canada)

12:30-14:00 Break
14:00-15:30 Session 2: New Dimensions of Foresight: Stakeholder Involvement for Consensus Building

“Foresight for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy in Japan: Past, Present and Future” Shinichi AKAIKE, Director, Science and Technology Foresight Center (STFC), NISTEP（Japan）
“Foresight and Community Engagement” Pirjo Kyläkoski, Head of strategy, Tekes (Finland)
“Foresight in Support of the European Union’s Future Research and Innovation Policy” Karl Matthias WEBER, Head of Center for Innovation Systems & Policy, Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) (Austria)

15:30-15:45 Break
15:45-17:30 Session 3: Foresight in Digitalization: Best Practices

“Data-driven Horizon Scanning in the NISTEP; “Foresight Open Platform” and “KIDSASHI (Knowledge Integration through Detecting Signals by Assessing/Scanning the Horizon for Innovation” Hitoshi KOSHIBA, Research Fellow, STFC, NISTEP（Japan）
“Passing the Baton in a Race of Developing Innovative Ideas for the National R&D” Seongwon PARK, Research Fellow, Science and Technology Policy Institute （STEPI）(South-Korea)
“Evaluation and Foresight in Public Research Funding: Experiences from Evaluation Capacity Building in the National Science Foundation” Anand DESAI, Section Head, Section Head, Evaluation and Assessment Capability, NSF (US)
“Engaging Policy with Multiple Futures: Experiences from the OECD and National Governments” Joshua POLCHAR, Policy Analyst, OECD

17:30-　　Closing Remarks Shigeharu KATO, Director-General, NISTEP

Registration

Please register on the following site. [Registration] (English registration screen opens.)
Deadline for Registration: Friday 24 November 2017, 12:00
When registration is completed, the participation voucher will be sent automatically. Please show the printed sheet at the reception of GRIPS. If you do not receive an automatic reply mail within 24 hours, please contact to The 8th International Conference on Foresight Secretariat below. Please understand that we may adjust participants due to the convenience of the hall.

(*) Information of a Workshop that follows the Symposium
For two days after the Symposium, researchers will delve more deeply into the topics of Sessions 2 and 3 with invited domestic and overseas experts, and the speakers of the symposium. The results of workshop will be opened later.

Date: 30 November 2017 10:00-17:00 and 1 December 1 2017 10:00-15:00
Venues: NISTEP Conference Room
Organizer: The National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP)
Co-organizer: The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
Language: English
Style: Experts Meeting (invited members)

Contact

Dr. Miki Kuribayashi and Dr. Nobuyuki Shirakawa
Science and Technology Foresight Center
National Institute of Science and Technology Policy
Tel: +81-(0)3-3581-0605
E-mail: seminar-stfc-b[at]nistep.go.jp

The 8th International Conference on Foresight Secretariat (Registration of the Symposium)

(c/o ISS, INC.)
Tel: +81-(0)3-6369-9984
E-mail: icf2017[at]issjp.com

National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) annually publishes “Japanese Science and Technology Indicators” which is a basic resource for systematically understanding Japan’s S&T activities based on objective and quantitative data. The latest version is “Japanese Science and Technology Indicators 2017” which was published in August 2017.

We have prepared English translation of the executive summary of the “Science and Technology Indicators 2017.”

Please follow the following links to get more information.

Digest of Japanese Science and Technology Indicators 2017

A Foresight Seminar will be held on 27 July 2017 by NISTEP. Those who would like to attend should send name and affiliation through the E-mail registration by 25 July 2017 18h.

○Speaker: Dr. Tim Jones, Founder and Programme Director, Future Agenda

○Title: Future Agenda – Six Challenges for the Next Decade

○Date: Thursday 27 July 2017; 13h30-15h30 (Room opens from 13h00.)

○Venue: NISTEP Conference Room (16B)
16th Floor, Central Government Building No.7 East Wing
3-2-2, Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0013
http://www.nistep.go.jp/en/?page_id=40 (maps)

○Language: English

○Purpose the Seminar:
In the globalized society these days, people’s behavioral patterns and ethics/value norms are changing dramatically along with the changes in people’s living situations, living environments, and international relations.
Due to these changes, for example, progress of the sharing economy might be expected to accelerate changes in the fundamentals of corporate organizations and businesses in societies and economies.
In order to systematically foresee the macroscopic social changes, various stakeholders in different cultures, industrial sectors and countries should conduct foresight efforts for future societal issues in an open form.
At this seminar, NISTEP invites Dr. Tim Jones, who has established and operates the Future Agenda and has much experience in conducting a platform for foresight with open multi-stakeholders to facilitate foresight in public institutions, companies, universities, etc., practical methodologies to obtain signs of societal changes will be presented.

○Contact and Registration:
Mr. Nobuyuki Shirakawa, Science and Technology Foresight Center, NISTEP
Tel. 03-3581-0605

○E-mail: seminar-stfc-b@nistep.go.jp
Every participant will receive registered invitation in a Pdf form 1 day before the seminar. Printed invitation is required at the entrance of the Building.

National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) annually publishes “Japanese Science and Technology Indicators” which is a basic resource for systematically understanding Japan’s S&T activities based on objective and quantitative data. The latest version is “Japanese Science and Technology Indicators 2016” which was published in August 2016.

We have prepared English translation of the executive summary of the “Science and Technology Indicators 2016.”

Please follow the following links to get more information.

• Digest of Japanese Science and Technology Indicators 2016

National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (Director General: Nobuaki KAWAKAMI) has conducted the Japanese National Innovation Survey (J-NIS) in order to examine the state and trend of innovation activities of the private firms in Japan since FY2002. It has recently conducted the fourth round of the survey (the reference period: FY2012‒FY2014), and publishes the preliminary result on it.

The survey results show that there were little change in the ratios of the numbers of realising innovations during this period in Japan as a whole in comparison with those in the previous round of the survey (the reference period: FY2009‒FY2011). Nevertheless, the ratio of the number of realising product innovation is lower than those of realising other types of innovation, such as process, organisational, and marketing innovations, and is likely to be decreasing. It is expected that more firms will introduce products and/or services in future for maintaining the Japanese industrial competitiveness.

The final report of the J-NIS 2015 is scheduled to be published in summer of 2016.

 

Please see the following link for more details about the preliminary report.

Preliminary Report on the Forth Round of the Japanese National Innovation Survey (J-NIS2015)

 

In April 1, 2016, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) reorganizes its structure.

About the new organization chart and each of the groups, please see here

Information

Date: March 2 (Wednesday), 2016
Place: Tokyo University of Science, Morito Memorial Hall 1st Forum(4-2-2, Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan)
Host: National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP)
Co-host: Tokyo University of Science
Language: English
Capacity: 100 seats
Admission free

Program (tentative):

09:00 Registration
09:30 Opening remark 1
Hitoshi NARA, Director General, NISTEP
09:35 Opening remark 2
Yasutaka MORIGUCHI, Vice-president, Tokyo University of Science
09:50 Session 1: Foresight to utilize chances while preparing risks
Jairus GROVE, Director of Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa (USA)
Marcio de Miranda SANTOS, Executive Director, Center for Strategic Studies and Management in Science, Technology and Innovation (Brazil)
Byeongwon PARK, Director of Center for Strategic Foresight, Science and Technology Policy Institute (Korea)
Surachai SATHITKUNARAT, Executive Director, APEC Center for Technology Foresight (Thailand)
Naoki SAITO, Deputy Director General, NISTEP
13:30 Session 2: Future of aging society
Hiroko AKIYAMA, Professor, Institute of Gerontology, University of Tokyo
Shoji SHINKAI, Vice-Director, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology
14:45 Session 3: Future of disaster risk reduction
Makoto TSUJIMOTO, Director, Graduate School of Global Fire Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science
Shoichi ANDO, Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
16:15 Session 4: Possibilities of utilizing Open Science
Jeroen BOSMAN, Faculty liaison for the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University Library (Netherlands)
Kazuhiro HAYASHI, Senior Research Fellow, NISTEP
17:30 Closing Remarks
Naoki SAITO, Deputy Director General, NISTEP

Overview:

National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) in Japan conducted 10th foresight from 2013 to 2015, as the world still continues to face such issues as global warming and the population structures. Disaster risk reduction and aging society are recognized as being one of the important issues to tackle through international cooperation. Also, the rapid development of ICT will enable researchers and citizens to participate in relevant data in the society of “Open Science.”
To address such issues, NISTEP will host the 7th International Conference on Foresight in Tokyo, Japan on March 2 to 4, 2016, co-hosted by Tokyo University of Science. Participants would share and discuss the prospects for such global issues as disaster risk reduction and aging society.

Registration:

Please register your name and affiliation in advance by e-mail.
e-mail: icforesight[at]nistep.go.jp (please replace [at] with @.)
Closing date: February 29, 2016, 17:00 JST

Contact:

Science and Technology Foresight Center, NISTEP
e-mail: icforesight[at]nistep.go.jp (please replace [at] with @.)
Tel: +81-(0)3-3581-0605