Anders Karlsson, Prof. Counselor, Office of Science and Innovation – Growth Analysis, Embassy of Sweden, Tokyo.

- formerly Professor of Quantum Photonics, KTH, Electrum, Kista

On March 11, 2011, the worst earthquake in Japan in 1000 years, following by a tremendous tsunami struck Japan. The earthquake and tsunami took out the power and cooling functions of the six-reactor block Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, resulting in the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Japan is densely populated, Tokyo with 30 million inhabitants is only 240 km from Fukushima, and as for Swedish presence we have a number of citizens and companies potentially affected by the disaster. For Sweden, and its official function in Japan - the Embassy, this incident has presented several challenges: How does an embassy work in the time of a nuclear crisis? What are actions done for Swedes? How can Sweden work together with Japan?

Free of charge and open to all interested.

Tid: On 2011-08-31 kl 14.30

Plats: C2, Electrum, Kista
 

The 56th ICSB conference offer experts from over 70 countries an occasion to exchange best practices, interesting research, good ideas and knowledge related to the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship.

 

Report from Asia

”Electronics and Photonics in Japan”, Prof. Anders Karlsson, Science Counsellor, Growth Analysis, Tokyo.

”Electronics and Photonics in China”, Prof. Magnus Breidne, former Science Counsellor, Growth Analysis, Beijing now Director of Programs at IVA.

The conference will be conducted in English.

In August 2010 the world´s leading researchers on regional development are being gathered at the European Regional Science Assosiations´s (ERSA) 50th congress. About 1000 research reports will be presented and discussed.

Prof.Miyahara (NIMS, Biomaterials Center Managing Director).

Swedish side:
Prof. Agneta Richter Dahlforss, Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center, Karolinska Institutet.

In conjunction to the workshop the Invest in Sweden Agency, Growth Analysis, and the main embassy (foreign ministry) also arranges Bio-Nanoindustry investment seminar at the Embassy of Sweden, Tokyo, targeting top level Japanese industrial managers and policy makers in order to showcase Swedish R&D and industrial opportunities in the area. 


 

The Centre for ECO2 Vehicle Design is a VinnExcellence Centre performing multidisciplinary research to support a sustainable vehicle design development.

The following research areas (technical disciplines) are represented at the centre:

· Aerodynamics

· Acoustics (NVH, aeroacoustics)

· Vehicle Dynamics (Road, Rail)

· Light weight structures (composites, sandwich)

· Environmental strategy

For detailed info on the center please visit www.eco2vehicledesign.kth.se.

The theme for the visit is vehicle design (all aspects of cars, busses, airplanes, trains etc besides the engines). The purpose of the visit is to establish a network for future collaborations and exchanges.

Discussion points and areas of interest in Japan and South Korea include:

· possible shift in vehicle design paradigms

· utilizing new materials

· new conceptual layouts

· functional balancing changes

· Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost (LCC) or similar methods

· balancing vehicle functions under various constraints (traditional and new)

· multi-functional body panels - usage of bio-based materials for such applications

· cross-wind sensitivity of high speed or tall (e.g. trucks, buses) vehicles.

· methods for modeling under the influence of constraints from environmental and resource usage points of view.

The Delegates – coming both from academy and industry – will among other activities visit these companies/institutions:

· Seoul National University

· Hyundai Motor Company

· Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technologies

· Railway Technical Research Institute (JR)

· Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology

· Central Japan Railway Company General Technology Division

· Advanced Mobility Research Center, The University of Tokyo

· JARI (Japan Automobile Research Institute)

If you have any questions on this Delegation please do not hesitate to contact Niklas Z Kviselius, Attaché, Science & Technology, Growth Analysis Tokyo Office.

Dear Friends of Sweden-Japan relations,

Welcome to Meeting Point Japan 2010 - a must for everyone with a professional interest in and ambitions towards Japan. Here you will meet professionals within areas like business, trade, investment, academia, defense, politics and Japanese food.

Read all about the event and the exciting program in the attached invitation.

Hurry to sign up for this year's MPJ to be held at Riksdagen, Monday January 25, - participation limited.

On behalf of the organizers Sweden-Japan Parliamentary Association, Swedish Trade Council and Sweden-Japan Foundation I wish you most welcome!

Edvard Fleetwood
Sweden-Japan Foundation
 

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus, one of the world’s greatest astronomers, was buried in an unmarked grave in Frombork, Poland. The exact location of his grave remained a mystery until recently, when a joint Polish/Swedish team of scientists announced that they had matched DNA extracted from bones unearthed in Frombork with DNA extracted from hair discovered in a book once owned by Copernicus but now in Uppsala, Sweden.

After presentations from the researchers on their groundbreaking research, a documentary film will be shown that tells the story of this fascinating scientific mystery.  

Joint seminar with the Delegation of the EU Commission, the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Oceans provide a number of services that are vital to human life, giving sustenance to over a billion people as well as regulating global carbon and water cycles. Scientific findings increasingly signal the potentially adverse affects that climate change may have on these services. Oceans work to regulate climate by absorbing excess carbon dioxide, which, in the process, make seawater more acidic. Marine ecosystems, many of which are already vulnerable due to over-fishing and polluted coastal run-off, are under increased pressure by these changes. This panel will explore how humans and marine organisms can adapt to accommodate changing oceans, specifically:

What evidence is there of adaptability of marine ecosystems?
Are there management strategies to help key species adapt?
What additional services might be provided by the species that thrive in a more acidic ocean?

Context: James McCarthy, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University, and Chairman of the Board, AAAS

Panel: Keith Brander, Senior Research Scientist, DTU Aqua – Danish Institute of Aquatic

Resources, Technical University of Denmark (tentative)

Steven Murawski, Director of Scientific Programs and Chief Science Advisor, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA

Professor Jun-Ichi Nishizawa, one of Japan’s most respected scientists and inventors, presents his vision of a future sustainable electricity grid. He proposes an extremely low-loss dc transmission network system, which would play a key role in a future global electricity distribution system.

He argues that a system based on current technology with less transmission losses would make it possible to utilize abundant water and solar power in very remote areas, even from the North pole to the South pole. Such a system would result in a very different energy system and has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions drastically.

High Voltage Direct Current transmission technology is an area in which Sweden has a great deal of knowledge and expertise. Hence, in this seminar Swedish experts take the opportunity to discuss potential and obstacles with Professor Nishizawa’s proposal.

The seminar is a part of the study Energy Crossroads and the Sweden-Japan Energy lectures.
 

Joint seminar with the Delegation of the EU Commission, the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The event starts with an analysis of the impact of long-term structural changes on demand and supply in the economy arising from the crisis. Thereafter, taking the perspective of SMEs and entrepreneurs, the effects of the crisis on financial markets, regulations, innovation and job generation will be analysed. Both the views of academics and policymakers will be presented and discussed.

Program>

Japan is the first "super-aging" society in the world. It is estimated that about 40% of the Japanese population will be over 65 years of age by 2050. The Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis - Office of Science & Technology Embassy of Sweden and its different predecessors have long been interested in increasing Swedish-Japanese cooperation into questions concerning aging.

Between 6-9 October a large Swedish delegation will travel to Japan to study research into aging.

On 7 October the University of Tokyo will be hosting a public symposium in conjunction with Vinnova, the Vårdal Foundation - for Health Care Sciences and Allergy Research, FAS and the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis. The symposium will be opened by the President of the University of Tokyo, Junichi Hamada, and the Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University, Anders Hallberg, and Sweden's Ambassador to Japan, Stefan Noreén. The opening address will be held by the former President of the University of Tokyo, Hiroshi Komiyama, currently Chairman of the Mitsubishi Research Institute, and from Sweden, Peje Emilsson, the CEO of the PR company, KREAB, and founder of Kunskapsskolan (Knowledge School), also well-known for his work on behalf of the Swedish Moderate Party. A panel debate then follows.

The conference will continue for a further two days with a programme broadly focusing on social science perspectives, and more detailed medical aspects. The Swedish delegation with some 30 members includes representatives from Uppsala University, Lund University, Chalmers University of Technology, the Karolinska Institute, Luleå University of Technology, Örebro University, the Vårdal Foundation, Vinnova, FAS, and from the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.


Study visits will be arranged in connection with the conference to the companies, Toyota and Panasonic, and to residential facilities for the elderly.

For more information please contact:

Markus Lindvert, +46 10-447 44 35

Speaker: Dan Hjalmarsson, Director General, Growth Analysis (Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis).
Moderator: Hoshino Mitsuhide, Director of Research, RIETI. 
 

RIETI - The Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry is a research institute with close connections to the Japanese ministry of enterprise, trade and industry. RIETI tackles policy issues facing Japan such as low fertility and aging population, innovation system, globalization, and environmental problems.

RIETI's homepage in english> 

The event is a part of the Swedish embassy’s spring programme “Living Green” about energy and the environment.
 

The Science Café is being held in the House of Sweden in Washington D.C. on 19 May.