Below is the provisional translation of the original Japanese bioeconomy seminar: 第98回STIG PoPセミナー
[The objective of the bioeconomy seminar series] Since a bioeconomic report was created by the OECD in 2009, many countries in Europe and the United States have developed policy documents highlighting the bioeconomy and the momentum for the bioeconomy has been growing. It has also been declared in the Bioeconomic Strategy 2019 that Japan will create the world’s leading bioeconomic society by 2030 and update and promote its bioeconomic strategy every year. However, the bioeconomy concept is extremely broad and its specific overview is not sufficiently certain. This seminar therefore aims to invite experts of domestic/international trends and share information about the current status of bioeconomic developments with the participants. Through this interaction, we will consider the significance, strengths, and challenges of bioeconomies.
● Seminar Information
Date and time: November 6, 2020 (Friday) 10:00 AM ~ 12:00 PM
Venue: Seminar Room A, International Academic Research Building, The University of Tokyo and online streaming (Zoom) (hybrid format)
Organizer: Education and Research Unit, Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance (STIG), The University of Tokyo
Co-organizer: SIP’s (Strategic Innovation Promotion Program on Technologies for Smart Bioindustry and Agriculture) consortium for public understanding (Masashi Tachikawa and Makiko Matsuo, in charge of overseas regulatory trends)
Number of participants: 42
● Program
Explanation of purpose and overview of previous session: Makiko Matsuo, The University of Tokyo
(1) Efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in market area 3 (sustainable primary production systems):
Kentaro Kubo, Deputy Director of Research Planning Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council’s Secretariat, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
(2) Healthcare initiatives of METI in market area 5 of the bioeconomy strategy:
Rei Uematsu, Director-General, Healthcare Industry Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
Discussion
● Session report
In the beginning of this session, the moderator (Makiko Matsuo, The University of Tokyo) shared the purpose of this study session and the overview of the previous session, and then had each speaker present their topic.
First, Kentaro Kubo, Deputy Director of Research Planning Division, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council’s Secretariat, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries explained about the initiatives of the ministry in market area 3 (sustainable primary production systems). As part of these initiatives, he explained the details of the Bioeconomy Strategy 2019, Bioeconomy Strategy 2020, and the specific details of the ministry’s Innovation Strategy for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research 2020 ((1) Smart agricultural policies; (3) Environmental policies (i.e. climate change); (3) Biological policies (related to healthy foods, breeding, big data, AI, etc.)) that is also being implemented to harmonize with the aforementioned strategies.
Next, Rei Uematsu, Director-General, Healthcare Industry Division, Commerce and Service Industry Policy Group, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry explained about METI’s healthcare initiatives in market area 5 of the bioeconomy strategy. For the ultra-aging Japan to manifest a lifelong active society, the key is to figure out how to effectively industrialize the part preceding the public medical system provided by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Uematsu explained the following initiatives taken by METI to promote polices for the aforementioned: (1) manage health; (2) create evidences for promoting preventive health; (3) develop the health environment (personal health record: handling, usage, etc. of PHR).