65th MUMEI-JUKU (23/05/2023)
Guest speaker：Dr. Kae Nemoto, Professor of Quantum Information Science and Technology Unit, Okinawa Institute of
Science and Technology
◆Opening Remarks by Dr. Takeda◆
The past few years have seen a series of turbulent events such as the economic friction between the U.S. and China, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. These are seen by some of the world’s leading thought leaders as a “major shift” toward a new era. The US, China, the EU, and the countries of the Global South have all begun to see science as the most important factor in the next era of prosperity and security.
The United States passed the CHIPS & SCIENCE Act last August. The bill consists of Division A: CHIPS ACT OF 2022 and Division B: SCIENCE (RESEARCH and INNOVATION). While Division A support for semiconductors is important, what is more important for the U.S. is the latter’s science research and innovation. Biden has decided to invest $280 billion ($57 billion for semiconductors and over $200 billion for science).
The Kishida administration is fully committed to science. However, both the U.S. and China have already positioned science as a grand strategy and are prepared to invest all their national power in it. The next summit in Japan will be held under the Kishida administration, but this grand strategy needs to be continued in the very long term. Generative AI, cyber, space, green tech and bioengineering are also important. In addition, quantum information science (QIS) and quantum information science and engineering (QISE) will also be important.
The key to Japan’s prosperity lies in how these areas can be advanced. Although the government has supported several initiatives such as Q-STAR (Japan Council for the Creation of New Industries Based on Quantum Technology), this level of support is not enough.
Today, Professor Nemoto of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University will speak frankly.
I hope that you will actively participate in the discussion.
◆Comments from Dr. Takeda◆
I believe that science policy will become the most important aspect of foreign policy in the future. The material I distributed is a study on how the U.S. (and more importantly, Japan) is lagging behind China and how China has been advancing science. Although the U.S. and China have different systems, they share the same emphasis on science. China learned the importance of science and technology after “100 years of humiliation. From the results, Mao Zedong was not so much, but Deng Xiaoping and later, and now Xi Jinping, have learned really well about science.
On the other hand, the Enlightenment is at the origin of U.S. nation-building. Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and George Washington were all Enlightenment thinkers, as was Lincoln during the Civil War, who founded the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and established the Land Grant University system to promote science-based national development. In the mid-20th century, Eisenhower and Kennedy realized that new science and technology, including space technology, were lagging behind, and they set out to build a nation based on science. This led to the U.S. economy’s proliferation and absolute dominance in security throughout the 20th century. This was imitated by China after Deng Xiaoping.
China, which imitated the U.S., prospered, while the U.S., which had not reformed its science system in the midst of its long period of prosperity, saw a yellow light. Adams, Washington, and others founded the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1870 during the Revolutionary War. There is a document in which this academy made comparisons between the U.S. and China in the fundamentals of science and engineering. In 5G, China is ahead of the U.S., and in quantum information science and engineering, China is already ahead of the U.S. in the number of patents. In 5G, China is already ahead of the U.S. in the number of patents, and in quantum information science and engineering, too. Furthermore, in the green tech supply chain, China has an overwhelming advantage. This is not because China is rich in resources, but because they have a very long-term grand strategy and have continued to pursue it for 10 to 20 years.
When times are changing in a big way, it is not the people who have the power, but the nation. The nation paves the way, and the people prosper in the midst of it. We must not make this mistake when the world moves toward a new prosperity, as it is now doing.
The democratic system of the U.S. and the authoritarian system of China may look quite different, but both countries are taking the lead in developing a grand strategy for science and industrial policy. I think it is time for Japan to formulate a science grand strategy and work on industrial policy.
I believe that Prime Minister Kishida knows the essence of science, and it is important for Japan to think about and implement QISE, generative AI, and the use of space as a nation. Japan, which was regarded as a country that cannot change, can change through governance. I think it is time to show how the nation can take the lead in establishing a democratic system in science as well.
