Takeda’s Message : We are at a Major Turning Point, with No Turning Back
In addition to the U.S.-China trade friction and the new Corona (COVID-19), there is also the unforeseen invasion of Ukraine by Russian’s Putin.
As we are in the year 2023, the world is experiencing even greater upheaval. However, this does not mean the end of the world. Rather, it should be seen as the dawn of a new era in which the world will undergo major changes and new trends will emerge.
Last February 24, three days after President Putin invaded Ukraine, German Chancellor Scholz delivered a speech to the German Bundestag in which he expressed the German government’s firm commitment to this attack. The word “Zeitenwende” is used in the title of this speech. The German word “Zeitenwende” originally meant the Western calendar. In other words, it means “the coming of a new era”, the world afterwards will no longer be the same as the world before. Although not yet widespread in Japan, this idea is becoming mainstream among thought leaders in the United States and the European Union, even in China. They, policy makers in these countries, are formulating “grand strategies” based on this idea.
The “grand strategy” is not as tremendous as we might imagine. On the contrary, what we missed much of the importance under the prosperity, despite the remarkable achievements, is “science (including so-called science, advanced technology, and the creation of innovation ecosystems)”. These countries have placed science at the core of their geopolitics to ensure prosperity in the next era.
I would like to share with you my thoughts on a grand strategy for the future of science in the world and in Japan.
(Note: I use the term “grand strategy” in the sense of a long-term strategy for the entire country, 10 or 20 years, rather than an ad hoc strategy.)
April. 2023
Shuzaburo Takeda, Ph.D
President Takeda & Associates