The focus of the OECD’s science and technology policy has been expanding, moving beyond the traditional domain of R&D investment to consider how science, technology, and innovation policy can be leveraged to advance socio-technical system transitions. For example, it launched a program called “S&T Policy 2025: Enabling Transitions through Science, Technology and Innovation” to develop and experimentally implement prototype policy instruments capable of triggering socio-technical system transitions to enable a better response to such crises as climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, pandemics, and the conflict in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the OECD’s program on “technology governance”—defined as the process of exercising political, economic, and administrative authority in the development, diffusion, and operation of technologies in societies and consisting of norms and architectures for managing risks and benefits—aims to address various concerns at the upstream stage. It has and the cases of “neurotechnology” and “engineering biology” have been discussed. After reviewing the status of the OECD's deliberations on new science, technology, and innovation policies, we will discuss the challenges of Japan's current science, technology, and innovation policies.

 

Title: “Toward the Transition of Socio-Technical Systems: Reflections on the OECD’s New Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy”
Date & Time: Friday, March 17, 2023, 17:00–19:00 (JST)
Language: English, with simultaneous interpretation into Japanese
Free Zoom webinar, pre-registration required.

Speakers

Hideaki Shiroyama, Research Director, Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research

Makiko Matsuo, Senior Fellow, Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research

Tateo Arimoto, Adjunct Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

Michael Keenan, Senior Analyst, Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, OECD

David Winickoff, Senior Policy Analyst and Secretary, Working Party on Bio-, Nano-, and Converging Technology (BNCT), OECD

Program

Moderator: Makiko Matsuo

Opening remarks by Hideaki Shiroyama

Keynotes (with Q&A) by Michael Keenan and David Winickoff

Comments from Tateo Arimoto and Hideaki Shiroyama

Discussion among all speakers, joined by members of the Tokyo Foundation’s Reconstructing the Science and Technology Policy System research program, plus questions from the audience.

Pre-registration required. Free Zoom webinar (March 17, 17:00–19:00) in English, with simultaneous interpretation into Japanese