Upon graduation from the undergraduate programs in education and economics at Keio University in March 2017, I joined GRIPS STI Master's Program in April 2017 and am expected to obtain the degree in September 2018.
I took Prof. Takahiro Ueyama's (GRIPS Visiting Professor and Japan's highest-level STI policymaking organization's (CSTI) executive member) "Science and Technology Policy" class when I was a sophomore, which motivated me to learn S&T policy further and more systematically.
I analyzed how the overseas experiences of Japanese researchers have led to international cooperative research and concluded that their overseas experiences brought a good effect on the number of international cooperative papers and implementing international cooperative research. Overseas experience after Ph.D. programs are more effective.
It enabled me to have (1) both policymakers' and academic views; and (2) an opportunity to study with the students from other Asian countries. Among other things, the developing countries' views to S&T policies were new and interesting to me. The program requires me to take the classes in the first year and then write the thesis in the next 6 months (total 1.5 years).
Most impressive was the "Bibliometrics and its applications" class. GRIPS is one of the rare institutions that offer this class. It gives you an opportunity to learn what it means to "measure science." Also, "Economics of Innovation" required me to make a presentation every week, which helped me brush up my presentation skills.
Prof. Jun Suzuki (expertise in innovation management) introduced me to an expert who had the data that I needed to write my thesis, which broke the wall that I had been facing. When I had difficulties in making time management for my thesis, my classmates mentally supported me. Also, as a representative of the STI program, I had opportunities to discuss with other GRIPS program representatives and planned and organized study tours to a Japanese security company and Water Bureau with them, which allowed me to communicate with people in variety and expanded my world.
I solved past exam questions. I also tried to catch up with the trend of Japanese S&T policies by reading the reports submitted to the government. In the interview, I tried to impress that I had been continuously studying the S&T policies without any break, as I thought that that is my uniqueness compared with other GRIPS applicants who come to GRIPS after working for a while.
I would like to study further on labor economics and innovation. If I decide to move onto academia, I may take a Ph.D. program overseas to play globally in academia.
S&T policy is a trendy field. It is new, but not yet systematically analyzed. It would be good to study S&T policy systematically based on the knowledge of economics and other social sciences. It has many potentials for various analyses and views. Studying it might even lead to create new industries.
