Introduction

ASEAN will integrate economically in 2015 with the goal of building an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Japan has its foot deeply set in the region through its economic activities, and so will be greatly affected in a variety of areas by the ASEAN integration. ASEAN integration can be considered one step toward greater integration of the entire Asian region, and will provide a great chance to promote further regional collaboration between Japan and ASEAN. To promote this economic integration, ASEAN will try to liberate the flow of goods, services, investment, capital and skilled labor, and plans to increase its core competencies and strengthen the research capabilities of the region. Japan has many programs and diverse activities to strengthen research capability and develop human resources in the ASEAN region including Science and Technology Research Partnerships for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), the East Asian Science and Innovation Area Joint Research Program (e-ASIA JRP), and the Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network (SEED-Net). ASEAN also has versatile human development and research programs and the economic integration of ASEAN should provide various opportunities to promote further collaboration between Japan and ASEAN.
We would like to organize an ASEAN Japan S&T Cooperation Symposium to explore opportunities to promote further collaboration between Japan and ASEAN by studying the details of the S&T plans for the economic integration of ASEAN including the ASEAN Science and Technology and Innovation Challenge Initiative, the ASEAN Innovation Fund, and the ASEAN Talent Mobility (ATM) Program, and by discussing possible collaborations with existing S&T programs, and by designing new collaboration mechanisms.

List of Speakers