Was asked today (September 18, 2012) to be one of a group of about 5 Japanese experts – who I was asked to help select – to brief the Minister for Energy and Natural Resources of Canada, Mr Joe Oliver. We were asked to keep the conversation off-the-record, so I can’t write about the meeting.
Minister Oliver visited Japan leading a delegation of about 100 Canadian Energy sector leaders, CEOs, Government Officials, and the confidential briefing and discussion about Japan’s energy sector among a small group of about 5 Japanese experts, the Ambassador and Minister Oliver, was followed by a large lunch with about 100 Japanese and Canadian energy leaders and CEOs.
The organizers of the legendary TTI-Vanguard conference series organized a conference on “Futureproofing” in Tokyo, and invited me to give a keynote on Japan’s creativity and first-to-market for many technologies and business models, and Japan’s difficulties to capture global value from this creativity, a phenomenon often called “Japan’s Galapagos syndrome“.
The organizers, and particularly the legendary Bob Lucky and organizer Hal Levin made great efforts in assisting me to plan and prepare my talk. Although I was given about 30-40 minutes for my talk I was asked to present the conclusions in the first slide at the beginning of my talk and then essentially be prepared for open discussion during the 30-40 minutes instead of giving a traditional talk.
Conclusions 1: Japan has invented and first brought to market many new technologies and business models in today’s hottest areas, and Japan has been terrible at capturing global value from this incredible creativity
Conclusions 2: why does it take at least 10 years to reinvent the wheel in London?
Conclusions 3: WHAT is holding Japan back to capture global value from fantastic inventions?
William Saito and myself discussed with a group of about 20-30 entrepreneurs and Tokyo based business people about how our organizations, our customers, our staff and ourselves coped with the March 11, 2011 disaster, and what we learnt to reduce the impact and risks of future disasters.
14:00 Welcome by Thomas Loidl, Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the Austrian Embassy
14:10 Gerhard Fasol: today’s agenda”
14:20 – 14:40 Tatsuo Masuda
Professor at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, served as Director of Oil Markets and Emergency Preparedness of IEA
“New energy architecture for Japan”
14:40 – 15:20 Kiyoshi Kurokawa (schedule permitting)
Chairman of Japan’s Parliamentary Commission on the Fukushima Disaster, served as Special Cabinet Advisor on Science, Technology and Innovation
“Fukushima crisis fueling the third opening of Japan”
15:50 – 16:10 Hideaki Watanabe
Corporate Vice-President, Nissan Motor Company, in charge of Electric Vehicles and Zero Emission Business
“The new energy management supported by Electric Vehicles”
16:10 – 16:30 Robert Geller
Professor of Geophysics University of Tokyo, seismologist. First ever tenured non-Japanese faculty member at the University of Tokyo
“Understanding earthquakes: let’s put the physics back into geophysics!”
16:50 – 17:30 Gerhard Fasol
Physicist. CEO of Eurotechnology Japan KK, served as Assoc Professor at Tokyo University and Lecturer at Cambridge University and Manager of Hitachi Cambridge R&D lab
“Ludwig Boltzmann and the laws governing energy”
17:30 – 17:50 Jonathan M Dorfan
Particle physicist
President, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, OIST. Served as Director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
“New Solutions for Energy – OIST’s R&am;D Program”
Followed by reception (private, invitation only)
Registration: latest 15 February 2011 Further information: Gerhard Fasol Peter Storer, Minister for Cultural Affairs, Embassy of Austria
Summary
Tatsuo Masuda: “New energy architecture for Japan”
Tatsuo Masuda described how Japan’s energy strategy and policy was until recently determined more or less behind closed doors by a group of about 100 insiders, of which Tatsuo Masuda has been one. This situation could continue as long as nothing went wrong.
Atomic energy was introduced to Japan via the USA, and instead of growing nuclear technology over an extended period of time within Japan, policians decided on a very short time schedule, which made it impossible to develop nuclear technology within Japan, and left purchase of ready-made nuclear power-plants and adoption of nuclear power technology from the USA as the only option.
Tatsuo Masuda predicts the “democratization” of electrical power generation in Japan. While at present almost all electrical power in Japan is produced by regional monopoly companies, in the future a development is likely, where many organizations, corporations, and private citizens will take part, or even may take over the main task or producing electrical energy in Japan.
Hideaki Watanabe: “The new energy management supported by Electric Vehicles”
Hideki Watanabe explained Nissan’s Leaf electrical vehicle program, and the associated energy technologies and businesses. During the coffee break, participants studied a Lead car, and an animated discussion took place about advantages and disadvantages of electrical cars, and in particular the Lead with respect to cold weather performance and other extreme conditions
Mr Watanabe explained that the Leaf electric car is the center of an energy management system, where the battery of Leaf electric car is an integral part of the energy management of the owner’s household.
Robert Geller: “Understanding earthquakes: let’s put the physics back into geophysics!”
Robert Geller calls for an return to the principles of physics in understanding earth quakes and in preparing for future disasters, instead of following positions based on political or funding priorities.
Robert Geller for a long time has been arguing for the view, that the timing, location and strength of earthquakes cannot be predicted due to fundamental principles of physics, and the nature of the earth. Robert demonstrated his arguments by bending a pencil in front of us (see photos below). While the stress distribution and other details can be calculated with precision, it is not possible to predict the time and the way the pencil breaks with accuracy. Robert argues that in a similar way, earth quakes can also not be predicted, because earth quakes are essentially in the mathematical sense chaotic phenomena.
Robert explained how a group of earth scientists years ago promised that they could predict earth quakes with the purpose of obtaining politically motivated funding for their research. They were successful in obtaining continuous research funding with the explicit purpose of developing methods to predict earthquakes. Once this funding started flowing for many years now, it is very difficult for scientists obtaining this funding to put the possibility of earthquake prediction in question.
Robert also discussed official earth quake risk maps, and explained that many of the strongest earth quakes occur in areas which are officially designated as low risk areas.
Robert called for a reassessment of earth quake policies and preparations for future disasters, using the most up-to-date results of earth-science, and to review outdated positions, and abandon those positions, which have been shown to be invalid using established methods of physics.
Gerhard Fasol: “Ludwig Boltzmann and the laws governing energy”
Gerhard Fasol reviewed Ludwig Boltzmann’s life and work, and particular his life-long work on the fundamental laws of physics governing energy.
Jonathan M Dorfan: “New Solutions for Energy – OIST’s R&D Program”
Jonathan Dorfan introduced OIST, The Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, which has just recently been accredited as a Graduate University by the Japanese Ministry of Education, and introduced several research programs in the field of energy generation.
Jonathan explained the history of OIST, and OIST’s pioneering position as an English speaking international Graduate University in Japan. In particular, OIST has no Departments which would create barriers between research groups, instead the emphasis is on cross-disciplinary cooperation supported by the latest instrumentats and research tools. According to Jonathan, OIST succeeds in attracting most outstanding staff and students – surprisingly current market conditions seem to make it easier to attract outstanding research staff than students – the market for attracting outstanding students seems to be more competitive than for research staff. OIST offers scholarships for students, many or all of which are graduates from top ranking undergraduate schools.
Photos
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on Thursday, 17th February 2011, Embassy of Austria, Tokyo.
14:00 Welcome by Michael Haider, Cultural Counsellor of the Austrian Embassy
14:10 – 14:40 Gerhard Fasol,
“Ludwig Boltzmann: Pioneer of understanding Space and Energy”
15:00 – 15:45 Tetsuhiko Ikegami, PhD
Chairman, Space Activities Commission, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
“Japan’s space activities and international space cooperation
16:00 – 16:30 Kevin Yu
Director of Asia Pacific, Tesla Motors Japan
“The Tesla Motors Electric Car”
16:30-17:00 Tatsuo Masuda
Professor, Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Advisor JAPEX, and Board Member SOC Corporation
“Economics and Geopolitics of Climate Change
Followed by reception (private, invitation only)
Registration: latest 15 February Further information: Gerhard Fasol Georg Poestinger, Counsellor, Austrian Embassy, Tel 03-3451-8281
Summary
Gerhard Fasol: “Ludwig Boltzmann: Pioneer of understanding Space and Energy”
Gerhard Fasol reviewed Ludwig Boltzmann’s pioneering work on space and energy, starting with and overview of Ludwig Boltzmann’s personal live. Boltzmann’s first scientific publication was “Über die Bewegung der Elektrizität in krummen Flächen” (propagation of electricity on curved surfaces) in 1865 at the age of 21 years. This work followed the publication of the Maxwell’s equations by James Clerk Maxwell, in 1861-1862, which of course were a very hot scientific event at that time. All together about 1/5th of Boltzmann’s work was about electro-magnetism.
Ludwig Boltzmann became Full Professor at the age of 25 years at the University of Graz, and at the age of 43 years, became Rektor (= President) of the University of Graz. He travelled extensively, including three trips to the United States of America. Without doubt his frequent travel also encouraged
Boltzmann’s interest in aviation. In Boltzmann’s days, it was not clear yet, which way aviation would be successful, or if it would be successful at all. There were three options: (1) baloons, (2) aerodynamic wings and airscrew, and (3) bird-like flapping wings. Boltzmann clearly prefered and supporte research for flight experiments with aerodynamic wings and airscrews – propellers.
Ludwig Boltzmann worked on the fundamentals of space science, he gave much thought on the irreversibility of time, and on whether space is Euclidic or curved.
Concluding his talk, Gerhard Fasol, reviewed what we can learn here in Japan from Ludwig Boltzmann. It is clear that Japan currently is in a very difficult situation with many challenges. Ludwig Boltzmann’s work clearly points to solutions for some of the challenges facing Japan now, and also indicates some paths to be taken.
Tetsuhiko Ikegami: “Japan’s space activities and international space cooperation”
Dr. Ikegami reminded us of the miracle, that our planet earth holds an only 50 km thin
atmosphere for about 4.5 billion years, and most people on earth are not even conscientously
aware of this miracle.
The Hayabusa space probe was on its way between 2003 – 2010 for more than 7 years, and landed in Australia on 13 June 2010, awaited with great expectation and sympathy. The Minister of MEXT praised JAXA, the Universities and small and medium entreprises, he explained that a Minister of MEXT had never before praised small and medium enterprises before, because in Japan’s silo ministry system, small and medium enterprises are the responsibility of the Economics and Industry Ministry, METI.
The interplanetary kite-craft IKAROS probe consists of a 14 meter x 14 meter sail, and was driven by light pressure from the sun – the light force corresponds to 0.1 gG. A thin-film solar battery and liquid crystals control the light reflection for steering.
In the Japanese population the space program finds great interest and sympathy. Hayabusa’s return encouraged people in an uncertain society. Several books about space and space exploration became best-sellers and were rewarded with prestigious book awards.
In the Japanese population the space program finds great interest and sympathy. Hayabusa’s return encouraged people in an uncertain society. Several books about space and space exploration became best-sellers and were rewarded with prestigious book awards.
Japan is an active participant in the international space station, contributing the Kibo module.
Japan did an exceptionally good job in space, with relatively small budgets compared to US and EU space budgets.
Dr. Ikegami concluded with an outlook on future programs, and on the key issues facing space exploration and space development
Kevin Yu: “The Tesla Motors Electric Car”
Tesla Motors wants to change the global car industry. Why did Tesla start by building an electric sports car, while the world does not really need another sports car? Tesla wanted to make electric cars exciting! After the Tesla Roadster, Tesla will introduce a family saloon, the Tesla S, at about 1/2 the price of the Roadster, and with three battery options to choose from for a driving range of 160, 200 and 300 miles.
Governments cannot pay people enough to bring a breakthrough for electric cars – instead consumers must want to buy electric cars without Government subsidies. To achieve such consumer demand, electric cars must be more exciting, better, higher performance and cheaper than traditional gasoline driven cars.
Tesla uses the same batteries as are used for laptop computers. Therefore advances in battery technology will happen independent of Tesla’s battery procurement. What matters instead is how Tesla uses and manages the energy. Therefore Tesla’s key intellectual property is in energy management and usage, not in battery technology itself.
Tetsuo Masuda: “Economics and Geopolitics of Climate Change”
Climate change originates from the beginning of industrialization in the 18th century. A key issue in order to achieve change in positive directions is political leadership. Since political leadership is usually focussed on short term issues in order to achieve victory at elections, it is necessary to impress the importance of climate change issues on political leaders. Natural disasters, food shortages, huge movements of refugees are events which impact political leaders to take action in the right direction. Developed and developing countries have different interests, and discussions are necessary in order resolve these differences of interest.
Photos
Dr. Ikegami, Chairman of Japan’s Space Commission, explains Japan’s space exploration program
Kevin Yu, Head of Asia-Pac for Tesla Motors, demonstrates a Tesla Roadster
Dr. Ikegami, Head of Japan’s Space Commission, test drives a Tesla Roadster
Kevin Yu, Head of Asia-Pac for Tesla Motors, explains Tesla Roadster’s battery and motor system
Michael Haider, Cultural Attache of the Austrian Embassy test drives a Tesla Roadster
Kevin Yu, Head of Asia-Pac for Tesla Motors, explains Tesla Motor’s strategy, while Dr. Ikegami, Head of Japan’s Space Commission listens
Tatsuo Masuda explains geopolitics of global warming
Reception
Contact
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14:00 Welcome by HE the Ambassador of Austria to Japan
14:10 – 14:40 Gerhard Fasol,
“Ludwig Boltzmann as a local and global leader”
15:00 – 15:20 Atsuko Heshiki, MD and PhD
President of Medical Woman’s International Association (MWIA) and Professor Emeritus at Saitama Medical School
“Leadership in Professionalism”
15:20 – 15:40 Robert J Geller
Professor of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo
“Faculty appointments and promotions in the age of bibliometrics”
15:40 – 16:00 Podium discussion
“Leadership and diversity”
16:15-17:15 Kiyoshi Kurokawa,
Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Science, Tokyo, Science and Technology, Former President of the Science Council of Japan, and
Special Advisor to the Cabinet
“Leadership and Diversity”
Followed by reception (private, invitation only)
Registration: latest 16 February 2010 Further information: Gerhard Fasol Georg Poestinger, Counsellor, Austrian Embassy, Tel 03-3451-8281
Summary
As every year this year’s high-light was Professor Kurokawa’s presentation – Professor Kurokawa gave a passionate plea for change on all fronts – most surprising was his suggestion to select a Muslim Malaisian woman as the next President of Tokyo University, in order to achieve urgently needed changes in Japan’s society and Japan’s Universities.
Professor Heshiki explained about ethics and professionalism focusing on medical sciences and the work of medical professionals.
Professor Robert Geller explained how today’s bibliometrics revolution allows much better than in the past to measure the impact of scientific work. Robert suggested how to use bibliometric data to make the selection, appointments and promotions of researchers and academics more efficient.
Gerhard Fasol focused on Ludwig Boltzmann’s leadership qualities and his global impact. Ludwig Boltzmann travelled three times to the United States of America, and he travelled, and had impact all over Europe. He also worked in several different Universities in Austria and Germany.
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On October 21, 2009, I was asked to give a talk about Japan’s media sector to a delegation of the Directors and Board Members of YLE, Finland’s Broadcasting Company.
My title was: “Japan’s media revolution – a European perspective”
Agenda:
Why is there no Nokia in Japan? Is Japan’s market difficult and closed? What can we learn?
Many advanced technologies and services are first to market in Japan vs Galapagos effect
