Video discussion with Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, Founder of the Centre for Existential Risk at Cambridge University
Lord Martin Rees in discussion with Trinity in Japan on 31 July 2020. Topics discussed include the recent Nobel Prize for Didier Queloz, existential risks to humanity, exoplanets and extraterrestrial life, the possibility and conditions on planet Mars and on other planets and exoplanets, and experimental programs to detect extraterrestrial life, and the current situation at Trinity College Cambridge in the virus crisis.
Martin achieved many discoveries in astrophysics and astronomy including the origin of cosmic background radiation black holes, quasars, and gamma ray bursts. Martin is Astronomer Royal, was Master of Trinity College, and President of the Royal Society. Over his long career and today, Martin had and has many important leadership positions, and has received many prizes and distinctions.
Masaki Ogata, East Japan Railway Company, Board Director and Vice-Chairman, Executive Vice-President of Technology & Overseas Related Affairs “Open Innovation and MaaS of JR East”
11th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum, 20 February 2019 at the Embassy of Austria, Tokyo.
Gerhard Fasol, Chair
11th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum Tokyo 2019
Program
Welcome by the Ambassador of Austria, Hubert Heiss.
Gerhard Fasol, CEO and Founder Eurotechnology Japan K, Guest-Professor Kyushu University, former faculty Cambridge University and Tokyo University, Past-Fellow Trinity College Cambridge “Today’s agenda. Entropy, information and Ludwig Boltzmann“
11th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum 2019: Ambassador of Austria, Huber Heiss (left), and Gerhard Fasol (right)Noriko Osumi: Towards understanding the mystery of neuro-development disorders: lessons from animal modelsTakaaki Kajita: Neutrino research in Kamioka and the status of Japanese basic science with large research infrastructuresHiroshi Nakamura: NTT DOCOMO driving digital transformation in the 5G era – co-create new values with partnersPeter Zoller: Quantum Computing and Quantum Simulation with Cold Atoms11th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum 201911th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum 2019
Gerhard Fasol: Corporate Governance Reforms: How the Way Japanese Corporations Take Decisions is Changing
SJCC Swiss-Japanese Chamber of Commerce Friday 12 October 2018, 18:30-19:45, JETRO Office Geneva
Prime Minister Abe’s corporate governance reforms are arguably one of the biggest success stories of his reform program to promote Japan’s economic growth. Japan’s Government in coordination with the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Agency changed the legal and regulatory framework for the supervision of management for stock market-traded companies, faster than many thought this could be done.
Japanese corporations are changing their governance structure, bring in independent Board Directors with fresh ideas and independent views and experience. The share of foreigners on Japan’s Board of Directors is still low (0.5%) but increasing as they bring global expertise to the top level of increasingly globalizing Japanese companies.
The presentation is based on Gerhard Fasol’s experience as Board Director and Member of the Supervisory and Audit Committee of a stock market listed Japanese group. It will explain some details of how Japanese stock market listed corporations take decisions, the different models for management supervision available under Japanese law, and how this works in daily practice.
Understanding how Japanese corporations take decisions, is a key success factor for companies seeking to achieve agreements with Japanese corporations that need Board approval, e.g. for investments, M&A, partnerships or large purchases, as well as for investors in listed Japanese company stock, and employees of Japanese companies. Knowledge about Japanese Corporate Governance is also crucial for the success of Foreign subsidiaries in Japan.
About the speaker, Gerhard Fasol
Dr. Gerhard Fasol, of Austrian origin living in Tokyo, graduated with a PhD in Physics of Cambridge University. He first came to Japan in 1984 to help build a research cooperation with NTT. In 1997 he founded the company Eurotechnology Japan KK and has been working with hundreds of Japanese and foreign companies on cross-border business development and M&A projects. For four years he served as Board Director of a Japanese stock market listed company.
He is also Guest-Professor at Kyushu University and was tenured faculty at Cambridge University, Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity College Cambridge, and also Guest Professor in Physics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. In recent years he has been focusing on questions of Corporate Governance at Japanese companies, a topic about which he is frequently presenting at a wide range of organizations in and outside Japan. He served on the Advisory Board to the former Chairman of JETRO Mr Noboru Hatakeyama.
Date Friday 12 October 2018 Time From 18:45 to 19:45 (registration opens 18:30) Venue JETRO Office Geneva, Rue de Lausanne 80, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Fee SJCC/JETRO/JCG Members and Guests: CHF 20, Non-Members: CHF 30 Organization SJCC Swiss-Japanese Chamber of Commerce
Corporate governance reforms: making Japanese corporations great again?
Understanding how Japanese Boards of Directors function helps you close deals Monday, May 28, 2018, 19:00-21:00 at CCIFJ
Stimulating Japanese companies’ growth is a key element of Prime Minister Abe’s economic growth policies. For companies to grow, management needs to be improved, Boards of Directors need to bring in diverse experiences and new ideas, and Boards need to control executive management effectively. Corporate governance is important for investors, and also for those aiming to achieve major decisions from Japanese companies. If you want to make a major sale, an M&A transaction or create a partnership with a Japanese company, you need to understand how Japanese companies take decisions at Board of Directors level.
The speaker is one of a limited number of foreigners with several years experience as Board Director and member of the Supervisory & Audit committee of a Japanese stock market listed company. His presentation will aim to give you a hands-on understanding of Japanese Board of Directors work from an insider with several years Japanese Board experience. He will illustrate this with an example, where he helped a European industrial group achieve agreement to cooperate from a large Japanese industrial group within 12 hours, by applying his Japanese Board Director experience.
He addresses C-level executives aiming to close deals with Japanese corporations, and to fund managers who have new duties to interact more closely with Japanese Boards under the new stewardship code of the FSA. He will also prepare you for coming changes to these rules.
About the speaker
Gerhard Fasol graduated with a PhD in Physics of Cambridge University, Cavendish Laboratory, and Trinity College. He founded the company Eurotechnology Japan KK in 1997 and has been working with hundreds of Japanese and foreign companies on cross-border business development and M&A projects. He first came to Japan in 1984 to help build a research cooperation with NTT. For four years he served as Board Director of the Japanese stock market listed cybersecurity group GMO Cloud KK.
He is also Guest-Professor at Kyushu University. He was tenured faculty at Cambridge University, Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity College Cambridge, and also Guest Professor in Physics at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris.
Date Monday, May 28, 2018
Time From 19:00 to 21:00 (doors open at 18:30)
Venue CCI France Japon, 1F Meeting room
Admission Fee (to be paid in cash at the door or online via PayPal)
JPY 4 000 for members of the French Chamber
JPY 6 000 for non-members
Language English
Deadline for registration/cancellation Thursday, May 24, 2018, 17:00
Registration: please click on the button “S’inscrire” at the bottom of this page.
Monday, March 12, 2018, 12:00 – 13:30 at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Japan FCCJ
While many Japanese corporations are still admired around the world, too many have for years suffered sluggish growth and low profitability. A string of corporate scandals and failures have shocked the pubic and corroded confidence in Japanese business.
The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has spearheaded reforms. A corporate governance code has been introduced to improve supervision of management and increase the number of independent outside directors. Change is happening faster than many expected and the reforms are generally regarded as successful. Yet, much still needs to be done to bring more diversity into Japanese boardrooms.
Gerhard Fasol is one of a tiny number of foreigners in the boardrooms of listed Japanese corporations. A physicist and entrepreneur, he has been in Tokyo for quarter of a century. For four years he has been Board Director, and since last year additionally a member of the Supervisory and Audit Committee of the Japanese cybersecurity group GMO Cloud KK, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
With years of experience of mergers and acquisitions and cross-border business development projects in Tokyo, Fasol is well placed to explain what’s happening inside Japan Inc. He will come to the FCCJ to discuss what we might expect from Japan’s corporate governance reforms.
10th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum, 20 February 2018 at the Embassy of Austria in Tokyo
Gerhard Fasol, Chair
10th Ludwig Boltzmann Forum Tokyo 2018
Program
Welcome by the Ambassador of Austria, represented by Magister Konstantin Saupe (Embassy of Austria)
Gerhard Fasol CEO Eurotechnology Japan KK, Board Director GMO Cloud KK, Guest-Professor Kyushu University, former faculty Cambridge University and Tokyo University, past Fellow, Trinity College Cambridge “Entropy, Information and Ludwig Boltzmann“
Tomoko Nakanishi Commissioner, Japan Atomic Energy Commission, President, Japan Society for Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences, Tokyo University Professor “What is revealed by radiation in living plants“
Hiroyuki Sasaki Vice-President Kyushu University, Director of the Epigenome Network Research Center, Professor, Medical Institute of Bioregulation “Strategy and Serendipity in Science“
Wolfgang Kautek Professor for Physical Chemistry at University of Vienna, Member of Scientific Board of Austrian Research Associations, President of the Erwin Schrödinger Society for Nanosciences (ESG), Chairman of the Research Group “Physical Chemistry” of the Austrian Chemical Society (GÖCh) “Nanotechnology and Critical Raw Materials“
Gerhard Fasol CEO, Eurotechnology Japan KK, Board Director, GMO Cloud KK. former faculty Cambridge University and past Fellow, Trinity College Cambridge
While many Japanese corporations are greatly admired around the world, certain aspects of Japanese management style are believed to be holding back Japan’s economic growth. The media focus mainly on extreme cases and fraud, but the responsibilities of Directors go far beyond these defensive, compliance-type duties. Preventing fraud alone is not sufficient to ensure growth and long-term success; it is just the baseline!
Based on several years of direct experience as a non-Japanese Director of a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Japanese company, Gerhard Fasol will discuss the reforms to Japanese corporate governance made in recent years, and what, in his view, still needs to be done. He will also discuss issues of diversity and its importance for the quality of management in Japanese corporations.
About the contributors
Gerhard Fasol
Gerhard Fasol founded the M&A and cross-border advisory firm Eurotechnology Japan in 1997, and has worked on a large number of M&A and cross-border projects in Tokyo over the last 20 years. Since 2014 he has been a Board Director and Member of the Supervisory & Audit Committee of the Japanese cybersecurity group GMO Cloud KK, listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and since April 2017 he has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Kyushu. He gained a PhD in Physics at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then became a Lecturer at Cambridge University, based at the Cavendish Laboratory, while also being a Research Fellow, Teaching Fellow and Director of Studies at Trinity College. He has worked as a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute, Stuttgart, on semiconductor and solid state physics research, as Manager of the Hitachi Research Laboratory in Cambridge, and as an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering at Tokyo University.
Sir Stephen Gomersall
Sir Stephen Gomersall studied at Cambridge and Stanford University, and joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1970. He served in Japan as Political Officer (1972-1977), Economic Counsellor (1986-1990), and Ambassador (1999-2004), and also in the United States as Political Officer in Washington and as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York. From 2004 he became Chief Executive for Europe in Hitachi, and was the first non-Japanese to serve on the company’s main Board from 2011-2014. He is currently a Director of Hitachi Europe and Hitachi’s main UK subsidiaries investing in railway manufacturing and nuclear power development. He was knighted by the British Government in 2000, and in 2015 received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan for services to UK-Japan economic relations.
More on the topic of corporate governance reforms in Japan
The wealth and welfare of everyone living in Japan is based on the success of Japanese companies, how well companies are managed, and how managers are encouraged, supported and controlled.
Therefore corporate governance reforms are an important part of the “Abenomics” economic reform program. Many think that the corporate governance reforms of recent years have been the most successful part of Abenomics, and the former Chairman of the Tokyo Stock Exchange even said that these reforms happened much faster than he had thought.
Corporate governance mainly refers to the responsibilities of Board Directors who take part in the major decision making of every company, who supervise and support the executive management including the CEO/President of the company, and this make essential contributions to the success of companies.
Another aspect of corporate governance is the “stewardship code”, which refers to the influence of investors on company’s executive management.
Understanding decision making and the control of management, the way Japanese companies reach decisions and how this decision making is supervised, is essential knowledge for everyone who works to persuade Japanese corporations to take desired decisions, e.g. to achieve sales, partnerships, investments, or even Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), who invests in Japanese corporations. Employees should also understand how the companies they work for are run.
This talk will explain the major components and fundamentals of corporate governance and its reforms in Japan based on several years of practical hands-on experience on the Board of Directors and on the Supervisory & Audit Committee of a stock market listed Japanese corporation.
Speaker: Gerhard Fasol
Gerhard Fasol graduated with a PhD in Physics from Cambridge University and Trinity College. He worked as research scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute Stuttgart on semiconductor and solid state physics research. He was tenured Faculty in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, and he was Research Fellow, then Teaching Fellow and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences at Trinity College Cambridge. He was Manager of the Hitachi Research Laboratory in Cambridge, Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering at Tokyo University, and is founder of the advisory firm Eurotechnology Japan. He is Board Director of GMO Cloud KK, and since April 2017 he is Visiting Professor at the University of Kyushu.
Gerhard Fasol: Corporate governance reforms in Japan: hands-on insights as Board Director of a Japanese groupGerhard Fasol: Corporate governance reforms in Japan: hands-on insights as Board Director of a Japanese groupGerhard Fasol: Corporate governance reforms in Japan: hands-on insights as Board Director of a Japanese groupGerhard Fasol: Corporate governance reforms in Japan: hands-on insights as Board Director of a Japanese group
Copyright (c) 2017 by Eurotechnology Japan. All Rights Reserved.
Gerhard Fasol: A European view on the future of engineering education in Kyushu
Future engineering education. 4th Symposium of the Kyushu Society for Engineering Education. 11 July 2017 13:00-16:30 Kyushu Institute of Technology
Future engineering education meeting program.
13:00-15:00
Yuichi Harada, Professor, Kyushu University: “Practical education using global innovation”
Shingo Igarashi, Deputy Director General and Associate Professor, Robert T Huang Entrepreneurship Center, Kyushu University: “Merging education for innovation, and student’s independence
Gerhard Fasol, CEO Eurotechnology Japan KK, Board Director GMO Cloud KK, Guest-Professor Kyushu University: “Future engineering education and industrial cooperation – European and UK views”
Future engineering education and industrial cooperation – European and UK views (outline of the talk)
Gerhard Fasol, CEO Eurotechnology Japan KK, Board Director GMO Cloud KK, Guest-Professor Kyushu University
Outline:
Self introduction – as relevant for engineering education
Kyushu’s economic growth in comparison, and engineering education’s responsibility
Kyushu’s economic growth stopped around the year 2000, while most other comparable economies in advanced countries have continued to grow. e.g. Holland’s and Kyushu’s economic size were about the same in the year 2000, while today Netherlands’ economy is about two times the size of Kyushu.
Many studies have shown the contributions of universities to economic growth, and for example MIT has determined in detail the contributions of MIT to economic growth.
Although we should not read too much into University’s ranking tables, there is a drastic difference in the ranking of Kyushu’s Universities and Netherlands’ or Singapore’s Universities.
I think there are strong arguments, that improvements of Kyushu’s Universities including engineering education are necessary to enable a restart of Kyushu’s economy.
Thus the need for restarting Kyushu’s economic growth provides a strong motivation to improve engineering education in Kyushu.
How to improve engineering education: Escaping Flatland
“Inbreeding” is well recognized as Japan’s Universities’ top problem to overcome. People must circulate to circulate ideas.
Example: in Germany we have “Hausberufungsverbot”, not only in Universities, but also in many other organizations, and we have “Lehr- und Wanderjahre” with 100s of years of history.
Japan also has a long tradition of welcoming and adopting philosophy, religion and technology from many countries including India, Europe, USA, Korea and many other areas.
“Flatland – a romance of many dimensions” by A. Square (Edwin A Abbott) has been written both as a mathematics teaching tool to visualize dimensions, by introducing a society confined to live in two dimensions = FlatLand.
Flatland is both a geometrical teaching tool, as well as a psychological / sociological study.
The three key elements in a successful ecosystem for innovation
Professor Ian Walmsley, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation of Oxford University, recently explained that there are three key elements in a successful ecosystem for innovation:
Critical mass: sufficient capacity for generating and identifying good and fruitful ideas
Cross-fertilization of concepts: the collision of different ways of thinking, both cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural
Competitive tensioning: ideas must be compared with the best of the world
How to improve engineering education: Traditional lectures vs Active learning
Pioneering education research by Ibrahim Abou Halloun and David Hastens (American Journal of Physics) shows the physics (and engineering) students mostly enter university with “Common Sense” (CS) views of physics. CS is basically pre-Newton and related to Aristoteles works (384-322 BC).
Aristoteles work was the basis for physics understanding and teaching for about 2000 years, until Newton revolutionized our understanding of physics, based on mathematical analysis and modeling of experimental observations.
Education research shows that a large fraction of students enter University with Common Sense (CS) views on physics, and too few students are “converted” to Newton’s views of physics, and traditional lectures are not very effective at achieving this “conversion”.
R W Revans (1907-2003) introduced the concept of “active learning”.
Comparative studies (Scott Freeman, Sarah Eddy, Miles McDonough, Michelle Smith, Nnadozie Okoroafor, Hannah Jordt, May Pat Wenderoth, PNAS) show that active learning achieved 21.8% examination failure rate, while traditional lecture based teaching resulted in 33.8% failure rates (55% higher than active learning).
Thus we need to develop active learning to supplement or replace traditional lecture based teaching, and bring active techniques to students, and let students do curiosity based research as early as possible.
In Cambridge University and Oxford University “supervisions” are another alternative to classical lectures.
Future engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationyFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationFuture engineering education – a European view. Gerhard Fasol for the Kyushu Society for Engineering EducationKyushu Institute of Technology
Copyright (c) 2017 by Gerhard Fasol. All Rights Reserved.
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