OMI, Koji

Founder and Chairman, STS Forum

Koji Omi had served the House from 1983 to 2009; Minister of Finance (Sept. 2006 – Aug. 2007); Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, and for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs (2001-2002). 

Koji Omi is considered a key political figure in the field of science and technology in Japan. One of his achievements included the central role he played in enacting the Fundamental Law of Science and Technology in 1995. This law contributed greatly toward making Japan a science and technology-oriented nation. As Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, and for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, he advocated for - and was very influential in - promoting the founding of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, regarded as an international and interdisciplinary graduate university with a “best-in-the world” concept in mind. He also founded the Science and Technology in Society (STS) forum with the aim of building a worldwide network among scientists, policymakers and business people. The STS forum has been successfully held annually in Kyoto, Japan, since 2004, to discuss the “lights and shadows” of science and technology for the sake of humankind.

 

ABSTRACT

10:15-11:15 7 NOVEMBER
PLENARY SESSION VI. PARLIAMENTARY SESSION: science in policy-making (PART 1)