NAIST held the NAIST Indonesia Office 6th Anniversary Symposium （2021/08/07）

 NAIST established its first overseas education collaborative office in the IPB (IPB University) Alumni Hall (Bogor, West Java province, Indonesia) in April 2016. As a hub for enhancing NAIST's presence in ASEAN countries, it plays essential roles in activities including academic exchange with our partner institutions and NAIST alumni, and in active recruitment of talented students.

 To commemorate the office's 6th Anniversary, NAIST held an online symposium on August 7. Upon the opening of the event, NAIST President Dr.Kazuhiro Shiozaki expressed gratitude for the indispensable cooperation of the Indonesian NAIST Alumni Association (INAA) in smooth operation of the NAIST Indonesia Office. President Shiozaki called for efforts to co-create the future of science and technology through intensive education and research collaboration with our 8 Indonesian partner universities in order to achieve one of the goals of President's Vision 2030 announced in April 2021, "Advanced education and research through co-creation with our partner institutions". Following this, IPB Rector Dr. Arif Satria expounded how the NAIST Indonesia Office effectively functions to strengthen the strategic partnerships with the partner universities, and made a proposal to establish a research consortium focused on the goal of producing solutions to social challenges. Invited honorable guest Mr. Yusuke Takahashi, First Secretary of Embassy of Japan in Indonesia, commented that Japan is ready to get actively involved in the internationalization initiatives of Indonesian universities and expressed his expectation for NAIST to become a gateway into Japan for Indonesian students and researchers.

 The main objective of this Symposium was to disseminate information about intensive education and research collaboration which has developed remarkably between NAIST and Indonesia to both our faculty and staff and the representatives of our Indonesian partner universities through the presentations of NAIST faculty members involved in these productive exchanges. From the Division of Information Science, Assoc. Prof. Sakriani Sakti made a presentation on "Japan-Indonesian research collaboration activities on spoken language processing", followed by an introduction of the NAIST Data Science Center by Prof. Satoshi Nakamura. From the Division of Biological Science, individual projects to enhance research collaboration and human resources network with Indonesian partner universities (IPB, UI, UGM) supported by NAIST's "Global Collaboration Program" (Organized and implemented by the Division for Global Education) was presented by Prof. Hiroshi Takagi, Prof. Junya Kato and Assoc. Prof. Noriaki Sasai. From Division of Materials Science, Asst. Prof. Mihoko Yamada made a presentation on "Japan-Indonesia collaborative research towards development of naturally-derived carbon photonics materials and construction of young scientists' network", also supported by "Global Collaboration Program", directly introducing young researchers from both countries involved in this project. These presentations are proof of the research developments that the long-term mutual exchange of students and faculty members has achieved, based on the expanding, close-knit NAIST and Indonesian partner universities' research network.
 Following these, a guest speaker from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Bangkok Office, Ms. Chikako Doi, an International Program Associate, introduced a variety of programs funded by JSPS and called for applications from researchers in Indonesia.

 More than 150 people attended the Symposium including NAIST alumni in Indonesia, and students and faculty members of Indonesian partner universities and this demonstrates the strong ties between NAIST and Indonesia.
 The Symposium was followed by an Indonesian NAIST Alumni Association (INAA) Reunion held online and alumni of our partner universities made presentations of their current activities and the research trends of each partner institution. About 100 participants attended the Reunion and both events ended as a great success.