On Friday Oct. 18th the NAIST Tokyo Forum 2013 was held at Yurakucho Asahi Hall. This year's title was "'Inventing the Future' ~ The Mission of Graduate Schools for the Future." The Tokyo Forum has been held annually from 1997 and this year there were over 300 attendees from around Japan.
The keynote speaker was the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science President Yuichiro Anzai, who gave a lecture entitled "For True National Development through Science and Technology." With the Great East Japan Earthquake as a starting point, he discussed three main topics:
"What is 'real' national development through science and technology?"
"Policies for research promotion, technology development, and societal improvement" "The current situation and prospects of universities, graduate schools, and human resource development"

Following this informative lecture filled with many suggestions, a lively panel discussion was held over the topic of "The future of science and technology, and the development of the necessary human resources." The panel included Monte Cassim (Special Advisor to the President, Ritsumeikan University/ Director, Kyoto Museum for World Peace, Ritsumeikan University), Ayao Tsuge (President, The Japan Federation of Engineering Societies), Kumiyo Nakakoji (Professor, Unit of Design, Center for the Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research, Kyoto University/ Head, SRA Inc. Frontier Technology Laboratory), Naotake Ogasawara (President, NAIST), and Akira Ozeki (Former Assistant Editor in Chief, Editorial Department, The Asahi Shimbun/ Science Journalist), who served as coordinator for the discussion.