On April 16, a four-member Japanese delegation led by Yukihide HAYASHI, Principal Fellow, Overseas Research Unit, Center for Research and Development Strategy at Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST-CRDS), and Kazuho KAWAMATA, JST Beijing Representative Office, paid a visit to CASTED. Yukihide HAYASHI formerly served as deputy minister of MEXT, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, responsible for S&T affairs. A key mission of JST-CRDS is to analyze the S&T development of countries with a view to providing reference for Japan’s own S&T development.

At the meeting held with delegation and chaired by Sun Fuquan, member of the Academy Affairs Committee of CASTED, Wu Yishan, Vice President of CASTED, gave an introduction to CASTED, and Li Zhe, Director of CASTED Institute of Science and Technology Systems and Management, and Wang Ge, Director of CASTED Institute of Foresight and Evaluation, introduced China’s national innovation system, S&T system reform and key policy considerations, and the latest developments of China’s technology forecasting and evaluation system, respectively.

Yukihide HAYASHI introduced CRDS and its findings of overseas S&T development and STI policy tracking of major countries and regions. He observed that China has achieved robust economic growth and made giants strides in S&T development as well in recent years and that CRDS has prioritized China as well as USA and Europe in its tracking. He hoped to communicate with CASTED on China’s S&T development status and summarize its development patterns, laws and challenges. The two sides also had discussions on international comparative research on STI policies of China and Japan, potential areas of cooperation, and exchange of visits.