Professor Nishimura has been serving as Director of the Institute of Economic Research at Kyoto University since April 2006, and Professor at the same institute since 1987. Formerly, he served as Associate Professor at University of Southern California, Assistant Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Associate Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. In 2000, he also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Paris as well as Visiting Professor at the University of Marseille. He has been a Fellow of the Econometric Society since 1992, and was appointed and served as the President of the Japanese Economic Association for one year, from April 2000.

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Professor Fujita served as Professor of the Institute of Economic Research at Kyoto University; President of the Institute of Developing Economies - JETRO (2003-’07); and Professor in the Department of Economics/Regional Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching interests are urban economics, regional economics, and spatial economics. He holds a Ph.D. in Regional Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Major works: The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions, and International Trade (with P. Krugman and A. J. Venables), MIT Press, 1999; Economics of Agglomeration: Cities, Industrial Location, and Regional Growth (with J. Thisse), Cambridge University Press, 2002; The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics: Spatial Economics, vol. 1, 2 (editor), Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 2005; Regional Integration in East Asia: From the Viewpoint of Spatial Economics (editor), Palgrave Macmillan, 2007

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Keith E. Maskus is Professor of Economics and Associate Dean for Social Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has been a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. He is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for International Economics, a Fellow at the Kiel Institute for World Economics, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Adelaide. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide and the University of Bocconi, and a Visiting Scholar at the CES-Ifo Institute at the University of Munich and the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University. He serves also as a Consultant for the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization. Dr. Maskus received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan in 1981 and has written extensively about various aspects of international trade. His current research focuses on the international economic aspects of protecting intellectual property rights.

Major works: Intellectual Property Rights in the Global Economy, Institute for International Economics, 2000; International Public Goods and the Transfer of Technology under a Globalized Intellectual Property Regime (co-editor), Cambridge University Press, 2005.

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Mr. Chen obtained his M.A. in Engineering in 1984 from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and worked as Assistant to the Professor in the same university from 1984 to 1985. He joined the Development Research Center of the State Council of the PRC (DRC) in 1985 and has been working as a Deputy-Director-level Researcher. He filled key posts in the Technological Economy Research Department, Corporate Economy Research Department, and Corporate Research Institute of the State Council Development Research Center before assuming his present post in November 2000. From May 1991 to May 1992, Mr. Chen was a Visiting Researcher in the Economics Department of the University of Tokyo.

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Professor Wakasugi is also Adjunct Professor, and was formerly Professor, Department of Economics, Keio University (2004-'07); Professor, Department of Economics, Yokohama National University (1992-2004); Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Shinshu University (1986-'89). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Tokyo in 1988 and M.A. in Economics from Yale University in 1979.

Recent Publications: Modern International Trade - Microdata Analysis, Iwanami-shoten 2007; "What Factors Determine the Mode of Overseas R&D by Multinationals? Empirical Evidence," (with Banri Ito), Research Policy, 36(8), 2007; "The Effects of Chinese Regional Conditions on the Location Choice of Japanese Affiliates," Japanese Economic Review, 56(4). 2005.

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Dr. Sawa earned a B.A. in Economics (1965) and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Tokyo (1970). He served as Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Tokyo (1967-'69); Associate Professor of Economics at Kyoto University (1969-'80); Professor of Economics at Kyoto University (1980-2006); Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois; and Director of the Institute of Economic Study, Kyoto University (1990-'94, 1995-'99 and 2001-'06). Presently, Dr. Sawa serves as Distinguished Professor at Ritsumeikan University and Project Professor at Kyoto University.

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At Canon Inc. Dr. Tanaka became Senior Managing Director in 2006 after having served as Managing Director and Member of the Board. He has been also Group Executive of the Intellectual Property and Legal Headquarters since 1999, Chief Executive of Optical Products Operations dealing with semi-conductor manufacturing equipment, medical equipment, and broadcasting equipment, Manager of the Semiconductors Development Center, and Manager of the Components Development Center since joining the company in 1970. He earned his Ph.D. in Engineering from Tohoku University in 1990, and his master's and bachelor's degrees in Electronics from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1970 and 1968 respectively. He was awarded the Okochi Memorial Technology Prize in 1990 and Invention Prize of National Commendation for Invention in 1995.

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Mr. Suzuki entered the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, now METI) in 1981. At MITI, he became Deputy Director, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Minister's Secretariat in 1994, and Deputy Director, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology in 1995. After seconded as Deputy Director to Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), UK in 1996, he returned to Japan and became Director, Promotion Division, Planning Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency (SMEA) in 1998, and Director-General, Department of Commerce, Industry and Labor, Ibaraki prefecture in 1999. He served as Director, Multilateral Trade System Department, Trade Policy Bureau from 2001 and Director, Corporate Affairs Division, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau from 2004, before assuming his present post at METI in 2007.

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Prior to his current position, Mr. Oikawa served as Senior Executive Director, Development Bank of Japan (2003-'05); Advisor, Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (2002- '03); Research Counselor, TEPIA (2002-'03); Commissioner, Japan Patent Office; Director- General, Bureau of Equipment, Japan Defense Agency; Director-General for Policy Coordination, Minister's Secretariat; Councilor, Cabinet Secretariat; Deputy Director- General for Security Export Control, International Trade Administration Bureau; Director, Coordination Division, Bureau of Equipment, Japan Defense Agency; Director, Small Enterprise Policy Division, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency; Counselor, Japanese Mission to European Community, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Director, Paper, Pulp & Printing Division, Consumer Goods Industries Bureau. Mr. Oikawa graduated from the University of Tokyo with a B.A. in Economics.

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