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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Taizo Yakushiji is an Executive Member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy of the Cabinet Office and a Professor of Political Science at Keio University (currently on leave). He was formerly the Vice President for Academic and International Affairs at Keio University. Dr. Yakushiji is also the Executive Research Director at the International Institute for Policy Studies. He was educated at Keio University (B.S. in Electrical Engineering), the University of Tokyo (B.A. in History and Philosophy of Science), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D. in Political Science). Dr. Yakushiji was also a Fulbright Scholar and Ford Foundation Fellow (1970-'75). He was Professor of Technology and International Relations at the Graduate Institute of Political Science at Saitama University and Visiting Senior Research Associate at both the Berkeley Roundtable on International Economy and the Department of Political Science of the University of California at Berkeley (1984-'85). Dr. Yakushiji was selected as one of the 1988 Young Leaders of Asia by the U.S.-Asia Institute in Washington, D.C. and was at the Ushiba Memorial Foundation (1991-'92) at the German Society for Foreign Affairs and the French Institute of International Relations.

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Prior to taking up teaching at Hitotsubashi University in 2007 and at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in 2006, Mr. Tanaka held positions at the Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after joining the Ministry of Finance in 1985. He presently also serves as a Visiting Professor at GRIPS, and formerly served as a Visiting Fellow with the Australia-Japan Research Centre at the Australian National University (ANU), Senior Economist of Policy Research Institute at the Ministry of Finance, as well as a Consulting Fellow at RIETI (until June 2007). His expertise includes public policy and management, public expenditure management and accounting, and social policy and administration.
Major works: "Fiscal Rules and Targets and Public Expenditure Management: Enthusiasm in the 1990s and its Aftermath," 2005, ANU Pacific Economic Papers, No. 346

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Prior to assuming the current post in May 1997, Professor Tamai served as Associate Professor of RCAST from 1995, and Associate Professor of Faculty of Law since 1990, both at the University of Tokyo. He was also Associate Professor (1988-'90) and Lecturer (1986-'88) at Gakushuin University. He has also conducted researches at various institutions including the George Washington University Law School and the Max-Planck Institute in Munich. He obtained his B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo in 1983. His research area includes: intellectual property law; international comparative studies for industry-university collaboration and technology transfer, and for IP law systems; and analysis from legal and economic perspectives for legal policy for intellectual property, judicial reform, and urban restructuring.
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"Dr. Shima is as Associate Professor at the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University from 2007. He was Associate Professor at the Center for National University Finance and Management (2005-'07) and Lecturer at the Center for National University Finance (2001-'05). He obtained his Ph.D from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2001; M.Ed from Tohoku University in 1999; and B.Ed from Tohoku University in 1996. His research fields include the economic effects of higher education, higher education finance, and the national university system.
Major works: ""Economic Effects of Scholarship in Japan: Focusing on Japan Students Service Organization,"" The Journal of Finance and Management in Colleges and Universities, No. 4, 2007, pp. 75-96"

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Dr. Sachi Hatakenaka is an independent consultant and researcher specializing in organizational and policy issues for higher education and innovation systems. Her main focus in recent years has been helping find ways of enhancing the economic role of universities. Previously, she worked at the World Bank, focusing on economic development strategies in higher education and science and technology. Today, she continues her advisory work for governments, international organizations, and universities worldwide. As a researcher, she examines different national/regional innovation systems, capitalizing on her wide-ranging international experience. Her recent research work includes an international comparative research project of regional innovation systems, and a comparative analysis of university-industry relationships in the U.S., UK and Japan. For her research work, she has been affiliated with the Industrial Performance Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as well as the University of Pennsylvania.

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"Before assuming his current post at Osaka University in April 2007, Dr. Akai taught at University of Hyogo as Associate Professor of Faculty of Business Administration (2004- 2007), and served as Associate Professor (1999-2004), Assistant Professor (1997-'99), and Research Associate (1995-'96) at Institute of Economic Research, Kobe University of Commerce, presently known as University of Hyogo, and as Research Associate of Faculty of Economics at Osaka University (1994-'95). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Osaka University in 1998. His research areas include Public Economics, Public Finance, Local Public Finance, and Urban Economics.

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Quentin Thompson has worked in the field of education for over 30 years, as a Manager, Policy analyst, and Education Consultant. After working for three years in the Cabinet Office as a policy advisor directly to the British Prime Minister, he joined Coopers & Lybrand in 1983 and, as the partner responsible, built the firm's consultancy practice in education into that of market leader in the UK and Europe. He has continued in the field as a freelance consultant since 2000. His consultancy work has included major national studies that helped to shape the future of the UK's university system, as well as works for over 60 individual universities, in which he identified the causes of their serious financial difficulties and produced recovery plans. Outside Europe, he has worked on higher education projects in over 25 countries. He obtained his B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

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Michael K. Young is the current President of the University of Utah. Prior to his appointment at Utah, he was Dean and Lobingier Professor of Comparative Law and Jurisprudence at the George Washington University Law School. He was also a Professor at Columbia University for over 20 years and, prior to joining the Columbia University faculty, served as a Law clerk to the late Chief (then Associate) Justice William H. Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court. While at Columbia University, President Young served as Director of the Center for Japanese Legal Studies, the Center for Korean Legal Studies, and the Program on International Law, Human Rights, and Religious Liberties. President Young has served in numerous government positions, including Ambassador for Trade and Environmental Affairs in the Department of State during the presidency of the first President Bush. He also served as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 1998-2005 and chaired the Commission on two occasions. President Young has published extensively on a broad range of topics, including the Japanese legal system, dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions, labor relations, the legal profession, comparative law, industrial policy, international trade law, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), international environmental law, and international human rights and freedom of religion.

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Prior to assuming his current post, Professor Hata served at the Research Institute for Higher Education of Hiroshima University as Professor (1999-2007) and as Associate Professor (1994-'99) of Higher Education. He also served as an Associate Professor (1983- '94) and Assistant Professor on the History of Education (1979-'83) in the Faculty of Education at Fukushima University. He earned his master's degree in 1975 and his bachelor's degree in 1975, both in education, from Hokkaido University. His main research fields are the history of higher education and higher education administration.

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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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