BBL Seminars

Print

RIETI's periodic Brown Bag Lunch (BBL) seminars welcome an array of guest experts to share their research and views. The sessions encourage lively discussion that contributes to dynamic policy-related debate.
Select transcripts and handouts are available below.
Videos of the seminars are published on RIETI’s official YouTube channel, “rietichannel,” after each event.

Past BBL Seminars Reports and Summaries

  • June 11, 2026

    2026 White Paper on Small and Medium Enterprises in Japan / 2026 White Paper on Small Enterprises in Japan

    • Speaker: OKADA Naoya (Director, Research Office, Business Environment Department, Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, METI)
    • Commentator: GOTO Yasuo (Research Associate, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Social Innovation, Seijo University)
    • Moderator: SEKIGUCHI Yoichi (Director of Research and Senior Fellow, RIETI)

    Japanese

  • June 9, 2026

    RIETI-NEDO Joint BBL Seminar Series: Emerging Industry Frontiers and Pioneering Innovation

    New technologies and fields set to become Japan's keys to success in the future! From the NEDO Innovation Strategy Center

    • Speaker: TANABE Takefumi (Director General, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))
    • Commentator & Moderator: KISHIMOTO Kikuo (Director, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))

    Japanese

  • June 3, 2026

    World Economic Outlook: Global economy in the shadow of war

    • Speaker: NAGAOKA Takashi (Director, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, International Monetary Fund (IMF))
    • Commentator: NAKAJIMA Atsushi (Consulting Fellow, RIETI)
    • Moderator: SAKAI Yoshimasa (Director of PR Strategy, RIETI)

    Japanese

  • June 2, 2026

    EU-Japan cooperation in Economic Security: ‘If you stand on one foot only, you are shaky’--Economic power demands comprehensive security cooperation including military field

    • Speaker: Michael REITERER (Distinguished Professor at Brussels School of Governance / Visiting Professor at Ritsumeikan University / Former EU-Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, to Switzerland and Liechtenstein / Former Minister, Deputy Head of EU Delegation to Japan)
    • Commentator & Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

  • June 1, 2026

    Quantifying the Effect of AI Invention on Productivity

  • May 29, 2026

    The Significance of the Newly Launched Mid-Sized Enterprise Policy and Its Future Outlook

    • Speaker: MIYAKAWA Daisuke (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Commerce, School of Commerce, WASEDA University)
    • Speaker: AOKI Shinji (Deputy Director, Regional Economic and Industrial Policy Division, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau, METI)
    • Moderator: TAKATANI Shinya (Deputy Director, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Innovation and Environment Policy Bureau, METI)

    Japanese

  • May 26, 2026

    The U.S.-China Leaders' Summit and Developments under The Trump Administration

    • Speaker: WATANABE Tsuneo (Senior Fellow, The Sasakawa Peace Foundation)
    • Commentator: TSUGAMI Toshiya (Visiting Fellow, Japan Institute of International Affairs / Expert on Contemporary China)
    • Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor, RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

    Japanese

  • May 21, 2026

    RIETI-NEDO Joint BBL Seminar Series: Emerging Industry Frontiers and Pioneering Innovation

    If You Can’t Go Up, Go Sideways!: How unconventional talent breaks new ground in Industry

    • Speaker: FURUKAWA Yuichi (Professor, Science and Engineering, Saitama University)
    • Commentator: TANABE Takefumi (Director General, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))
    • Moderator: TAKAMACHI Yasuyuki (Director General of Materials Unit, Technology and Innovation Strategy Center (TSC), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO))

    Japanese

  • May 18, 2026

    European Politics After Hungary's Election

    • Speaker: HIGASHINO Atsuko (Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba)
    • Commentator: KUNISUE Norito (Project Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST),The University of Tokyo)
    • Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor, RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

    Japanese

  • May 14, 2026

    Russia and Ukraine: Two distinct meanings of industrial capacity competition

    • Speaker: KOIZUMI Yu (Associate Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo)
    • Commentator: HIRAKI Tadayoshi (Consulting Fellow, RIETI / First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Ukraine)
    • Moderator: TAMURA Akihiko (Senior Advisor, RIETI / Director General JETRO Paris)

    Japanese