Filipinos can look forward to continuous partnerships in the field of science and technology (S&T) between Japan and the Philippines, Department of Science and Technology Sec. Fortunato dela Peña said.
Dela Peña said his Japanese counterpart, Information Technology Science Minister Naokazu Takemoto, visited the country earlier and expressed interest in expanding S&T collaborations with the DOST.
“It was Minister Takemoto who decided to come to the Philippines and meet with me,” dela Peña said, adding that they visited the University of the Philippines-Diliman Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE).
“He was very happy to note that the faculty members and researchers manning the ULYSSES (University Laboratory for Small Satellites and Space Engineering Systems) in IEEE got their training and advanced degrees in Space Engineering in Japan, specifically from Tohoku University. They studied through the DOST scholarship program,” dela Peña said.
The other scholars studied Space Science at Hokkaido University, and Space Physics at Kyushu University, he added.
There will be more exchange of scholars, dela Peña said.
“We had a meeting, together with representatives from DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), DOT (Department of Tourism), BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas), private sector, Filipino Inventors Society Producers Cooperative, friends of the Minister. There was an assurance from both of us that the Philippines-Japan collaboration in the field of S&T will continue and will be expanded,” he said.
“Exchange of scholars, particularly at the graduate level, will take place. PPP (public-private partnership) arrangements will be pursued, particularly in the translation of R&D (research and development) outputs into business or commercialization,” he added.
Scholarships in Japan will be more in the area of Engineering, Space Science and Technology. – PNA release
April 23, 2024
