Announcement of the 1st EDEN SEMINAR (Tokyo) - May 8th 2019
CHALLENGING THE CURRENT GEOPOLITICAL PARADIGM
Inclusive Innovation, Reciprocity and Generosity as the foundation for Transnational Collaboration
INTRODUCTION: THE EDEN SEMINARS
The EDEN (Emerging and Developing Economies Network) Seminars are a university-driven initiative to reconsider current paradigms of development and to propose solutions to our present challenges with an eye towards the future.
This first of the EDEN Seminars will commemorate the establishment of the Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Platform (SL-JCP) as a legal corporate entity in Japan, working closely with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). It will also commemorate the planned establishment of the Dignified Pacific Initiative as a legal Japanese entity, intended to be a bridge between Japan and the Pacific Island countries. Both these initiatives are founded on new insights as to how transnational collaboration can be designed among developed and emerging/developing economies.
The Seminars also celebrate the forging of closer partnerships between the universities of Ritsumeikan Trust (Ritsumeikan University and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University) and Shizenkan University in engaging intellectually with the aforesaid initiatives in Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands.
The presentations and discussion at this Seminar will take up the issue of Exclusion and its ramifications, notably its roots in discontent and the threat it poses to maintaining civil order. These are themes which resonate in many parts of the world where Populism, often referred to as “fascism with a democratic face”, has gained a new lease of life, affecting developed, developing and emerging economies equally.
THE KEY ISSUE: EXCLUSION, ITS UNDERLYING REASONS AND IMPACTS:
The emergence of Donald Trump as President of the wealthiest nation on earth, fueled by discontent with the “establishment”, the confusion leading to the Brexit process with its unresolved issues undermining hard-earned European unity, the hardening of lines drawn between older residents and “new” migrants in many European and North American countries, the propensity towards terrorism, violence and the breakdown of civil order, or the recent (October to December 2018) 52-day hiatus in Sri Lanka, where a government subsequently deemed illegal by the courts was installed, threatening one of the earliest modern parliamentary democracies in Asia, share a common thread. These, together with a myriad of other discriminatory practices, are all evidence of the impacts of Exclusion. Many of these tendencies to Exclude have their roots in discontent, and this is the premise on which solutions are proposed in this Seminar.
Discontent is also seen as the factor underlying the spread of heightened intolerance and the breakdown of civil order in many societies. The distinction between home-grown and cross-border terror is increasingly blurred. The yet unraveled motives behind the recent coordinated attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, leaving over 250 persons dead, are possibly evidence of this. Accelerated by SNS networks where instant and continuous communication deprive most citizens of adequate time to discern truth from falsehood, the resulting populist movements are also a destabilizing factor. What then is the antidote we can propose to deal with this worrying phenomenon?
BASIC PREMISE AND THE PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:
Two streams of solutions are proposed in this first EDEN Seminar. The first antidote to Exclusion is, as you might have guessed, Inclusion. The concept of Inclusive Innovation, which mobilizes advances in science and technology from developed nations like Japan, to solve pressing problems in developing and emerging economies, will be the first of these two solutions, presented by Professor Monte Cassim. The second is founded on Reciprocity and Generosity as the basis of development cooperation among nations and territories, presented by Dr. Kaitu’u Funaki. An interactive session among the two presenters, stimulated by the Seminar Chair, Dr. Nassrine Azimi, will lead towards engagement with the floor (see Seminar Structure and Discussion below for details).
(1) INCLUSIVE INNOVATION:
The first proposal integrates the spirit of Inclusion with Science and Technology Innovation. With its roots in the presenter’s research nearly two decades ago at Ritsumeikan University’s Discovery Research Laboratory, the concept was consolidated into a development initiative, presented at the G8 Science and Technology Minister’s Meeting in Tsukuba, Japan, as Inclusive Innovation (Cassim, M., 2016). The principles underlying Inclusive Innovation, its major protocols and modalities, and its application in Sri Lanka—which has led to the formal establishment of the Japan-Sri Lanka Innovation Platform (J-SLIP) in January 2017, with 20 Inclusive Innovation projects incubated over the past 27 months—will be discussed. J-SLIP is a central program under Working Group 2 (Technology, Trade and Investment) of the Japan-Sri Lanka Joint Comprehensive Partnership (J-SL JCP) agreed upon between the Prime Ministers of the two countries in October 2015. It is hoped that this proposal on Inclusive Innovation, embedded in the J-SLIP program, will become a model for win-win transnational partnerships between developed and developing/emerging economies. Such partnerships are intended to foster a sense of trust, equality and respect among the parties concerned.
(2) RECIPROCITY AND GENEROSITY:
The second proposal emphasizes a mutually respectful co-existence based on Pacific Island principles of reciprocity and generosity, which have the capacity to restore equal balance to the ODA donor-recipient relationship and, through doing so, create a new equilibrium in the overall global socio-economic system. The framework is designed to articulate what ODA receiving countries could contribute to attaining the SDGs (Global Needs) from what they possess, and at the same time preserve these global resources for future generations. Restoring the balance would require resource providers to ensure the sustainability of resources, and for resource users to support resource providers in conservation of these resources through inclusive innovation and sustainable consumption. This vision, based on the presenter’s research and his theory of Gross National Generosity (GNG), led to the establishment of the Dignified Pacific Initiative (DPI) in 2018, which has as its mission the revival of generosity, rekindling of relationships and restoration of dignity, which together will allow humanity to thrive. The proposal also discusses why Japan is suited to be the leader in this call for equal partnership and dignified development by setting examples of how we can relate together as a world community of nations living harmoniously through the promotion of generosity (well-giving), thereby adding new value to society.
SEMINAR STRUCTURE AND DISCUSSION:
Following the Welcome Addresses and a short introductory statement by the Seminar Chair, the two speakers will present a conceptual outline of their respective proposals on: (1) Inclusive Innovation and (2) Reciprocity and Generosity (see above). This will be followed by the first round of discussion, led by the Seminar Chair, Dr. Nassrine Azimi, who will also facilitate the discussion.
After Dr. Azimi’s observations and engagement with the floor on the initial presentations, the speakers will be asked to address two questions, viz: (1) Can these two concepts be brought together? (2) To what extent can success in one locality be replicated in another?
This will lead to a second round of presentations. Here, the speakers will illustrate their responses to the two questions with an issue common to both Sri Lanka and the Pacific Islands, where the two speakers come from. This key issue addressed here, as an example of the response to the two questions, will be that of human healthcare in the two societies. The way towards an equal relationship with an economically and scientifically advanced nation, Japan, will also be indicated in this second round of presentations. Another round of discussions will follow, with the Seminar Chair summing up and closing the event.
The detailed presentation/discussion schedule will be sent to registered participants in the Second Announcement, together with the Profiles of the Seminar Chair and Speakers.
PLANNED PROGRAM:
Date/Time: 8 May 2019 (Wednesday); Doors Open at 6.30 pm; Program from 7:00 pm to 9:15 pm
Venue: Shizenkan University, Nihonbashi Campus, Nihonbashi Takashimaya Mitsui Building 17 Floor,
2-5-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-6117
Tel: 03-6281-9011; Fax: 03-6281-9013; URL: http://shizenkan.ac.jp
Participants: In addition to representatives from business and academia, overseas diplomats, professionals engaged in development cooperation institutions and civil society institutions are expected to attend.
Participants are kindly requested to complete the Registration Form at https://bit.ly/2UlxQOZ and e-mail it as indicated therein to the Organizers by 12:00 noon on 8 May 2019
Seminar Language: The Seminar will be conducted in English.
Organizers: The Seminar will be sponsored by the Sri Lanka Japan Collaborative Platform (SL-JCP) and the Dignified Pacific Initiative (DPI) with the Ritsumeikan Trust and Shizenkan University as co-sponsors.
Contact:
(1) Ms. Aya Takeuchi, Director, Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Platform (SL-JCP)
Mail: a-takeuchi@tplan0301.com Tel: 090(5890)3681
(2) Mr. Kenji Ito, Manager, APU Tokyo Office, The Ritsumeikan Trust
Mail: kio21548@apu.ac.jp Tel: 090(7450)6368
(3) Mr. Cody Marschalk, Program Officer, Shizenkan University
Mail: m.cody@shizenkan.ac.jp Tel: 03(6281)9012