Tomoaki Wada is Director General of the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) at Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). His career with the Japanese government started in 1977, when he joined the Science and Technology Agency (STA).

Mr. Wada has held several posts in the Cabinet Office and MEXT (formerly STA), including Director of Science and Technology Policy and Director of Science and Technology Information Policy. He has been involved in developing national R&D plans on nuclear energy, making the 3rd S&T Basic Plan as well as planning a new graduate university of science and technology on Okinawa.

Taizo Yakushiji is 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 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). He was 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.

Lewis M. Branscomb is Director, emeritus, of Harvard University's Science, Technology and Public Policy Program, and Professor, emeritus, of Public Policy and Corporate Management at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He is currently serving as an Adjunct Professor in the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and a Research Associate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.

His research and innovation policy experience include serving as a member of President Johnson's Science Advisory Committee; Director of the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) 1969-1972; Vice President and Chief Scientist of IBM (1972-1986); and Chairman of the National Science Board (1980-1984). He is former President of the American Physical Society and of Sigma Xi and is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, as well as the Institute of Medicine.

Luke Georghiou is Deputy Dean of Humanities and Professor of Science and Technology Policy and Management at the Manchester Business School, University of Manchester. In addition to his academic responsibilities, he remains active in research and policy advice to government and business.

His public activities include being panelist and rapporteur for the influential Aho Group Report, Creating an Innovative Europe, and Chair of the recent ERA Rationales Expert Group of the European Commission. Other committee memberships include a current UK Treasury committee on access of SMEs to public procurement.

Professor Georghiou is an elected member of the Board of Governors of the University of Manchester and sits on the editorial boards of eight journals.

Mu Rongping is Director-General and Professor at the Institute of Policy and Management at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director-General of the CAS Center for Innovation and Development, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science Research Management. He is also Vice President and Secretary-General of the China High-Tech Industry Promotion Society and Vice President of the Chinese Association for Science.

Dr. Mu has published more than 30 papers in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences. He has published one book in English, entitled Technology Transfer from Germany to China: Case Studies on Chinese Carmakers and Parts Suppliers and some books concerning Technology Foresight towards 2020 in China in Chinese. He has led more than 20 research projects entrusted or financed by the National Commission for Development and Reform, the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China and the CAS.

His current research interest is in technology foresight and S&T development strategy, S&T and innovation policy, S&T management and evaluation, and evaluation on innovation capacity and international competitiveness of high-tech industry.

Sungchul Chung has been a fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), a government-funded organization devoted to research on the issues of science, technology and innovation policy, for more than 15 years, and served as the President of the institute for three years from 2005 to 2008. He has conducted research on a broad range of innovation policy issues at STEPI, contributing to the development of S&T policies of the Korean government. He also has been actively involved in international research activities as well as policy exchanges as a member of the Korean delegation to and as a Vice Chair of the OECD Committee for Science and Technology Policy. He received a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. 

Christopher Hill has been on the faculty of the School of Public Policy at George Mason University since 1994, where his work focuses on federal policies designed to stimulate commercial technological innovation. He served as Vice Provost for Research at George Mason from 1997-2005.

Professor Hill has been involved for more than three decades in the field of science and technology policy. In addition to George Mason, he has held academic positions at MIT and Washington University. In 2005-2006 he was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He has also served at RAND, the National Academies, the Congressional Research Service, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the Uniroyal Corporation. Through Technology Policy International, he has consulted extensively with the Japanese government regarding industrial competitiveness, R&D funding, and higher education.

Among his many publications, he is the co-editor of Technological Innovation for a Dynamic Economy and co-author of Regulation, Market Price and Process Innovation: The Case of the Ammonia Industry.

Yongyuth Yuthavong is a scientist with an interest in anti-malarial drug development and broad issues of science, technology, and public policy. A graduate of Oxford University, he was named Professor of Biochemistry at Mahidol University in 1983. He helped establish Thailand's National Science and Technology Development Agency, and was named its first President.

In 2004, he received the Nikkei Asia Prize for Science, Technology, and Innovation and was named "Person of the Year" by Thailand's National Identity Board. In 2006, The Nation named him one of the 35 most influential Thais of the past 35 years.

Professor Yuthavong is past Chairman of the Thai Academy of Science and Technology and co-author of 118 research articles in international journals.

He served as Thailand's Minister of Science and Technology from 2006 to 2008.

Gerald Hane is Managing Director with the venture investment advisory firm Q-Paradigm, where he focuses on venture innovation in the Asia Pacific.

Dr. Hane previously served as head of international strategy and affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). He has helped advance bilateral science and technology relations between the United States and countries such as Japan, India, and China, as well as multilateral relations involving APEC, OECD, and the G8. He also co-chaired the U.S. government's initiative to address global infectious diseases, launched White House discussion leading to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and oversaw a range of international issues.

Before entering OSTP, Dr. Hane was a Professional Staff Member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives. He has been a Visiting Researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP).

Terutaka Kuwahara serves as Deputy Director General of National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) since April 2005. He also serves as Professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). He started working for NISTEP in 1989 after administrative works such as life science, nuclear energy and S&T information in the ministry. As a member of NISTEP, he has conducted the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth Japanese Delphi survey as well as international Delphi study with Germany. He has organized international foresight conferences and took part in the activities of APEC Technology Foresight Center. He also served as Planning Director for Research and Analysis, Council for Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office (CSTP). His interest lies in prioritization policy and in evaluation of scientific activities by bibliometric analysis. He received M.S. from Graduate School of the University of Tokyo.