November 30, 2016

On October 18 the Graduate School of Economics held the fourth international symposium co-organized with European think tank Bruegel. This event was recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan as part of this year’s program celebrating 150 years of friendship between Belgium and Japan. It is also part of an international education and research collaboration initiative with Belgian partner institutions to promote academic exchange between Belgium and Japan.
The international symposia co-organised by Bruegel and Kobe University have been taking place since 2013 with the aim of deepening the relationship between top-level think tank Bruegel and the Kobe University Graduate School of Economics. These events have been highly evaluated by participants as an opportunity to deepen their academic knowledge about the issues faced by Europe and Japan.
The fourth symposium was themed on “Innovation and Economic Reformin Europe and Japan”, and lively reports and discussions took place with a variety of speakers. Mr NAKAMURA Koji (Bank of Japan), Professor HAGIWARA Taiji, Professor NAKAMURA Tamotsu, Professor MATSUBAYASHI Yoichi, and Associate Professor YUGAMI Kazufumi (Kobe University) attended from Japan. From Europe various policy authorities and think tank researchers attended as speakers and participants, including Professor John Cave (University of Warwick) and Mr Remy Lecat (Banque de France). Each of the speakers provided fascinating insights into their specialist fields, and it was a significant event with over 70 participants. The fifth symposium will take place next year, and we look forward to further deepening our exchange with Bruegel.
(Graduate School of Economics)