Report on
International Engineering Science Leaders Summit

Genta Kawahara

Graduate School of Engineering Science
Osaka University, Japan

The "International Engineering Science Leaders Summit" was held on the 17th and 18th of December 2012 in the Graduate School of Engineering Science/ School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Japan. Distinguished deans, chairs, or director of Engineering Science, referred to as "Engineering Science Leaders" hereafter, attended this summit. In the summit, Engineering Science Leaders discussed the establishment of an "International Engineering Science Consortium" with the view to enhance international collaborations in education and research on Engineering Science and to promote the presence of Engineering Science in the world.
Here the background and the outline of the summit as well as future developments of the consortium are described.

1. Background of the summit

Universities that boast of having a strong Engineering Science Programme where their research and education have similar guiding principles include the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University College London, Oxford University and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in Europe; University of California, Berkeley and University of Toronto in North America; National University of Singapore, University of Auckland in New Zealand and Osaka University in Asia. All of these universities have a good reputation in their region. It can safely be said that there is a tendency that the more internationalized leading universities, the more faculties relating to Engineering Science they own. By means of carrying out collaborative education and research among these aforementioned leading universities, it is worthwhile to clarify the value for the existence of Engineering Science and to have the universal answers to questions such as "What is engineering science?" from a global point of view. It is also anticipated that through the established Engineering Science network, student exchange, academic interaction and collaboration among these universities could lead to the globalization and promotion of Engineering Science in the world.

2. Outline of the summit

Professor Yasuyuki Okamura, Dean of Graduate School of Engineering Science/School of Engineering Science, Osaka University chaired the summit, to which distinguished Engineering Science Leaders were invited. The attendants were as follows:

• Prof. Amberg, Gustav,
  Dean of School of Engineering Sciences,
  KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
• Prof. Attwood, David T.,
  Chair of Applied Science and Technology Program,
  Faculty Adviser for Engineering Science Program,
  University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Prof. Kortschot, Mark,
  Chair of Division of Engineering Science,
  University of Toronto, Canada
• Prof. Wang, Chien Ming,
  Director of Engineering Science Programme,
  National University of Singapore, Singapore

On the first day (17th December 2012), each attendee made a presentation on his respective university and the faculty of Engineering Science (pictures 1-5). They also had an opportunity to meet and talk to Prof. Kiyoshi Higashijima who is the Trustee and Vice President of Osaka University (picture 6).

On the second day (18th December 2012), the Engineering Science leaders discussed the topics for exchange activities for students and young researchers of Engineering Science, and collaborative education and research in Engineering Science among the universities multilaterally. Finally, they reached an agreement of memorandum for the establishment of the "International Engineering Science Consortium".

3. International Engineering Science Consortium - future development

In the summit, the agreement was made for the establishment of "International Engineering Science Consortium", which consists of five universities: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, University of Toronto, National University of Singapore and Osaka University. All the participating universities have signed the memorandum.
From now on, we are going to develop various exchange programs among the participating universities. First, students from KTH, University of California, Berkeley, University of Toronto, and the National University of Singapore will be invited to laboratories in Osaka University for about three months under the "Engineering Science Student Exchange Program". The students' expenses will be subsidized by the Japan Student Services Organization. Second, students from Osaka University will be dispatched to the four universities through the expanded global human resources development project "Establishment of International Engineering Science Consortium" under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Also, we are planning to hold an International Engineering Science meeting this year.
We hope that such international exchange activities will result in establishing the principle for Engineering Science globally and enhance the presence of Engineering Science in the future.

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