January 2021 Asia Analysis

Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, HAGIUDA Koichi, explains the priorities for Japanese science, technology and innovation policy in our January 2021 edition of Asia Analysis

2020 has not been easy for any of us, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but I hope we draw closer to normal at some point in 2021. Perhaps now is the perfect time to read the January 2021 edition of Asia Analysis while we are all spending so much time at home.

In our energy section, Charlotte Hugman, Climate & Energy Benchmark Researcher at the World Benchmarking Alliance, ponders if state ownership is a help or a hindrance for combating climate issues. Part of her analysis concerns Taiwan’s first commercial offshore wind farm, helping the government in the country to deliver on its promise to build 1,000 wind turbines and produce 4GW of electricity by means of offshore wind before 2030.

Elsewhere, purple rice, generating genetic diversity, breeding-by-design, large-scale stabilised mutant collection, forward and reverse screening are all discussed by Prof Dr Apichart Vanavichit from the Rice Science Center, Kasetsart University, Thailand.

Cecilia Van Cauwenberghe from Frost & Sullivan’s TechVision Group focuses on China, in terms of how to deal with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic, starting with a global and regional overview.

An expert in the field, Aarthi Janakiraman, Research Manager, Chemicals and Advanced Materials at TechVision, Frost & Sullivan, analyses bio-based fertilisers and discusses if they are a potential move towards the circular economy.

I hope that you enjoy these and all the pieces included in this volume of North America Analysis. Do join us for our future quarterly online publications in 2021 and beyond.