Dr. Teruo Fujii is the 31st President of the University of Tokyo (UTokyo). Prior to taking the President’s office in April 2021, he was the Executive Vice President in charge of finance and external relations for the university. He also served as the Director General of the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) of the university from 2015 to 2018.
He received his Ph.D. in engineering from UTokyo in 1993 and held research positions at IIS and RIKEN prior to becoming a professor of IIS in 2007.
Dr. Fujii was an advisor to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) from 2005 to 2007, the co-director of LIMMS-CNRS/IIS, a joint research laboratory between CNRS of France, and IIS, from 2007 to 2014, and the President of the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS) from 2017 to 2019. He held the position of an Executive Member (part-time) of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan from March 2021 to February 2024. He has also served as the Chair of the Subdivision on Ocean Development of the Council for Science and Technology (MEXT) from February 2019 until February 2024. He was appointed as President of the Japan Association of National Universities in June 2025.
He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Asian University for Women in Bangladesh.
Dr. Fujii’s research specializes in applied microfluidics systems and underwater technology.

Andreas Schwarz is the Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva (Startsups, Research and Innovation) since December 2024. He was previously Deputy Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) for almost two years.
Dr Schwarz has been serving the EU for over two decades. Between 2018 and 2022, he was Director for Revenue and Multiannual financial framework in the Directorate-General for Budget, where he formerly worked as Head of Unit for MFF and economic and budgetary analysis for almost three years.
He has a broad experience in various Cabinets of the European Commission. Between 2014 and 2016, he was Deputy Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva (Budget, OLAF and Human Resources). He assumed the same role in the Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski (Budget and Financial Programming), from 2010 to 2014, in the team in charge of the negotiations for the multi-annual financial framework. Between 2007 and 2010, he was Member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Günter Verheugen (Enterprise and Industry), where he was responsible for the Lisbon Strategy, International Trade, European Raw Material Policy, regulatory co-operation with Asia as well as ICT.
He started his career in the European Commission as Team coordinator in DG Trade, from 2005 to 2007, and Policy Officer in DG Development from 2003 to 2005.
Before joining the Commission in 2003, he worked as an economist for the German Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), being responsible for economic policy in South-East Europe for two years.
A German national, he holds a degree in information and communication technologies from the Union College of Schenectady (USA) and in economics with specialisation in international economics from the University of Bamberg (Germany). He received his doctorate in Economics at the University of Potsdam.

Mio Kawada has nearly 30 years of experience in trade and investment promotion. During her career at JETRO, she has served in its New York office and led initiatives to attract foreign direct investment to Japan. As Executive Vice President, she currently oversees JETRO’s operations in the Americas and its innovation initiatives, including the promotion of inward investment, international business collaboration and partnerships, and the overseas expansion of Japanese startups.