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IAC News No.20, Jun 2014

Japan Society of Civil Engineers  International Activities Center Jun. 2, 2014 IAC News No.20 


IAC International Symposium on the Internationalization of Japanese Construction Industry Series, No. 3

 

INSIDE JSCE series1 Coastal Engineering Committe

The Coastal Engineering Committee was established in 1955. The main activities of the committee that have been carried out continuously since its establishment have been holding the Coastal Engineering Conference and publishing the proceedings. Also, the committee takes the lead in editing the international Coastal Engineering Journal (CEJ), twice it has held the International Conference on Coastal Engineering, and the international conference on Asian and Pacific coasts (APAC) is being planned. Particular effort is devoted to publicizing technical results overseas, and to the international spread of academic research.

The permanent subcommittees are the Proceedings Editorial Subcommittee which is responsible for editing the Proceedings of the Coastal Engineering Conference, the CEJ Editorial Subcommittee, Public Relations Subcommittee, and the Subcommittee to Promote Research on the Coastal Environment. In addition, various research sub-committees and WG organizations are established from time to time to respond flexibly to the changing demands of society and research trends. Currently the Tsunami Damage Prediction and Reduction Technology Research Subcommittee, the Numerical Wave Action Water Tank Research Subcommittee, the Global Warming Response Measures Investigation Subcommittee, and the Wave Motion Modeling Research Subcommittee are active.

The first Coastal Engineering Conference was held in Kobe in 1954. Currently the conference covers a wide range of fields such as waves, flows, sand drifts, coastal changes, structures, disaster prevention, environment, etc., and every year the number of presentations is about 300. The Proceedings of the Coastal Engineering Conference (since 2008 the Journal of JSCE, Series B2 (Coastal Engineering)) is published associated with the Coastal Engineering Conference, in which about 300 papers are published annually (Fig. 1). In addition to the Coastal Engineering Conference, a summer training workshop on hydraulics is held jointly with the Hydraulics Committee, and 2014 will be the 50th time this has been held.

 


Figure-1:Number of submission and acceptance of papers for JSCE Journal of Coastal Division

Figure-2:Summary of tsunami survey for the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Tsunami

In the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake, a survey of the Off the Coast of Tohoku Earthquake tsunami was carried mainly by members of the Coastal Engineering Committee. The committee provided support for the distribution of information of the joint survey group, playing the role as a center of information on tsunami damage survey both inside and outside Japan. (http://www.coastal.jp/ttjt/)

It is intended that the Committee will continue to operate in the future as a bridge between coastal engineering researchers and their tasks.

 

Seminar on Intelligent Transport System, Soft Soil and Pavement

On March 12 2014, Center for Promoting Vietnamese – Japanese Civil Engineers Collaboration (CJV) in collaboration with National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM)- Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Institute of Planning & Transportation Engineering (IPTE) and Vietnam Chapter of International Geosynthetics Society (VCIGS) held seminar on Intelligent Transport System, Soft Soil and Pavement at the library of National University of Civil Engineering (NUCE).
In NUCE’s side, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Pham Hung Cuong- Vice President delivered an opening speech and thanked Japanese - Vietnamese experts for their presentations and all participants’ attendance at the seminar.

In the morning session at the 2nd floor Meeting Hall of the library, there have been four technical presentations. At first,  Dr. Yukihiro Tsukada Director of Research Center of Advanced Information Technology- NILIM presented Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) toward Sustainable Society. This presentation gives an overview of ITS‘s effectiveness in daily life and its utilization after disaster. Secondly, Dr. Vu Anh Tuan Director of Expressway Management Bureau- Directorate for Roads of Vietnam delivered Development situation of expressway system in Viet nam by 2020 and vision after 2020.

The presentation shows utilzation and exploitation situations as well as difficulties, challenges and solutions of present expressway system in Vietnam. Thirdly, Mr. Hitoshi Fujita Professional Engineer of Japan Road Contractors Association gave A Review of Japanese Road Pavement (Present Status and Future Direction).

In this presentation, past and present paving technologies in Japan were shown clearly. Finally, Dr. Dinh Van Hiep, Director of Institute of Planning & Transportation Engineering presented Opportunities and Difficulties of Applying Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for Traffic Management and Highway Operations in Developing Countries – A case study of Vietnam.

In the comprehensive discussion at the CJV, experts of both sides further discussed Soft soil and Pavement at present in Vietnam. The comments of Japanese experts have been recorded and highly appreciated.

In summary, the seminar on Intelligent Transport System, Soft Soil and Pavement is in a series of CJV’s technology exchange seminar. This seminar attracted more than 90 officials, lecturters, students not only from National University of Civil Engineering but also from Institutes of Ministry of Transport and construction companies of Japan and Vietnam. Especially, after the comprehensive discussion, Dr. Nguyen Hoang Giang CJV’s Director has established three technical expert groups in the field of ITS, Soft Soil and Pavement. He also expressed his special thanks to Japanese and Vietnamese experts attending the seminar which is a preparation step for Japan-Vietnam seminar on Construction Quality to be held in May.

【Reported by IAC Vietnam Group】

 

IAC International Symposium on the Internationalization of Japanese Construction Industry Series, No. 3

IAC Professional Development and Education Program Group organized a series of three international symposia as one of its activities which focused on strengthening globally-capable human resources, assisting the Japanese construction industry to expand its business overseas. The last one, series No.3, titled”Strategic Management for International Diversification of Business: The Examples of Multinational Firms” was held. The speakers invited from overseas firms who work internationally shared their views and opinions on each company’s activities and overseas business expanding with 72 attendees from academia, industry, and public sectors participated in the Symposium.

 

In the Symposium Part1, Mr. Jun OHASHI, Macquarie Capital Securities (Japan) Limited delivered a speech, titled "Overview of Overseas Infrastructure Projects (Including PPP), Case Studies and Involvement of Construction Companies”. He introduced overseas infrastructure business development by Macquarie Groups, a provider of banking, advisory, investment and fund management services, using examples. He discussed PPP from a perspective of investment firms and the trend of overseas expansion through M&A. His presentation provided a valuable opportunity to gain information which we usually can’t easily hear, and it was followed by a lively question-and-answer session.

 

In Part 2, Mr. Masanobu OKA, Lend Lease Japan, Inc. delivered a speech titled” Overseas Development by Foreign Companies and Business Activities in Japan”. Mr. OKA discussed business development in Japan as a foreign company’s overseas branch, and introduced the difference of the standpoint between overseas headquarter and Japan office, based on his experience of managing the overseas office in Japan of multinational firm. The discussion offered valuable insight into the future operation of head office in Japan in relation to overseas offices and attracted to audience many of who worked with the companies pursuing internationalization for their operations.

 


Mr. Ohashi delivers a presentation.

Mr. Oka delivers a speech.

The international symposium series was organized as a series of three. The speakers invited from Japanese firms doing their business overseas and foreign firms operating globally delivered presentations from their experiences. The Group hopes that this symposium series will give useful clues the Japanese firms attempting to internationalize their business operations. The next symposium series on the future of international development by construction firms will be held in this winter, by about the beginning of next year.

【Reported by IAC Professional Development and Education Program Group】
 

IAC Current News (by Kotaro Hashimoto the 101st JSCE President)

IAC Vietnam Group, in cooperation with VFCEA, held a seminar on civil engineering professional qualification system which is the key factor for high-quality infrastructure maintenance in Hanoi on May 21. In order to organize the seminar, the Vietnam Group and VFCEA received cooperation and support from major organizations such as the Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Transport, Vietnam,  Vietnam Bridge and Road Association (VIBRA), National University of Civil Engineering (NUCE), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) , Vietnamese and Japanese construction companies, and JSCE Organization for Promotion of Civil Engineering Technology (OPCET) and IAC. We are very grateful to them.

There are several on-going infrastructure projects on highways, subways, ports and harbors, airports, urban development, water resources, sewage systems, and natural disaster risk mitigations; accordingly, several seminars and workshops are held focusing on those subjects including the maintenance and management of those infrastructures one after another.

JSCE has signed Agreement of Cooperation and Memorandum of Understanding with 32 civil engineering related societies overseas; and 11 groups and 9 International Sections by region which are the first and major contact with those societies. Some often work with and carry out joint activities with their overseas counterparts while some dose so less frequently.

IAC itself should take a leadership role to strengthen their communications to be more effective and responsive to their counterparts’ needs. It is advisable to set up working groups in each of the 11 groups to meet their needs and support the working groups to make strategic communication plans. Furthermore, it should be remembered that the partnership among MLIT, JICA, private companies (e.g. construction, consultants, construction-related major companies), governments in target countries, AOC societies, JSCE’s International Sections, embassies and the Japanese companies doing business in the target countries. The IAC has come to the time to shift its comprehensive view of business operation to a detailed-oriented view in its 3rd year. The IAC, working with those groups, should look into what their counterparts expect from their communication with JSCE and make practical and feasible activity plans. That will be the first step to improve the contribution of JSCE to the development of infrastructure and a safe society. Thank you very much.

 

What's Happening

●2014/6/13-14・・・・・2014 MACE Annual Meeting Mongolia  Venue Mongolia, Ulan Bator
●2014/8/5・・・・・IAC Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.2 Venue:JSCE HQ, Tokyo
●2014/8/26-28・・・・・2014 HAKI Annual Meeting  Venue:Indonesia, Jakarta
2014/8/28-29・・・・・JSCE Seibu branch-KSCE Busan(Pusan) branch-Taiwan Society & Public work Joint Seminar Venue:Korea, Pusan

 

Updates

●The summary of feature articles in the JSCE Magazine is available on the JSCE website.
http://www.jsce-int.org/pub/magazine
●Concrete Committee International Newsletter No. 37
http://www.jsce.or.jp/committee/concrete/e/newsletter/Newsletter.htm
 

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Y's  Murmuring

I have just come back from the seminar held in Hanoi on May 21. The seminar was very productive and meaningful in terms of JSCE and VFCEA cooperation as well as future civil engineering professional development. JSCE delegation members formed by MLIT, a major construction company, and JSCE presented their own views- public sector, private sector and professional civil engineering society on the development of civil engineering professional quality and ability. Their opinions and information well responded to what the Vietnamese civil engineers were looking for, who are facing several challenges on rapid infrastructure development in their society.   I do hope that the Vietnam Group will further liaise between the two countries and civil engineers. Well,,, they have to.  One last comment…I had never seen so many motorcycles were running on roads.  Our car was like swimming in the big waves of motorcycles.