Representing 100 countries, ISA has over 6,500 members worldwide and is the most respected and widely known scholarly association in this field. Endeavoring to create communities of scholars dedicated to international studies, ISA is divided into 7 geographic subdivisions of ISA (Regions), 29 thematic groups (Sections) and 4 Caucuses which provide opportunities to exchange ideas and research with local colleagues and within specific subject areas.

The Association for Asian Studies annual conference is the largest academic conference worldwide dedicated exclusively to Asian Studies research with topics covering all countries in Asia across 30 academic disciplines. The AAS annual conference is the ideal setting to meet face-to-face with senior and junior faculty in the field as well as students, administrators, librarians, foundation and museum staff, and program managers alike.

The Hale Report interviews Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Vincent de Paul Professor of Political Science & Director of the Global Asian Studies Program at DePaul University.  Her new book, Beyond Technonationalism, Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Asia is published by Stanford University Press.  An expert in Japan, she spent six years researching entrepreneurship in four countries, Japan, China, India and Singapore.  Among her conclusions, just the right amount of protection and openness, combined with size and distance to internal and external markets, leads to the successful competition in biomedical markets. She calls this theory of state Networked Technonationalism or NTN.

Both the United States and Japan have long taken pride in their robust scientific research communities’ contributions to economic growth and human welfare. But the slowing pace and rising costs of state-sponsored research, along with strong competition from China and India, have challenged both governments to rethink their approaches to science and technology policy and set agendas that encourage innovation toward solving big social problems.

Kathryn Ibata-Arens is Vincent de Paul Professor of Political Science and Director of the Global Asian Studies Program at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. We talk about political economy, service to the Japanese American community, and having a family.