Spain-Japan Summit on Longevity and Longevity Societies

The Spain-Japan Summit on Longevity and Longevity Societies will be held on 25 and 26 April 2024, with the main objectives of learning about, analysing and exchanging knowledge and experiences regarding the challenges and opportunities posed by the reality of the new long-lived societies. And to do so from a multidisciplinary perspective, given the similar demographic conditions that will bring the two countries closer together in the immediate future.

Indeed, although Japan is currently, and has been for years, the world's longest-living country, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Spain will succeed it in 2040. For this reason, we believe it is very useful to open a space for dialogue between both nations, to compare successful actions and to embark on a path of common learning.

The Spain-Japan Summit on Longevity and Longevity Societies will bring together leading scientific, economic and social experts from Spain and Japan, who will present and share advances in the field of longevity in order for all of them to act as fundamental vectors in decision-making.

Japan and Spain, two countries with such different cultures and age-old traditions, what is their secret to having achieved such outstanding longevity rates? What are the opportunities for growth that, from the point of view of both countries, we can establish as priorities within the framework of the new longevity? How should we approach the necessary changes to be implemented? And how can we incorporate the most successful experiences, developed in both countries, for the good of all their citizens?

The Spain-Japan Summit is part of the New Long-Lived Societies project, approved within the framework of the Interreg VI-A Programme, Spain-Portugal, (POCTEP), 2021-2027, of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Understanding Longevity Societies

At CENIE, we want to understand long-lived societies in all their aspects, in the knowledge that we are dealing with a universal phenomenon, similar in different cultures, and of extraordinary complexity, as various social, health and sanitary, economic, employment, family, care, cultural, educational, environmental, relational and technological factors, among others, have an impact on the way of ageing. In short, a set of variables, which must be considered as parts of the whole that is the ecosystem of the new longevity, and which we must take into account in a coordinated manner, through inclusive, healthy and sustainable actions, in order to achieve the highest levels of personal and collective well-being.

For most of human history, only a minority of the population reached old age. Fortunately, this is no longer the case and, increasingly, the elderly population is growing across the globe. It is therefore essential to address a new human imperative: the importance of ageing well, something that should affect not only the final stage of our lives, but the whole of our life cycle.

Understanding longevity and its multiple diversity also requires a holistic approach. This is the only way to understand the value of this new reality, which is both a cause and a consequence of the socio-demographic change in which we are immersed. This will allow us to identify the opportunities for development of this new longevity and to build responses to the challenges in order to guarantee the greatest and most common social well-being.

Program

Thursday 25 April
Open day for the public
10:00 REGISTRATION OF ATTENDEES

10:30 OPENING CEREMONY
Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones Fernández, Minister of Environment, Housing and Territorial Planning of the Regional Government of Castilla y León
Shinji Minami, Minister of the Embassy of Japan in Spain
María Isabel Macías, Councilwoman of the Salamanca City Council
Francisco Machancoses, Deputy Director General for Social, Educational, Cultural and Health and Consumer Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation
Hélder Fernandes, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança
David Díez Martín, Chancellor of the University of Salamanca

11:00 LONGEVITY ECONOMICS
Atsushi Seike, Keio University
Enrique Cabero, President of the Economic and Social Council of Castile and León
Moderator: Óscar González Benito, Director of FGUSAL

12:15 CARE AND LONG-LIVED SOCIETIES
Hiroko Akiyama, Professor Emerita University of Tokyo
María Teresa Sancho, Director General of IMSERSO
Moderator: Ignacio Álvarez, Former Secretary of State for Social Rights

13:30 LUNCH BREAK

15:00 SCIENCE AND LONGEVITY
Noboru Mizushima, University of Tokyo
Ana María Cuervo, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Moderator: Consuelo Borrás, Professor of Physiology and collaborator at CENIE

16:00 GLOBAL CHANGE AND LONGEVITY
Kenji Hiramatsu, President of the Institute for International Strategy, Japan Research Institute
Pedro Jordano, President of the Area of Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the Spanish State Research Agency
Moderator: José-Abel Flores, Director of the Spanish-Japanese Cultural Centre of the University of Salamanca

17:00 END OF THE DAY

Friday, April 26th
Internal day for the working groups

10:00 Working Group on Economics of Longevity

11:00 Working Group on Science and Longevity

12:00 Working Group on Care and Longevity Societies

CV Summaries

Panelists

Atsushi Seike

Currently president of the Japanese Red Cross Society. After serving two consecutive terms as president of Keio University, he assumed the position of Executive Advisor for Academic Affairs in May 2017. He received his Ph.D. in Labor Economics from Keio University and became an associate professor at Keio College of Business and Commerce in 1985, professor in 1992, dean from 2007-2009 and president from 2009-2017.

Enrique Cabero

He holds a degree and doctorate in Law from the University of Salamanca and is a tenured professor of Labor and Social Security Law at this university. He is currently president of the Economic and Social Council of Castilla y León (since 2019). He has been vice-rector of the University of Salamanca, director of the Department of Labor Law and Social Work, director of the University Master's Degree in Occupational Risk Management and director of the Castilla y León Chair of Occupational Risk Prevention.

Hiroko Akiyama

Gerontologist, Professor Emerita at the University of Tokyo and former vice president of the Science Council of Japan. She has conducted a number of international studies and is widely recognized as an expert on global aging issues. She is known for her long-term research on the elderly in Japan, tracking the aging patterns of approximately 6,000 Japanese elderly over 30 years.

María Teresa Sancho

She has a degree in psychology from the Complutense University and a master's degree in Social Gerontology from the same center. For 30 years she has worked as a civil servant at IMSERSO and her career has made her one of the leading experts on aging at the international level. Recently, she was chosen by the UN as one of the 50 world leaders who have contributed the most to transforming society to ageing well.

Noboru Mizushima

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Tokyo. He received his PhD in 1996 from the Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University. He started working on autophagy in yeast in the laboratory of Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi and has worked on the physiological role and molecular mechanisms of autophagy in mammals and other organisms. He received in 2021 the Purple Ribbon Medal from Japan and in 2013 the Thomson Reuters citation for his outstanding work and collaborations.

Ana María Cuervo

Co-director of the Einstein Institute for Aging Research and a member of the Einstein Liver Research Center and the Einstein Cancer Center. In 2001 she started her laboratory at Einstein, where she studies the role of protein degradation in aging and age-related disorders, with emphasis on neurodegeneration and metabolic disorders. She is considered a leader in the field of protein degradation as it relates to the biology of aging.

Kenji Hiramatsu

He was Ambassador of Japan to Spain between 2019 and 2022, the year in which he finished his diplomatic career. He is currently chairman of the Japan Research Institute for International Strategy, Japan Research Institute, as well as counsel to Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan) and counsel to SNG Partners (a law firm in India). As president of the Institute, Hiramatsu is involved in analyzing global problems and international geopolitical situations and proposing different strategies to mitigate them.

Pedro Jordano

D. in Biology from the Biological Sciences Center of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Cordoba and PhD in Biology from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Seville. He is currently president of the area of Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the State Research Agency. His research has focused on the study of biological diversity (biodiversity) from both an ecological and evolutionary perspective.

Moderators

Óscar González Benito

Director of the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca. Professor of Marketing and Market Research at the University of Salamanca. Degree in Science (Mathematics Section) from the University of Salamanca, Master of Science from UMIST (UK) and PhD in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Salamanca.

Consuelo Borrás Blasco

Professor of the Department of Physiology at the University of Valencia and coordinator of the Research Group on Healthy Aging at INCLIVA, she has been selected to participate in the Futura Project on empowerment and leadership of women in science. She made stays at the Center for Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine at King's College London, at the National Cancer Research Center in Madrid and at the Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Ignacio Álvarez

He has been Secretary of State for Social Rights of the Government of Spain between 2020 and 2023. D. in International Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. He is currently Professor of Applied Economics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In the past he has worked as a Researcher at the Complutense Institute of International Studies (ICEI), Collaborating Professor at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) and Assistant Professor at the University of Valladolid.

José-Abel Flores

He has been Secretary of State for Social Rights of the Government of Spain between 2020 and 2023. D. in International Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. He is currently Professor of Applied Economics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. In the past he has worked as a Researcher at the Complutense Institute of International Studies (ICEI), Collaborating Professor at the National University of Distance Education (UNED) and Assistant Professor at the University of Valladolid./collapsed]

Presenter

Esther Vaquero

Journalist from the Pontifical University of Salamanca. In her almost 20 years of experience, she has concentrated her professional development in radio and television media: Cadena Ser, Telecinco, Cuatro, TVE, BBC London, La Sexta and Antena 3, among others. She is currently the presenter of the Antena 3 Noticias news program at 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday, together with journalist Vicente Vallés. Since joining television, she has worked in different formats: news, investigative programs, and current affairs and entertainment magazines.