Director for Science, Technology and Industry at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Nobuo Tanaka has been Director for Science, Technology and Industry at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 16 August 2004, with responsibility for a broad range of issues including science policy, information and communication technologies, economic and statistical analyses, biosciences, and sectoral issues.  Mr. Tanaka heads the internal OECD Steering Group for the Centre for Entrepreneurship.

Mr. Tanaka has a degree in Economics from the University of Tokyo and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.  In 1973, Mr. Tanaka began his career with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) (formerly known as the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, MITI), in Tokyo.  He has extensive national government and international experience within METI, the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. (twice) and OECD.  Within METI, he has held a broad range of high level posts, Deputy-Director of the General Affairs Division, Machinery and Information Industries Bureau, Personnel Division, Director of International Nuclear Energy Affairs of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency.  He first joined the OECD in 1989 as Deputy Director of the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, and was promoted to Director in 1992. In 1995, he returned to METI as Director of the Industrial Finance Division. He has since worked in METI in high ranking positions, the most recent being Director-General, Multilateral Trade System Department, Trade Policy Bureau.

Mr. Tanaka, a Japanese national, is married with two children.