Greeting from MEXT invited guest. March 12, 2014

Transcription

1 March 12, 2014 International Symposium on Research Universities Global cooperation toward enhancing university research environments and creating new knowledge Insights on research strategy and global networks from world-class universities Nara Institute of Science and Technology Greeting from MEXT invited guest Akira Yamaguchi Director of Planning Office, Scientific Research Aid Division, Research Promotion Bureau, the Ministry of Education, Cultural, Sports, Science and Technology Japan has developed after the World WarⅡ along with the growth of its economy and our life has become more convenient. At the same time, there have been increasingly high expectations for efforts to address challenging issues that affect all human beings, such as environmental problems. The IT revolution and other innovations have enabled information to be proactively shared, facilitating open access and open innovation, but have made the world extremely competitive. Under these circumstances, in order for Japanese universities and research institutions to make known their presence in the world as well as to provide accountability and contribute to society to meet the needs of the times, the national government should support researchers, as a basic resource, to help them continue their research steadily. The Ministry of Education, Cultural, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has selected 22 institutions for this program, including this university, despite tight budgets. This project aims to provide research administrators in a variety of fields with opportunities to play a major role in such activities as pre-award and post-award activities and macro research strategies not in a uniform manner but in line with the circumstances of individual institutions. In this project, participants, including the national government, need to keep improving through the implementation of various activities in such a way as to systematically integrate different elements, such as improvement in research capabilities and, in a more realistic sense, protection of sufficient time dedicated to research by researchers. The 22 selected institutions include not only large-scale universities but also institutions that have high potential and those that have achieved outstanding performance. Recently, particularly in the field of brain circulation, international research and cooperation have been drawing people s attention. In the EU, for example, there are large-scale programs for research and innovation, such as FP7 and Horizon Although there has been increasing concern over Japan s weakness in this area, we recognize that your institute has focused on the systematic

2 promotion of international joint research as one of the pillars in this program. We have high expectations for your efforts in this regard. I expect that this symposium will give an opportunity to those from universities and research institutions and those from local communities and companies to share information on research strategies of NAIST and other leading universities around the world and their supporting systems. MEXT hopes that various benefits of this program will be used effectively by NAIST as tools to support the implementation of its voluntary and autonomous reform. In conclusion, I would like to express my hope that this symposium will be of great help for NAIST to achieve improvement in its research capabilities and to carry out further development as an institute that will continue to create social values.

3 Global cooperation toward enhancing university research environments and creating new knowledge Dr. Kenji Kohno Director, Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) Center for Frontier Science and Technology NAIST was founded in 1991 as a newly-structured national graduate university under the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture the predecessor of the MEXT. Focusing on advanced research, it aims to nurture competent specialists and research leaders and promote public awareness of science. Approximately 70% of our faculty members have successfully obtained MEXT Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, or kakenhi, giving the university top ten ranking among all national universities in Japan in terms of the grant amount per faculty member. NAIST also ranked high in Japan in the number of university venture businesses and in patent implementation revenue. Among particularly noteworthy achievements is Professor Shinya Yamanaka s award of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. While he was working at NAIST for five years starting from 2000, he launched his ips cell research project from scratch. As part of the reorganization of the Center for Frontier Science and Technology, we have established an Institute for Academic Initiatives. Within the Institute, we will set up a Division of Research Strategy, consisting of six newly-hired University Research Administrators (URAs). As a sub-organization of the Division, an International Collaborative Lab will be created. The Division will be responsible for planning new projects, developing research strategies and promoting international collaboration. To enhance research environments at NAIST, we will implement three programs: for creating new research fields; developing sustainable research capabilities and establishing a strategic global joint research network. To create new research fields, we will hire young researchers as tenure-track associate professors willing to take on challenges of research in unconventional fields and will create a new laboratory. We will assign post-docs as assistants to associate professors and offer research start-up funding. To develop sustainable research capabilities, young researchers will spend a year at overseas laboratories conducting research activities. We plan to implement this global brain circulation project

4 for 10 years, sending about five researchers overseas every year. To establish a strategic global joint research network, we will set up Collaborative Labs and station our faculty members at overseas institutions to promote joint research activities. At NAIST, we will set up satellite labs of overseas research groups to facilitate research projects conducted by visiting international professors and young foreign researchers and promote our collaborative research activities. To realize strategic placement of our faculty members, we will carry out institutional reforms, such as the improvement of working environment for URAs and the introduction of special employment terms and multifaceted evaluation schemes. Over the next five years we aim to increase the number of papers published each year from the current 341 to 370. With regard to the percentage of papers published in the top 10 journals, the targets are 13.5% for five years from now and 15% for 10 years from now. While maintaining the ratio of young researchers at around 40%, we want to increase the percentages of female faculty members, faculty members with overseas experience, foreign faculty members and international students. These are challenging targets, but we will make every effort to enhance our research environments and capabilities. We request your support and cooperation in our endeavor.

5 Special Lecture Global cooperation toward enhancing university research environments and creating new knowledge: the view from UC Davis Professor of Genetics, Faculty Advisor to the Chancellor and Provost, University of California, Davis Dr. Kenneth C. Burtis The University of California, Davis places emphasis on projects that are designed to serve local communities based on the philosophy of the land grant (an act specifying that the objective of a university is to provide research, education and public services). For example, the Central Valley, which surrounds the UC Davis, is a major rice growing area and we are conducting interdisciplinary research that contributes to local farmers. As of last year, we have 34,000 students, 1,500 permanent faculty, some 100 different undergraduate majors, and some 90 different graduate programs. We are particularly strong in agricultural fields, such as ecology, food science and technology, and plant and animal sciences, in which we are ranked among the world s top universities. Recently in the United States, due to the reduced tax revenue, the state and federal financial aid to public universities has declined. In response, UC Davis has established a new initiative called the 2020 Initiative, of which I am in charge. The purpose of this initiative is not only to ensure access for students from the State of California but also to increase opportunities for students in other states as well as international students so that we can expand the scale of the university by 20% by This expansion will allow us to achieve financial stability, increase the number of tenure-track faculty members, and strengthen our research, teaching and outreach services. We have also diversified the portfolio of research funding sources. As a result, funding to help provide excellent research environment has been increasing. Another important issue is internationalization of students and research. It is essential in education to understand different cultures and cooperate with other countries. In the fall of 2016, the UCD International Center will be completed. This is a center to support international students and will provide a place where Californian students and international students learn together. The number of international scholars on our campus is one of the highest in the world. We have hired 185 new permanent faculty members since 2010 and 30% of them are from outside of the United States. Four of them are Japanese. Of these 185 members, 80 are female, representing 43%. We are planning to do 700 searches and increase the proportion of faculty who do not specialize in science to about 10%. I would like to end my speech with some advice to NAIST. I think NAIST should increase the number of international scientists on its faculty and also increase the proportion of female faculty members to an appropriate level. According to a report by the Japan Association of National

6 Universities in 2009, female Ph.Ds account for 24% of all the Ph.Ds of NAIST but, of all the faculty members, only 12% are female. You clearly have enough capacity to increase the proportion to 20%. It is also very important to effectively use stimulus funding from the government. Professor Isao Shimamoto who contributed to the development of our relationship unfortunately passed away in September last year. I would like to take a moment to remember him and hope that our relationship will be further strengthened into the future.

7 Special Lecture How international cooperation enhances university research and creates new knowledge in France, in Toulouse, in my group Professor of Chemistry Université Paul Sabatier/CEMES-CNRS (Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales, Centre national de la recherché scientifique) Dr. Gwénaël Rapenne University of Toulouse was founded in 1229 and is ranked as the top university in the field of aeronautics. In 1969, it was academically divided into three universities: Toulouse I is for law and economy, Toulouse II for humanities, and Toulouse III, which is named Paul Sabatier, for sciences and medicine. In 2012, Paul Sabatier was selected as one of the five winners of the Excellence Initiative in France as an international vocation campus. The annual budget is 380 million and 10% of its 32,000 students are international students. There are 2,600 professors and lecturers, 1,500 researchers, 2,000 engineers and administrative staff, and 83 laboratories. Ph.D. students are allowed to transfer among Toulouse universities and 21% of the students go abroad for a minimum of three months. We also have 100 invited professor positions. The relationship with NAIST, which started seven years ago, is very strong and well-balanced. CEMES is a research unit, which we call pure unit. There are three in Toulouse and 15 throughout France. CEMES was established in 1959 and has promoted a project to develop a high-tension microscope. It is currently engaged in two activities to study a variety of molecules at the atomic level: One is a joint project with Hitachi developing In Situ Interferometry Transmission Electron Microscope and the other is Picolab with the Ultra-High Vacuum factory, an eight-meter long ultrahigh vacuum factory. In the fall of 2014, a four-tip low temperature ultra-high vacuum STM (LT UHV- STM) with a precision of 0.01 nanometers will be completed, which will enable us to conduct research jointly with companies. The research is conducted by a unique interdisciplinary team, including four chemists, four theoreticians and eight physicists. As for the internationalization of the group, 69% of the permanent researchers and professors had experience abroad, 54% of our master and doctoral students are from foreign countries, 67% of Ph.D. students take a post-doc position, and 42% of our papers are written with foreign co-authors. I would like to suggest that NAIST develop research networks with institutions in the United States and Europe. Sharing and exchanging students and exchanging professors are important. It is particularly important to focus on frontier disciplines. I think it is possible to achieve a big breakthrough by combining the fields of materials, polymers, life sciences, computer sciences and physics with chemistry. Thank you for your attention.

8 Special Lecture Research strategy and globalization at Carnegie Mellon University U. A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Computer Science, The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University NAIST Visiting Professor Special AIST Fellow Digital Human Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Dr. Takeo Kanade The first robot that entered the building of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant after the accident following the Great East Japan Earthquake was not the one made in Japan. A technology is useless unless there is a scenario that contains both capabilities to operate a robot in an actual setting and capabilities to make judgments and decisions. Our institute was established in In 1995, using NSAS s fund, we established National Robotics Engineering Center on an extensive lot outside of the campus. We do not use the university s budget at all at present. Instead, 50 faculty members raise five billion dollars annually from external sources. Five hundred researchers, including students and staff members, are engaged in research. In 2012, we established a company called Carnegie Robotics. One of our many projects is autonomous driving. In 1995, a vehicle we developed drove autonomously 98.2% of the time from Pittsburgh to San Diego and in 2007, 100%. As an outreach program, we provide educational materials for students from kindergarten to high school on our website. There are many graduates from our institute at NASA s laboratories and a large portion of the personnel who developed the Google car are also our graduates. The success of our institute lies in our emphasis on problem-driven research. What people desire is the beginning of everything? It is important for universities to educate students through actions. For Americans, globalization means to know about the world outside of the United States. In the world, there are places where universities can serve better and opportunities for them to start business. There is a cycle where good environment attracts high quality people and high quality people generate better environment. Japanese people tend to avoid competition but competition and collaboration are the two sides of one coin. Unless you collaborate with people you want to compete against, joint research will not be successful. System integration is also important to show that technology resulted from research is useful. In the United States, the most excellent researchers often move to businesses. The English language remains a major barrier to many Japanese. I would like to encourage NAIST to come up with new ideas to create a supportive environment that enables researchers to acquire English language skills. I would like to end my speech by adding that you should create a new type of faculty. Unless you

9 offer stable positions as members of the university faculty instead of short-term positions, it would be difficult to start new projects. I find it encouraging that NAIST has already taken into account most of what I have talked about today.