NPI2013_Asia-Pacific

NATURE PUBLISHING INDEX 2013 | ASIA-PACIFICADVERTISEMENT FEATUREThe University of TokyoDEMONSTRATING STRATEGIC LEADERSHIPWhen, in 1877, the University of Tokyo wasestablished, it was a leading force in thegovernment’s efforts to modernize Japan.Now as Japan struggles to redefine itselfin a new and complicated internationalsetting, where academic activity is inherentlya global and competitive activity,that leadership role is just as significant,says Yoichiro Matsumoto, the university’sexecutive vice president. Its mission is big:to define what Japan’s future will be.The government has been strugglingto do this. “What kind of country theywant to make out of Japan and what kindof leadership role Japan will play in theworld are not clear. There is also no strategyfor bringing such a vision to reality,”he says. The University of Tokyo seeks tofill this void under the strategic leadershipof President Junichi Hamada.Central to those efforts are theuniversity’s basic research projects. “Evenif they take time to initiate and theirsignificance is not immediately clear tosome people, our basic research projectshave helped to build an economic andcultural foundation at home and theyhave even become an asset for the wholeregion. The combination of inventionsmakes real innovation,” says Matsumoto.University researchers are leadingseveral of the collaborative Center ofInnovation programs recently selected bythe government. These projects set priorities—suchas mental and physical healthand sustainability—for a Japan ten yearsin the future and seek innovative ways tomake that vision a reality. The research ismeant to be “high risk” and is accompaniedby risk management policies. HiroshiKiyono, for example, is collecting healthrelateddata from a million Japaneseto create a health and longevity policyplatform while ensuring ethical use ofthe data. Makoto Gonokami is harnessingcoherent photon technology to createinnovative manufacturing techniques—“without screws, welding and with littleburden on the environment.” The universityalso received funding from theProgram for Leading Graduate Schools,which aims to overhaul graduate educationwhile cultivating new academic andindustrial leaders.To carry out its research mission, theuniversity will have to balance demandsfrom the government that threaten tonarrow, rather than expand, the focus ofuniversities. Over the past several years,the government has tended to push universitiesto make profit and assume shortsightedgovernance policies.Indeed, times have been tough forJapanese universities. Full-time tenurepositions are decreasing as universitiesrely more on temporary academic positions.Following severe budget cuts, onehalfof funding for top universities nowcomes from competitive grants and otherexternal funds, compared to one-thirdless than a decade ago. With an increasedburden from administrative duties andgrant-writing, professors have less timeto spend on research even though theywork longer hours.The University of Tokyo and ten othertop universities teamed up in 2009 totake stock of the situation. They are, forexample, finding ways to increase thevisibility of Japanese universities. They arealso working with a consortium of topEuropean universities to boost exchangesas part of efforts to reverse a worrisometrend—the drop in the number ofJapanese students who go abroad.The road ahead is full of challenges, butthey are confident that the accumulatedwisdom from the university’s hundredplus years of history will offer “a viewfrom a higher perspective,” one that will“optimize the entire society.”www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/Advertiser retains sole responsibility for content