Director General's Greeting

Japan is entering a new era. Globalization and a knowledge-based society are steadily taking hold in this country and continue to affect our lives. Our shrinking and aging population and declining fertility present new challenges. Major components that shape our society─such as the values and self-images held by individuals, industry, academia and government, and even our social system itself─are under great pressure to change.

Meanwhile, the roles and impacts of science and technology (S&T) have also been evolving in a complicated manner. Our lives are certainly enriched by the abundant knowledge and technologies at our disposal. Some of them, however, despite being developed and used with the best of intentions, have unintended consequences, creating major social problems. As a result, scientific and technological developments are a growing source of concern even though they are essential parts of our society.

Under such circumstances, we must proactively take advantage of S&T to predict, identify and analyze new challenges emerging at individual, local, national and global levels and to propose viable solutions.

I believe this institute plays an important role in this context as it aims to induce and support the kinds of innovation(*1) that address the needs of the public, such as ensuring the safety and security of citizens and increasing the quality of life.

In order for RISTEX’s research and development (R&D) outcomes to be implemented and well-utilized in society, the collaboration between the scientific community and the rest of society needs to be intensified. In other words, new technologies provided by researchers and developers must be combined with existing knowledge, experience and resources of a wide variety of people, including experts from other academic disciplines(*2) and representatives of local communities as well as NGOs. RISTEX therefore greatly emphasizes and promotes networking.

RISTEX also strives to identify and understand the diverse needs of people and society in a timely manner, to establish clear R&D goals for solving specific social problems, to effectively implement its R&D outcomes in society, and to develop systems necessary to allow people to live their lives with dignity.

• (*1) According to The Third Science and Technology Basic Plan of the Japanese Government (March 2006), innovation is described as advanced scientific findings and technical inventions combined with human insight that evolve and generate new ideas, methods or devices valuable to the society and economy. The Plan highlights innovation as a major pillar of government policies.
• (*2) i.e. Social sciences, the humanities and culture.