On October 1, the day before the start of the annual STS forum, leaders of research institutes around the world gathered in Kyoto to discuss how to strengthen collaboration between national research institutes and industry.

The leaders—representing 19 institutions from 11 countries—Australia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Sweden, and the United States—spent the afternoon discussing challenges to strengthening partnerships with the private sector and exchanging ideas on how to overcome the challenges. In closing, they adopted a statement that noted the importance of such partnerships for overcoming the myriads of challenges facing humanity today. The summit was jointly organized by RIKEN and the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an co-chaired by RIKEN President Hiroshi Matsumoto and Alain Fuchs, president of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).

As a way to gain input from industry, the participants invited Katsumi Emura, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of NEC, who came at the recommendation of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren).

Following the meeting, Emura said, “I was very happy to have the opportunity to take part in this important gathering of national research institutes from around the world. I believe it is very significant that the participants chose to discuss how to strengthen their collaborations with industry in order to tackle the many societal problems that we face today, following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in the UN in November last year. I am impressed by the strong desire of national research institutes to work with industry, sharing their vision of a future society, and various approaches are being tried for that purpose. For me personally, it was an honor to have been invited as a representative of industry”