RIKEN's basic intellectual property strategy
Striving to become indispensible to society

April 1, 2011
RIKEN

As RIKEN strives to fulfill its obligations to society, its mandate has evolved from basic science and technology (ST) research to the addition of innovation (STI) to meet the needs of society. In April 2010, the RIKEN Research Cluster for Innovation (RCI) was established to facilitate the transfer of RIKEN's considerable research knowledge to industry as social wisdom to promote innovative applications that benefit society.
In line with this, the RCI has formulated the following intellectual property strategy to achieve its objectives as defined by the heritage of the "RIKEN Spirit".

I. The RIKEN Spirit

Throughout its long and varied history, RIKEN has remained true to the mission first articulated by its third president, Masatoshi Okochi, "to pursue basic research in science and technology and apply the results to further the development of industry."

This RIKEN Spirit lives on in RIKEN's efforts to develop collaborations with industry. The three pillars of RIKEN's second 5-year plan, which covers the period from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2013, are: making dramatic advances in science and technology; contributing to society and securing society's trust; and making RIKEN a globally recognized brand. To achieve these objectives, RIKEN is

1. Placing equal emphasis on making academic contribution to the scientific community and social and economic contribution to industry
   
   
2. Actively disseminating the fruits of RIKEN's scientific and technological research for the advancement of society and the economy

II. RIKEN's intellectual property strategies

To contribute to the advancement of society and the economy in line with the RIKEN Spirit, RIKEN will

1. Seek out useful technologies, materials, and information being produced by RIKEN researchers, and consolidate their "individual knowledge" into a "RIKEN knowledge" secured as intellectual property. Make this widely available to industry through licensing and strategic research collaborations, thus transforming it into "social wisdom" that will truly benefit society
   
   
2. Identify society's scientific and technological needs, and meet these needs by applying RIKEN's full resources and intellectual property through collaborations with industry and provide an effective and efficient framework for creative innovation